 "Photo: Michael McKim")
I jumped at the chance to cover Alpha Epsilon Pi's Texas Hold 'em Tournament from a player's perspective. Not only would I be able to get a glimpse into the minds of avid players, but I would be able to compete in something. And I love to compete.
I was doing pretty well until I went all-in on a full house, sevens full of jacks. In the process, I bet straight into a four-of-a-kind, jacks, leaving my opponent with the easiest call ever.
But let's start from the beginning.
I arrived at the Anna Hiss Gymnasium at about 10:30 a.m. Immediately I was approached by a student, John Butler.
"Make some money - sell your ticket," Butler said to me.
I talked to Butler, and learned that he was willing to pay 30 bucks for a chance to play in the tournament. About that time I realized I was going to be facing some serious players. My apprehension mounted as the players started to arrive. These guys weren't here to mess around.
Eventually I found myself at a table with $10,000 in chips. Over the next several minutes, the table filled up. The vast majority of the players at the tournament were male, UT students. At my table that was true for every player except one. I was hoping to get lucky, and find myself playing against "dead money," but I quickly realized from talking to them that this wasn't the case. I was reminded of an oft-quoted line from an overquoted movie, "Rounders."
"Listen, if you can't spot the sucker in your first half-hour at the table, then you are the sucker." We hadn't yet started playing, but I was thinking if there has to be a sucker at the table it was probably me.
Around this time I noticed that Butler had found his way into the tournament. He was sitting on the button at a table to my right.
Finally, at noon, AEPi President Amir Arad spoke those magic words.
"Shuffle and deal."
I get off to a pretty quick start. On the second hand I'm dealt pocket sevens. I call the big blind, and see the flop. Sam Boone, a kinesiology major, stays in with me. On the flop, no sevens come down, but there is an ace. The ace is always scary when you don't have it, because anybody with an ace in the pocket is likely to at least call the big blind. I check, which means the betting passes to him. This way I can get a feel of what he has. Boone bet $150. I decided immediately that he didn't have the ace. Either he has a low pair like me, or he has nothing, and he's trying to buy the pot. Whatever the case, it doesn't really matter. Now I can use that ace to my advantage. I called the bet, and raised $200 over the top, hoping to convince Boone that I'd been slow playing the ace and was sitting on a high pair. Either that worked, or he didn't have anything in the first place, but he folded, surrendering the pot to me.
I remained hot and won both the fifth and sixth hands. I had nothing on both hands, but was able to bluff my opponents out of the hands.
After that, things steadied out for me. Play went on, and I was feeling pretty comfortable. At about this time our table lost it's first player. Freshman Daniel Busch flopped two pair of queens and sevens. Across the table Matt Jancaitas had high pair - kings. Both players bet a significant amount, and the turn came down, a four. Busch had no way of knowing, but fellow freshman Jancaitas had just gotten two pairs, kings and fours. Jancaitas bet first, and bet high. Busch took his time considering his options, and then he put it all on the line.
"All in." The bet surprised everyone, but it didn't take Jancaitas too long to call. Both players turned over the cards to show that Jancaitas had the leading hand. The river didn't bring Busch any help, and his ride was over.
Time went on, and I was catching pretty cold cards. For the most part I stayed out of hands, and didn't lose chips. Finally I caught a KQ preflop. I raised to $300, which pushed out all players except senior Brian Lemerend. The flop came down, and held two kings. I had just flopped a three-of-a kind, now I needed to play it right. I didn't want to scare him out of the pot, so I checked. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of anything, so he checked too. A queen came on fourth street which gave me a full house, kings full of queens. I couldn't check again with a full house, and only one round of betting remaining. I bet $300, the same size as my pre-flop bet; hopefully he would think I was betting on nothing. Lemerend didn't take the bet, and folded immediately.
Poker is funny that way.
Sometimes you catch a full house, and bet it slow, but your opponent still folds, and you can't capitalize, and sometimes you can make a tidy sum with a pair. With poker, the hand is less important than how the hand is played. Maybe there was no way I could have gotten more out of that hand, but I definitely didn't play it perfectly.
When Lemerend folded I went against my usual habit and flipped over my pocket cards to show the full house. Lemerend responded by saying, that he figured I had a good hand. That win felt more like a loss than anything else. Not only was I unable to capitalize on a full house, but I'd been read like a book.
As is often the case in "No Limit" Hold 'em, one bad hand, and it's all over. For me it was a poorly timed semi-bluff that caused my sudden defeat. Just like earlier in the game I was dealt pocket sevens. I called a pre-flop raise from Boone, and the flop came down, two jacks and a 10. This is always interesting. If my opponent has a jack or a 10, I'm beat. If he doesn't, and I check, he can easily bluff me out of the hand with nothing. So I decide to bluff. I bet $400, only to have Boone call and raise another $100. Either he has read my bluff and is trying to get me to fold, or he has a jack or 10. I should have known he wasn't trying to get me to fold, because he would have raised higher if that were the case, adding $100 to a $400 chip bet won't scare anyone off. Unfortunately, I convinced myself that he thought I was bluffing with nothing and was trying to bluff me out of my $400, so I called. The turn came down, and I knew it probably didn't affect either of our hands. I bet $500 still hoping he would fold, but he called, and I knew I was beat.
Then disaster struck. A seven came down on the river. I had made a full house. So if he had a jack or a 10 in his hand it didn't matter. Suddenly I had him beat, and I went all-in, hoping to get a call from Boone. I did.
"Four of a kind," he said matter-of-factly.
I stared dumbstruck turning over my cards to reveal the worthless full house. He had flopped a four-of-a-kind, and first, I had bluffed into it, then I had bet all-in. The hand was Boone's first big win, but he would have several more, and eventually placed second overall.
To add insult to injury I was left with about $400 in chips, because I held an edge over Boone when I went all in. I sat with $400, against players with $20,000. I did manage to double up once, and got up to $1,200 in chips, but with blinds about to double again, I went all-in with ace, queen pre-flop. I got called by those cursed pocket sevens again, which had come to finalize my defeat. As you can guess, I caught neither an ace nor a queen, and I was done.
I suppose I didn't play that poorly, but I was one of the first few to lose, lasting only about an hour-and-a-half. Of course I'm disappointed with how things turned out, but playing was an invaluable experience. Not only did I have fun while it lasted, but I got to get a brief glimpse inside the mind of a "No Limit" Texas Hold 'em player and experienced firsthand what makes the game the most exciting, an unpredictable game of poker out there.
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