WSOP
2003 Day 18 & 19
Dead Man's Hand
Yesterday
was a work day, plus I got to play my
entry for the Party Poker cruise. Work
went well. Then I went down to watch the
end of the Limit Holdem final table, first
with four left, then a little later with
Kathy Liebert against John A., one of
the dealers at Binion's. What a strange
game, when it was still four handed John
had about 60% of the chips, the other
three all getting short stacked. Then
this hand came up; Kathy raised, got called
by the short stack. On the flop they raised
three times, Kathy bet the turn and was
called, she threw in her last 2,000 on
the river. There was 70,000 in the pot.
He still had about 20,000, he mucked!
I'd love to know what that hand was. Then
it was heads up and they made a small
deal, but that deal meant John had about
$120,000, which I imagine is a life changing
amount for him, he'd already been drinking
throughout the game and generally having
a very enjoyable time, now he was playing
crazy, practically throwing his chips
away. Meanwhile Kathy stayed very focused,
playing world class poker, and before
not too long she had about 80% of the
chips. Then they went on a break. They
came back and Kathy never won another
hand, 30 minutes later it was over.
Off
to the movies to see Confidence, very
good film with the usual twists and more
twists, problem is after films like Spanish
Prisoner and House of Games it's tough
to fool us any more.
Today was the Pot Limit 2K, this is my
game, however, you may have noticed I'm
typing this at 4 p.m. I played great.
The only hands I had for most of the day
were JJ, I raised, got called in two places,
and gave it up on the AAT flop, then I
raised with AKo, got called by a solid
player, and he bet out the low flop, I
gave it up. The table was excellent, I
had three super aggressive players, one
on either side of me (Paul Rowe to the
left, Carlos Mortenson to the right),
John Juanda on the other side, two players
who thought calling raises with K2s was
cool, and a couple of weak tights. The
problem was my stealing opportunities
were slim to none, usually Carlos raised
first, I could have tried a move on him
but if I was wrong it would all be over,
so I decided to sit it out and wait for
a hand, but of my 2,000 starting chips
I was now down to 850, with 50-100 blinds.
My first break came when there were 5
limpers, I was on the button and called
with Jx, two more limpers, flop was Jxx,
checked around to the K2 lady who also
liked to bluff, she bet 300, I went all
in for 850, they all mucked, she mucked,
I was back up to 1700. Then a few hands
later I had QQ in the big blind. Paul
raised UTG, I reraised, he went all in,
I called, he had AKs but didn't improve,
I had 3,500 chips.
Then a few hands later I got AA. Carlos
did his usual 300 raise, I reraised 700
more, he called. Flop was 853, he checked,
I checked. Turn was a 3, he bet 500, I
raised to 1,500, he moved in. I had 1,000
left, could I have gotten away from it?
Probably, I knew he knew I was playing
solid, I knew he had something, but the
trouble was there were a lot of somethings
he could have had, any overpair for sure
(although I don't know if he would have
bet out with an overpair, or if he would
expect me to bet then he'd check raise),
and he had a few more chips than me so
he could even have been making a move
with an underpair after I'd checked the
flop, thinking I was making a move with
AK. I called, he had 88, ighn.
Ugh.
Paul Westley
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