Stars and Stardom
ISSUE #24- Stars and Stardom
By Dave Colclough of Bet365 Poker
For those of us who are not living in the United States of America,
it is hard to grasp just how big the poker explosion has been there.
My latest trip to Los Angeles had me shaking my head in disbelief.
The National Hockey League players strike has led to the cancellation
of their season. Has anyone noticed though? They certainly would
have noticed if the LA Poker Classic had been cancelled.
Upon arrival, the cab between LAX and my hotel passed numerous
freeway billboards such as, 'Watch Hold 'em on TV, Play Hold 'em
at The Commerce Casino', 'The Moneymaker', 'Wednesday Night is Poker
Night on The Travel Channel'. A string of huge advertisements for
online casinos, live cardrooms, poker on TV and even a poker soap
called 'Tilt'!
Having collapsed into bed for 8 hours recovery sleep from the long
haul, my wife turned on the TV the following morning. Flicking through
the channel she came across some peroxide blonde geezer wearing
a bright green bet365poker shirt. I was on ESPN 2! She was well
impressed. Right now, the American public just cannot get enough
poker. The WSOP Omaha final table has been repeated between two
and five times a week constantly since it first showing last June.
How on earth can you watch the same final table twice? Surely the
result is the same every time?
I walked into the Commerce to register for the 'PPT' freeroll event.
For me, it was just a free entry with a shot at winning part of
a $500,000 prize pool. An unthinkable opportunity two years ago.
I was in for a surprise though. It is much more than that to the
American public. Invites to PPT (Professional Poker Players Tour),
are restricted to the 200 top ranked poker players in the World.
To the American public, this was an all-star tournament. TV cameras
were everywhere (well there were at least four anyway). My biggest
surprise though, was the groupies clutching their 'Poker Aces' books.
The blonde hair probably made me the easiest recognisable player
in the book, but none of the autograph hunters had a chance of pronouncing
'colclough'.
My head had swelled to the size of an average planet by the time
the tournament started. 180 of the top poker players in the world
inter-mingled with half a dozen wildcard entries. Only 6 places
to be paid though. A very tough prospect indeed. We were seated
within a cordoned off area with a crowd of several hundred watching.
Each table had it's own little red flag which read 'all-in'. There
was also one 'feature' table with swing boom TV cameras and individual
hole card cameras.
Phil Helmuth of course arrived late. It's traditional that he gives
the field a few blinds start nowadays. A sort of sporting chance
you might say. He did pull out all the publicity stops upon arrival
this time though. Just to give the TV cameras their moneys worth,
he requested that the dealer dealt him the *!%! in. Bearing in mind
that all stacks are always dealt to in tournaments, and that bad
language is being clamped down on; it was no surprise when the tournament
director issued him a 20-minute penalty. A few more blinds head
start for the field. A perfect TV interview opportunity for a Poker
God.
Within half an hour we saw our first red flag rise, and the dealer
called 'all-in'. The action had been stopped so that the mobile
TV cameras could rush over, along with cute dolly bird presenter.
The all-in player was duly interviewed and asked what his chances
were. His red-faced embarrassment didn't need the verbal confirmation
that he was in the mire. He wasn't wrong, and we had our first casualty.
The normal manner would be to skulk off stage left at this point,
but not so on the PPT. The poor victim had to explain on TV how
he had managed to finish 'last', and then go on to 'sign out' at
the PPT desk. The sign-out procedure was so that the organisers
can log the result on their database. Statistics and Rankings to
follow, no doubt.
I made good progress straight from the off and was soon chip leader
at my table, without any major confrontations. Phil Gordon's aggressive
style was yo-yoing above my stack and back down again as the hours
progressed. Interestingly, later in the evening, poker enthusiast
Toby 'Spiderman' Maguire is allowed through the cordon to watch
the play. Film stars watching poker stars. An interesting hierarchical
structure for the home of Hollywood? He watched as Phil Gordon and
Doyle 'Texas Dolly' Brunson tangled in a big pot. Phil being the
'all-in' red flag recipient. The TV cameras rushed over to record
his good fortune as he got the better of the legendary Doyle on
the river.
The US poker phenomenon has embraced the 75-year-old Doyle as a
grandfather figure. He is probably the most popular player, well
ahead of all the young guns. The crowd were not happy with Doyle
becoming the short stack at the table.
Two hands later and Doyle was small blind 200, whilst I was big
blind 400. Running antes of 50 and a limper added to the blinds,
made a pot worth stealing (1450). Doyle moved all-in for his last
2800, a slight over-bet but probably the correct play. I looked
at my hole cards in astonishment, as they were two Aces. I reluctantly
called after pondering for the mandatory 30 seconds (in this company
it's best to take the same amount of time when making all decisions.
