Living the Good Life in London
No jet lag for us nope, not this time. We arrived to the WSOPE in London after a trip to Paris so I was a massive favortie to not asleep at the tables.
I have been gambling for about 120 years now (combination vampire and highlander genetic coding)and in all that time I have never been exposed to a better tournament structure then what I played at the WSOPE in London this September 2008. It was strange. A tournament structure that was essentially perfect. The blinds and levels moved along so slowly that I figured it would take about three months to get a winner. (That is hyperbole by the way.) In the end it took six days at twelve hours a day if I recall correctly. And at the end John Juanda reigned triumphant.
The structure in this event paralleled that of a deep stacked cash game perfect. I am ashamed to say that it took me the better part of six hours to see this. But when I fi nally came to I was fully stunned by how perfect, and how slow it all was! Ok, enough on that.
There are times in life where having a bad memory is good and there are times where it is not good. This was one of the times where it would be nice if I could remember more of it. This was a trip with so many high points I feel I am cheating you by only touching on some of them from time to time...
I am going to skip the Paris part... I think that was my last ar ticle... not sure... anyway... The first event here in London was the £1,500 event. I know that I player it (I still have the forlorn receipt as proof). However, I have nearly no memory of it at all. I died about twenty out of the money... but I honestly can’t remember what happened, who was at my table, or anything. I Should pull a Gus and start recording my poker life. Then at least there would be a digital archive of the moments lost. I also have this sneaking feeling that I would build fewer stu pid holes.
What was next? Oh yeah. The 5,000 PLO event. Lots of memories. I loved this event. Pot Limit Omaha is the best form of poker that exists — this event also had a righteous structure. And as a bonus I ended up at a fun table. I had the fi sh! Mr. Devilfi sh Dave Ulliot to be precise. Playing with one of the kingpins of poker entertainment, I could not have been happier. For a while I had Yevgeniy Timoshenko (the Russian kid who won all that money in Macau) on my right. We had a huge pot early on where I very uncharacteristically held on for the four-bullet ride with a mere nine-high flush, but it all worked out as he was running the dry ace play on me. While he was around I was happy to have him on my right. I suspected that he might have been one of the best at the table. (I am keenly aware of how playing a gazillion hands online can transform a young fl exible brain into a whizzingly sharp, über clever player.) It was my fi rst time playing with him and he was 100% without tells. I know that Navarro would disagree, as in his world everyone has them.
After Yevgeniy busted out Sorel Mizzi took his spot. This was also nice as Sorel is a buddy of mine. Not so nice that he is another genius, but at least he was on my right as well. (Some wizards of poker want the fi sh on their right and the pros on their left... I am of the opposite camp... But that is for another article.)
Theo Jorgensen (also at my table) eventually went on to win that event and Sorel came in second. I love Theo... I have known him forever. He is just the sort of guy that you like to be around. Real simple.
I have no idea how it came up but I got wind of an interesting bet. Theo and his buddy Gus Hansen are working on a boxing bet. In February they are going to have an offi cial boxing match at the same time of the EPT in Copenhagen (Feb. 19-23) and I think it will be amazing. (Exact dates of their bet, not sure, but around that time.)
Theo made no secret of the fact that he hired a trainer for himself. He has been training with one of the world’s most premier boxing trainers and he never misses a workout. Theo tells me that the training sessions are full out insane! It is now at the point that Theo takes the boxing stance when he is relaxed and just talking to someone. He can’t stop punching imaginary opponents as he shadow boxes in his mind.
Why is he so gung-ho? Pride and money, of course! Lots of pride, because if he can win he will topple an über human. Gus Hansen. Über Man. The guy that runs from hole to hole when he golfs — no walking or carts for this guy. Breakfast: a head of caulifl ower and one hundred push ups. The guy is probably in the top 0.1% of fi tness for his age group. Besides being really, really great at a ton of different sports he is also the kingpin when it comes to games. Poker, backgammon, and Yahtzee being just three of many.
The über man versus regular guy. What is riding on this? $40,000. Theo wisely kept the number “small” to try and keep from Gus getting too gung-ho. I know $40k is a big number, but remember, Gus plays in games where $40k fl uctuations in the space of a few hands are common. Theo also smartly stipulated that Gus could not take on additional action. He knows that he is dead if Gus gets manic and trains like the bandit he can be.
I love this number. It is a decent enough amount so that Theo is taking his training very seriously, yet still small enough that Gus may delay his training until it is too late.
