Riding High With a Pocketful of Nines at the Wildhorse

I enjoyed one of the best tournament rides of my poker life recently during the Spring Poker Roundup at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino, owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Umitilla Indian Reservation in Pendleton, Oregon. Fellow Card Player columnist and tournament host Vince Burgio and I, along with Brent Carter and World Poker Tour ladies champion, Clonie Gowen, chaired a poker seminar for tournament players, in addition to playing in the seven tournament events.

"I've never been asked for so many autographs," Vince told me, as Lori Averett, tournament photographer, continued clicking the camera lens for souvenir photos to give to players. But as much as I appreciated being treated like a celebrity, I enjoyed breaking out of a long lackluster streak in my tournament career even more. Finishing in the money in four events with three final-table appearances, I won the Best All-Around Player award for the first time since 1994, when I won the award at The Bicycle Casino and drove home in a new Lincoln Continental. This time I was awarded a potentially more rewarding prize, a $2,600 supersatellite seat for the upcoming Bellagio $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour tournament, plus $2,100 in greenbacks. The bad news is that I'll have to compete against my buddy Burgio, who finished second in the points race and won a seat in the same satellite.

The high point of my ride at the Wildhorse came in the $150 buy-in no-limit hold'em shootout tournament, where I faced off against 425 other riders who were hoping to rope in a tournament trophy. With $5,000 added to the prize pool, the shootout started with 48 tables. The winner of each table progressed to one of six eighthanded final tables, where we played a freezeout format. Strangely, every key hand I played involved a pair of nines. Early on at my initial shootout table, I had just lost a pot, making me one of the shorter stacks against the chip leader, when I looked down at pocket nines. Since the blinds were still small, I raised to $75. The chip leader came over the top, making it $250 to go. "I'm going to take a stand right here," I thought as I moved all in on him. "If I lose, I'll be the first one out, and if I win, I'll be the chip leader." He turned up A-K. A fabulous flop took care of all of my problems – two nines!

With the 48 one-table winners assembled into six tables, I was sitting in late position with pocket aces when a loose player limped in front of me with K-5 suited. This story does not have a happy ending. I raised, he called my raise, and the flop came K-J-rag, no suits. He checked and I moved in on him with my pocket rockets. He thought, and then called. He hit his third king on the river. That knocked me down to $400. The blinds were now $50-$100, and things weren't looking good. A guy raised from under the gun, making it $300 to go. Guess what I had? Pocket nines again! I always like to get in the final raise with the worst hand, so I went all in. He turned up two queens. "Well, I guess you've got me," I muttered as we turned our hands over. Nothing came on the flop, and nothing came on the turn, so I tapped my hand and stood up to leave when – plop – a 9 hit the river!

I was still playing on a short stack, but I hung on and hung on. Then, I went on a massive winning streak, and from being the shortest stack with two tables left, I was the chip leader at the final table. My chips went up and down a bit, and then I busted out three players within five minutes.

With four of us left, the player in second chip position made a costly marginal call. I raised with A-K and he called from the big blind with K-Q. The flop came with three small cards and we both checked. On the turn, a king hit. He bet, and I moved in on him. He thought for a short time and decided to call, which was a mistake on his part because I was the only player who could put him out of the tournament, and there was a lot of difference in the payout between fourth and third place. The river card was a blank, and he was out of the tournament.

I now had a 3-to-1chip lead. The third player went out rather quickly, leaving me heads up with Nicholas Finnamore from Seattle. The blinds were $200-$400 with $48,000 in chips in play, so there was still a fair amount of play available. Despite the comparatively small blinds, however, we started making aggressive moves at each other. Then, for the third time that day, I got pocket nines. I raised, he raised me back, and I moved in on him. He could've folded his hand and still had $10,000 or so to work with, but he didn't! He had an A-8 offsuit. And guess what? No ace came! But, he made three to a straight on the flop, and picked up an open-end straight draw on the turn. With X-7-5-6 on board, he had nine outs to beat me: three aces, two nines, or four fours. Alas, the cruel river card produced a 4. Now, the chip count was very close.

From that point, we seesawed for more than an hour. Then, with the blinds at $500-$1,500 and a $200 ante, I got trapped. I limped in from the button with 8-5 suited. He checked. For the second time that day (earlier, he had won a big pot when he flopped a set of kings against pocket aces), pocket kings proved to be his salvation. On the flop of 10-9-5, I decided to semibluff with my pair of fives, and moved in on him. His two kings rode off into the sunset with my fortune in hand.

Tournament Director Roland Waters (who was the Bike's tournament director in the late '80s) congratulated us both, and I dragged my weary body to my hotel room for some rest, to get ready for the championship event the following day. I'll have more about that in my next column. Till then, I hope to meet you in the winner's circle one day soon.

Editor's note: Tom McEvoy is the author of Tournament Poker and the co-author with Brad Daugherty of No-Limit Texas Hold'em, both available through Card Player. Visit www.pokerbooks.com for complete information.