These players will be watching for tells. The biggest tell of all,
is how quickly you act. So I try and maintain a consistent 30 seconds
regardless). I was calling in the hope of trapping the limper into
the pot as well. He had a much larger stack than Doyle. Unfortunately,
this didn't work and the limper passed.
Perhaps the limper knew what was involved, and didn't want to be
the bad man who knocked out the old hero. The hole cards were on
their backs, the red flag was raised and the attractive female presenter
rushed over to interview the King. Doyle's 10 J suited didn't look
too healthy she enthused, but the poker gods favoured the great.
The crowd held their breath as a QK gave Doyle an open-ended straight.
The TV cameras zoomed in and a huge roar greeted a 9 on the river.
Doyle stays in the game with a straight. Fortunately, I was not
asked for an interview.
An hour later, and I had another deja vu attack. This one was not
as disturbing as usual though. My big blind 600, Doyle's small blind
300, running ante's of 75 and two limpers for 600 a piece. Surprise,
surprise, Doyle moves all-in for his remaining 3900, and I look
down at my hole cards. I wait for 30 seconds before reluctantly
calling. The limpers aren't fooled this time either, and quickly
pass. Doyle looks at me as the red flag is raised. The grin spreads
across his face. He knows I have the two Aces again. This time his
KQ does not get lucky. The crowd can only clap politely, and the
TV cameras are left with some foreigner with bleached hair in a
bet365poker shirt stacking the King's chips.
The hours passed. Phil Gordon finally fell along with a host of
other red flags and broken dreams. After 12 hours of play an end
was called to the proceedings. Only a fifth of the field was left
standing for the following days proceedings. Peter Costa and Tony
Bloom were the only other 2 Limeys left, assuming that Sheffield's
Asher Derei still claims to be Israeli. Funnily enough, the three
of us were to be drawn together for the next day's play.
Tony and Peter were in fact both early casualties the next day.
The players were re-drawn again as we dropped to the last 3 tables
and 27 players. At last I was drawn with Daniel Negraneu on the
feature table with the TV cameras. I believe there are 3 players
who appear to be 'the best' at the moment. Daniel, Eric Lindgren
and John Juanda appear to be playing slightly different to the 'old
school'. Daniel's term, not mine. The only way to learn from the
best is to play with the best, so I was glad to get further opportunity
to study Daniel's game.
As it happened, Daniel was to retire into his slow gear for the
next few hours. He had built his stack, and was sitting on it. Alternatively,
I had seen my stack shrink on a day of few hands. Now, on the feature
table, the tide changed direction though. I managed to put a re-raise
on Andy Bloch when I thought he had a marginal hand. He passed suspiciously,
and I collected an average pot.
A few hands later on my small blind I found AQ suited. Everyone
passed around to Andy's button. He duly raised, and I quickly re-raised.
Andy was sat with A3 and obviously thought that I was picking on
him. He decided to call the re-raise. The flop was KQ3 and I decided
to check. Surprisingly, Andy now moved his whole stack in. I am
pretty sure he would have made a smaller bet with top pair, so I
called. The red flag was raised as Andy squirmed. My pair of Queens
stood up, I scooped a big pot, and I was now one of the big stacks
again.
When we dropped to 18 I was moved off the feature table, and sat
with my other two piers: Eric Lindgren and John Juanda. Hmmm. I
could now smell the money. I had a big stack, and wasn't so keen
on being given a learning experience any more. Especially, at my
expense.
Perhaps, my head wasn't right, perhaps I was a victim of circumstance,
but when we dropped to 9 players I was no longer a big stack. John
Juanda had been sat on my left and just basically outplayed me.
This isn't something I remember admitting to for a long while. I
didn't clash much with Eric, but marvelled at the way he turned
a small stack into a monster in barely an hour. He had nerves of
steel, as he called bets on the flop, turn and river. Most players
would have folded or raised at much earlier points. The pots he
won were therefore, considerably bigger.
So here I was at the final table of the PPT with all three of them.
Eric and Daniel were the two chip leaders. John was a small stack
like myself. We were to play down to 6 players, who would make the
money.
The action was fast as we lost one player, shortly followed by
John Juanda. 7 left, and I was definitely the shortest stack. I
moved all-in with an AQ and got called by a pair of 9s. The cameras
zoomed in as an Ace hit the flip. Yabbadabbadoo! My joy was short
lived though as a 2 on the river gave a board of A2345. Split pot
with a straight, and I am still the man under pressure.
I only had 58,000 chips left which would not last me 20 hands.
So when I was dealt a pair of 6s, they were all deposited in the
middle. It was Chris Bigler's obligation to be executioner. He called
with a pair of 8s, and I didn't get lucky. I was out on the so-called
'bubble'. No consolation money for 23 hours of mental anxiety, torture
and pain. I struggled to string a sentence together on my exit TV
Interview. The attractive, cute presenter felt sorry for me. I was
gutted . . . but I did wake up the following morning with a smile
on my face. It had been fun. I think?
Dave
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