That is a fi ght that I want to watch. The line on that match will totally depend on how much Gus trains. No training and he will be 30 to 1 or worse... With ample training — Theo is drawing dead. But with some amount of training in between (which is most likely) then I think the match will be close and a blast to watch.
I would like to say, for the record, I believe there is a direct correlation between all the training Theo put in for his boxing bet and the fact that he went on to win the $5k PLO event. If he needed a card it came — his chi was in full parallel with the universe that week and the karmic gods saw to it that he took all the money.
Sorel took second in the PLO event. At one point, we both had the nuts on the turn, all the money went in, and then I puked when one of his four outs to scoop came on the river. Bleck. If I have to die, it might as well be him. Thankfully he went on to win a cool $262,000!
The day after the PLO event about fi fteen of us went to some splendiferous place and spent lots on all sorts of tastiness. There were about nine guys so losing the high card was going to be unlikely, but if you did it was going to be REALLY, REALLY painful. But before we got a chance to gamble, Sorel volunteered to pick up the bill. Wow! Sorel, thanks again. (£1,800, or $3,500 in all). Ouch.
Random story... Towards the end of dinner a buddy of Antonio’s comes in for a hello. Hootan. He does not follow poker and does not gamble. However, out of nowhere he brings up the time where (at dinner two years ago in London) he saw me beat Antonio out of $26k on a game of chance. Anyway, Hootan brings up this moment from the past and for some strange reason a feeling of being an amazingly lucky person just sort of swept thru me. I found myself offering Antonio a rematch of that fateful game of three-card poker from back in 2006. And for the same $26k that I had whacked him for two years earlier. It was weird. I felt invincible and wanted him to accept.
Random footnote. I have been trying to cure myself of 50-50s for about two years now. I have made massive improvements. But still, occasionally I break down and need a fi x. Back in the day it was pretty bad. The worst was when I found myself walking from table to table at the Commerce, stack of chips in hand — betting $10k per fl op — with a random fellow degen from the high stakes limit games. (We roamed about the low limit Hold’em tables so as to get more fl ops in.) During my run of 50-50s I have had my fair share of pleasure and pain. In 2006 I had a hugely painful run — losing lots of heavy 50-50s (one to genius28 for $50k). Anyway, about a year ago I really started to pull the rudder back on this sickness. I have improved IMMENSELY... but what can I do?
What kind of gambler would I be if I didn’t break down from time to time? Well, I guess I would be the type that I aspire to be someday... but that is for me to worry about later. Right now I have a serious 50-50 moment brewing and the last thing I want to do is spoil it by being rational. This is not the time to make ripples in the time continuum. 50-50s are a blend of surfi ng the now — caring... not caring — and being in the fl ow all at the same time. Any disruption to the time fabric around you can shake the fl ow and like a collapsed house of cards you may be left wondering what just happened.
I was fully put off by the next moment. Antonio leans over to Sorel and asks him if he wants to take half his action! Ooops. Antonio is reversing the chi. Sorel has already offered to pay for dinner so the universe energy is fl owing his way — this makes him a valuable asset to have for a game of pure chance.
But wait. If I state that the offer is only for Antonio (no splitting the action) one of two things may happen. One is that the bet doesn’t go off, and I am feeling lucky so that would be a waste, or two, he takes all the action himself. By rising to the chi challenge, so to speak, he will gain in the short-term karmic power struggle that immediately precedes a massive 50-50.
Of course, I see that the only real out is to let him diminish his own chi by having a partner and then just hope the universe punishes him for being a coward. Hopefully the karmic gods will see that Antonio is trying to gain an unfair foothold in the chi department by adding the very loveable, good guy Sorel onto his team and they will punish him for this. As fast as this thought enters my mind I dismiss it. It is clearly a bad play to feel the karmic gods should side with you in a 50-50, or that you deserve to win. That sort of thinking is often punished.
So, just seconds later Sorel is in for half and now the only thing to do is deal the cards and see who gets whacked.
As for them, 2c for me. 5h for them, 4h for me. Down card for them, down card for me.
Straights and fl ushes count. A three would give me the nuts and a 2 or 4 would make me a huge favorite. All in all it is looking a bit bleak. In an attempt to gain unfair edge I accept my impending doom and try to make one with it (trying to gain karmic edge)... This is, of course, playing with fi re. The karmic gods are no dummies, if they think you are up to something they often reward you with pain. However, I am in a tough enough spot that I take this line and just go with it.
