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 Read:
Max Shapiro's Official Report From This Event
The Omaha Hi Low event at the Legends of Poker was something I looked forward
to all week. I have been really focused in that particular game lately and
I felt it was a perfect time for me to take a tournament down.
I arrived a few minutes late for the tournament, but I wasn't flustered.
I sat down in my seat and realized I was sitting with a few great Omaha
players. Since I arrived late, I was at the far end of the tournament
room. This meant that my table was going to be the first to break. We
started the tournament out with $1,000 in chips and were playing 45 minute
rounds. After the first hour and a half, I had $1,200 in chips. I wasn't
amassing a huge amount of chips, but at least I was headed in the right direction.
About the fifth level, I was kind of struggling to stay alive. I had about
$800 in chips and I stayed at that amount for about one round. Finally, I
started breaking ground and I just kept moving forward. With four tables
left in the tournament, I had an above average stack. I knew that if I didn't
lose a significant amount, I would make it to the final two tables. When we
got down to three tables, I was sitting with a guy who was playing to get
lucky. He went on the biggest rush I have ever seen in a tournament. He
not only won most of the pots, he won huge pots. There was one hand where
he was playing against one opponent. The flop was KT8 and it was four bet
on the flop. The turn brought a nine and it was two bet. The river brought
another ten. The first player bet out, "Lucky" raised, and the original
bettor raised all-in. As he threw his last chips in, he said, "If you have
quads, I am going to walk away talking to myself." "Lucky" said:
"start talking" and showed his four of a kind. At the time, the average
chip stack was about $6,000 and he had approximately $19,000. "Lucky"
was playing a lot of pots and I knew I had to three bet him any time I could.
If I could isolate, I would most likely have the best hand every time. I
managed to isolate him several times and almost every time I came out on top.
After those few hands, I knew I was going to make it into the money and I
felt good about taking the whole event down.
We merged to two tables and I was fortunate that I had "Lucky" at my
table. The only problem was I also had a table with a lot of skilled Omaha
players. I carefully chose my battles and I maintained my position. When
we got down to the final table, I was about third in chips.
The final table started out so slow. Almost everyone was playing cautiously and
I just nipped away at them. While most of them just sat there, I slowly doubled
my stack from $15,000 (of $155,000 in play) to $30,000 -- without us losing a player.
I think the only exciting thing that happened for the first 40 minutes was when
Vince
Burgio told the whole table to
watch as he said "all-in". He wasn't really all-in, as a matter of
fact the dealer was pitching the cards, but he thought it would be funny to
have his friend Max Shapiro, the tournament reporter, run over to the table to
make sure he didn't miss a key hand. Although the action was slow, we finally
managed to lose two players. About an hour and a half into the final table play,
I knocked out two more players. I raised with AQ93, the player to my left three
bet (all-in), the player to his left (Dao Bac) called, then I called. The flop
was Q93. I bet and Dao called. The turn was a three giving me a full house.
I bet and Dao called all-in. He had an open end straight draw and was drawing dead.
Things started getting exciting when we got down to three players. There
were a lot of hands played and a lot of chip movement. We took a short
break and I was the chip leader (about $80,000), but things changed as soon as
we got back. I played one hand like a total bonehead (or at least that is what
Steve
said, over and over) and I lost a lot of my chips. I lost another huge pot
when I flopped two pair and a low draw and got
counterfeited on the turn.
Two more hands later, I had only 3 chips left in front of me -- $1500. Steve
was livid and ended up walking out of the room and I stayed and fought harder
than ever before. I survived several all-ins and worked my 3 chips up to 40.
Randy
Holland and I battled to stay alive and unfortunately for him, I wouldn't
die. He finished in third place and I was left with the most aggressive
player on the table.
When the final table started, I noticed that the aggressive player would
always bet if it was checked to him. I knew that I would eventually be
able to exploit that. When I found myself heads up with him, I was happy
that I noticed that fact earlier on. The one thing that was key was that I
managed to lose smaller pots than he did. Our stacks moved up and down,
but mine would eventually move a little higher than his every few hands.
By the time our next break rolled around, I had him outchipped $95,000 to
$60,000. We discussed a deal during the break, but couldn't come to an
agreement. He wanted to take $20,000 each and play for the remaining
$5,725. Since I had more chips, I would only make
a chip count deal and then play for $5,000. I finally told him that if
he managed to catch up with me in chips, I would reconsider the deal. He
caught up a few hands later in an unbelievable hand. I kept betting the
whole time and after the river, I showed him my top two pair. He said
"trip eights" and turned his hole cards up which happened to be
A888. I thought he was joking or misread his hand, but when I looked at the
board, there was an eight out there. He really had a set with his piece of
garbage hand. He immediately offered the 20k deal again and I accepted.
After the deal was made, I clobbered him. The heads up play lasted a long
time, but once we had an agreement, I beat him in about ten hands. I won
the final hand with A255. I was lucky that my pair of fives was good
enough to win the high hand.
The whole experience was great and I learned a lot of things in the
tournament. I learned that I am much better at playing heads-up than I am
at playing three-handed. I think the next time, I would be better off
backing off on more marginal hands when I am three handed. I also learned the importance of my
ipod.
During the final table, my ipod kept me from engaging in the idiot conversation
and helped keep my eye on the prize. That prize ended up being $25,725.
The link to Max Shapiro's official report for this tournament is at the top of this page. Also see my report from playing the 2005
Legends World Poker Tour event. |
