Final Table, The 7 2 game in No Limit Holdem

I have had an interesting past couple of days. I played a $545 buy in with just over 500 players and although I felt short stacked the entire event, I managed to squeak into the money and finish 26th, for my first cash of the LA Poker Classic. My good friend Nancy Tyner, who won the women's WPT championship last year, won the event.

I then played the no limit shoot out, where you must win your table of 10, like a sit and go, which went well for me. It started with me flopping a set of 5's and managing to get my opponent all in with top pair, top kicker. From there it was pretty smooth. When I get it to heads up I had 90% of the chips. My next table was not quite so easy. There were three tables to begin the second round and the top three from each table went on to the final table. The problem is you are now playing those who managed to already win their table, so Darwinian selection was at work. My table had several good players, including Theo Tran, who came out of the gate quickly, jumped to an early chip lead, which he kept until the end. I was short most of the time until I picked up KK and raised 2.5 big blinds in mid position, Theo in the big blind raised enough to put me all in, which I obviously insta-called. He had A Q and I managed to hold, even turning a king. We were 4 handed when I picked up AK in the small blind, and the button had moved in for about half my chip stack, and I called. He showed QQ and a king fell on the flop, which held up. Tomorrow is the final table, and I'm about average in chips.

I was involved with a fun cash game a couple of days back. The line up was relatively tough with Lee Markholt, Antonio Esfandiari, Lyle Berman, Brad Berman, Bobby Hoff, and three other excellent players. I usually like to delude myself into thinking that I'm a favorite in most games I play, but here I couldn't even convince myself. The line from the movie "Rounder's" when Matt Damon said that if you cant spot the mark in the game its probably you, kept ringing in my ears. It was the usual no limit holdem stakes that I play with blinds of $20-$40, however this game also had two additions. One was an ante, where the big blind anted $200, which increased the size of the game considerably, and second, we were play the "2-7 game." For those of you unfamiliar with this, it means that if you win a pot with a 7 2 in your hand, every player who is dealt in the hand pays you a bonus. In this case it was $300 per person, which is really big in relation to the structure of the game. It was added to the game by Antonio, well before my arrival in the game, and he made a point of telling each new player that it was a mandatory part of the game. What the 7 2 adds to the game is some crazy bluffing. Shortly after I sat down the player to my left, JJ, who likes to play a short stack and usually min buys and looks for good situations to push all in, does just that from the small blind for $5,000, after I raise to $500 from the button with A 7. He likes to bluff a lot and somehow I put him on 7 2 and called. The board bricks for me and I say "ace high." He shakes his head and says your good and shows 7 2.

It was a good start, but what happened next was even better. I picked up 33 in a multi way limp pot and called. The big blind raised to $1,000, which was about right for a big hand, or a squeeze to pick up the $500 in the pot. I fold, but really should have called. The flop comes 10 8 3. I feel like I want to scream, especially when two players get it all in. Then Keith shows pocket 8's and I feel like the rest of the day is a free roll.

I then pick up 7 2 in mid position and raise $500. Lyle Berman calls from the small blind and the board comes A K 9. He bets $1,200, and my initial read was weakness on his part, so I call. Now my intention was to float the flop and bluff the turn regardless of what came. The 4 comes on the turn and he checks and I check behind, which is repeated on the river. I win the $3,260 pot with a 7 high flush and then picked up the 7 2 bonus of $300 per player for $2,400. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning.

For more information on Roy Winston, you can visit his website: www.oraclepoker.net or send him an email. The contents presented herein on this blog are purely the opinions of Roy Winston, and are not intended to reflect or promote the opinions of any other person, group, or entity. If you like what I write than thanks for reading, and if not well, thanks anyway.