Well, when I peeled up my down card to see the 3h, you can imagine the rush of life that poured through me. It was so truly pure. The stone cold nuts, and I was $26,000 richer. I could feel the universe hum. The meditating mountain men and I were listening to the same tune. Hummmmmmm. Distilled purity of the highest form. There was only one little problem. It was a bittersweet victory. Antoniofs money is why I could hear that perfect hum. I had no karmic interest in Sorelfs money. I collected of course, but why did it have to be Sorel? Why did Antonio have to drag him into this losing chi battle? Gross. But sometimes winning is not always pretty. Thank you Antonio, and sorry Sorel. And Sorel, thanks again for picking up that massive dinner bill.
Enough on that... Back to poker... Out of nowhere I fi nd myself at the featured table in the £10k fi - nal event with the likes of Annette Obrestad, Johnny Lodden, Antonio Esfandiari, and others. It was one of the most fun sessions of poker I have played in a long time. And not just because of the pleasure I got from Lodden constantly outplaying Antonio — yes, I really did enjoy that. The best part of the day was playing “Lodden Thinks”.
Lodden Thinks is a great game. Often great things are created out of necessity and this was no exception. What happened was this. Antonio and I were dishing our regular bullshit banter back and forth when one of the players at the table jokingly said that we needed new material. He was right. There is nothing more boring than hearing the same ol’ random crap over and over again. This was going to be a long session, and even though I was in the mood for some banter I was determined not to deliver boredom.
Out of nowhere I saw the light. Let’s bet on what Lodden thinks! Pure genius! No moving parts needed, no preparation is needed. Just Lodden (or a fi ll in as Lodden won’t always be available). It turned out to be the most fun side game I have ever played at a poker table. We played this game on and off for about fi ve hours straight! It was never-ending fun.
This is how you play: Two people bet on what Johnny Lodden (or fi ll in) thinks the right answer is to whatever question you put to him. Then the two players enter a Chinese auction until one player gives. The best part is this... None of the three players need to know the actual answer! The bet only hinges on what Johnny Lodden (or fi ll in) thinks is the right answer, not the actual answer! (If Lodden is not available the game is still called Lodden Thinks. The only difference is that now you pick someone else to be the Lodden fi ll in.)
• Most hot dogs anyone has eaten in 10 minutes? • Fastest land speed? • Most push-ups done continuously? • Longest time to hold one’s breath? • How long would it take for Antonio to learn Norwegian? • When did Marco Traniello lose his virginity? • Longest continuous video game session ever played?
At fi rst Antonio was clobbering me but once I got the rhythm of how Lodden thought I was soon getting unstuck... We ended about even but I did happen to learn some interesting things. (One of the players named Willie from Wales was Googling some of our questions and had the right answer ready for us after Lodden gave us what he thought the answer was.)
• 66 hot dogs in twelve minutes. • Fastest land speed — 763 mph. • 10,507 push ups. • 9 minutes 8 seconds without a breath. •I am running out of space but I just want to give a few other quick highlights of the trip... • Jennifer gets a straight fl ush against a young Scandinavian’s full house (quads on the river) for about a £17,000 pot. • Giovanni’s — the best Italian food ever, but good luck fi nding this place. (Giovanni’s Restaurant, 10 Goodwin’s Court, St Martin’s Lane.) • A double scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream every day from Ben and Jerry’s. • Sunny every day. (Yes, London and sun at the same time!) • A werewolf-like run thru Saint James park where a buddy of mine and I rushed through like a pair of wild crazed animals. • Dim sum for breakfast every day. (Chinatown was about a forty-second walk from the casino.) • Henrik Gwinner (a.k.a. Jimmy Hendrix) was in town. Jimmy is a fun Danish buddy of mine who I have not seen in like about a hundred years. • Getting more quality time with John Tabatabai and his crew. • And... playing in Matchroom Poker’s televised cash game: * Some quality time with two of my favorites, Mad Marty and Jesse May. * Meeting Sammy “Any Two”. (This guy was the most fun poker player I have met in ages.) * Watching on as Neil Channing fi red multiple barrels with air (unsuccessfully) against Richard the Great’s A-Q. * And last but not least, sitting next to Neil Channing for thirty hours straight. Marvelous, just marvelous. Neil, by the way, is one of the few guys that everyone loves even after going broke to him. He is just that guy.
Ok, gotta hop. And remember, responsible gambling!
