Bellagio Five-Diamond Poker Classic

Finally, after traveling to Paris, Los Angeles, and the East Coast, I got home-court advantage. The World Poker Tour's next stop was at Bellagio, and I was fresh and ready to play. Then again, I wasn't so sure that home-court advantage was actually an advantage.

Over the years, I've done better on the road. It seems that when I'm at home, there are more distractions, but when I'm on the road, my focus is on poker. I usually stay at the facility, and basically eat, sleep, and breathe poker.

This would be different, though. Since I was conscious of the habit I had of hanging out with the guys till the wee hours of the night while they were in town, I made a conscious decision to stay home and avoid the whole scene.

Going into the event, I hadn't played much poker at all. I had watched lots of movies, played lots of video games, and was basically a couch potato. Athletes prepare for a big competition by working out and really pushing themselves; with poker, though, I think it's different.

Since poker is basically all mental, I like to give my brain a break from any productive thought whatsoever. I basically just unplug myself and give myself a temporary lobotomy. Video games are great for that, and I highly recommend them. Maybe it's just me, but I need these breaks from time to time or I get burned out.

Anyway, after preparing myself like a true champ, I was ready to give it my best effort in the championship event of the Five-Diamond Poker Classic. Right from the get-go, I knew my focus was there and that unless I got unlucky or did something really stupid, I had a very good shot at winning. Day one was going great for me. There was only one hand that sticks out as being a crucial mistake, but at the time, it seemed to make sense:

A player I'd never seen before was typically coming in for raises about three times the size of the big blind. With the blinds at $200-$400, he raised it to $2,200 from first position. That seemed like an odd amount for him, and I didn't think he had a strong hand. So, from late position, I reraised him $6,500 more with the A 9. It came back around to him and the dealer said, "$3,500 more." He reluctantly called the $3,500. Of course, I exclaimed, "It's $6,500 more, not $3,500!" At this point, though, since my opponent had already called $3,500, he decided to call the additional $3,000. Had the dealer told him the right amount initially, I was pretty confident he would have folded. But, mistakes happen. In fact, it's funny, because right before that hand, I commented to a friend sitting beside me that this was the best dealer in house. He was fast, efficient, and never made any mistakes!

Anyway, the flop came 7 4 3. My opponent led out and bet – $500! I had absolutely nothing, but how could I possibly fold for $500? I called, thinking my opponent may have a flush draw, and I was hoping to bluff at the pot when I had the opportunity.

The turn card was the 4. Now my opponent bet $2,000. Again, he had far underbet the pot. I just didn't think he would play the nuts that way, so I decided to take the pot from him right then and there. I raised him $10,000 more. Without batting an eyelash, he fired all of his chips into the pot, raising me $15,000 more. I hemmed and hawed for just a little while before finally folding. I wanted him to think I was laying down an overpair. I didn't want him to think I came over the top of him with a weak hand, which is exactly what I did. Looking back at the hand now, I think my opponent flopped a set of sevens. Oh well, bad read. By the end of day one, I had recovered nicely. I ended the day with approximately $50,000 in chips, which was well above average.

On day two, my starting table was a tough one, with lots of familiar faces. On the very first hand of the day, I lost half of my stack when my A-10 made a 10-high straight against Billy Baxter, who made a jack-high straight with his J-10. Again, though, I recovered nicely, and with about five tables remaining, I was sitting in pretty good shape with close to $100,000.

I'd been raising lots of hands and had pretty good control over my table. With the blinds at $1,500-$3,000 with a $500 ante, I raised to $9,000 from first position with Q-Q. Since I'd been raising so many hands, I fully expected someone to reraise me, but everybody folded to the big blind.

The big blind was one of the few players at my table who had me covered, so I had to be a little careful. After pondering for a few seconds, he raised me $20,000 more.

I felt like I had the best hand, and decided to reraise him $60,000 more all in, hoping to get him to lay down a hand like A-K. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't going to lay down his hand, as he had a pair of kings.

When the flop came A-8-2, I realized what a big mistake I had made. Now, I wasn't about to fold Q-Q before the flop, but as soon as the flop came down, I realized that I would have been much better off just calling his reraise before the flop, rather than reraising him, since I had position.

That flop of A-8-2 would have offered me the chance to steal the pot from my opponent or hang on to my remaining $60,000 and go from there.

Think about it: My opponent, holding K-K, had to hate that flop. If he bet the flop, he'd win it easily, but what if he checked? At that point, I would be faced with a tough decision. Should I bet the Q-Q, hoping he has K-K and will fold, or should I check and avoid the trap if he has A-K?

The right answer depends totally on my read. I would have to gauge his reaction to the flop, and let my subconscious take over from there. If my subconscious told me he was afraid of the ace, all of my chips would have gone into the middle. If, on the other hand, I got no read on the situation, I would have played the hand cautiously and checked it down to the river, and lived to fight another day.

It was an unfortunate miscue on my part. Other than the mistake on day one and my final error, I felt like I was playing better than I'd ever played before. That's the thing about no-limit hold'em, though, all it takes is one mistake and that is your tournament. Intense focus and discipline are essential if you want to succeed in these big-time events.

For most of the tournament I had that necessary focus, but slipped up at the wrong time, for sure. Maybe next time I'll ease off a little on the video games, as that perhaps isn't the best way to prepare for a big tournament. I don't know.

Daniel can be reached through his website at www.fullcontactpoker.com.