Short Stacks

Let’s start by saying Barry Greenstein is the man. Not only is the guy a massive talent and force within this game, but he’s a philanthropist, too!

Last night, as we were nearing the end of the day’s play, Barry came back to the tournament room accompanied by an elderly couple, Wayne and Faye Mastberg. Faye pushed Wayne’s wheelchair up to our booth here and Barry made the introductions, then went on to explain that an organization similar to the Make a Wish Foundation had sent the Mastbergs to Vegas to fulfill Wayne’s dying wish: to play poker with the pros.

Wayne has asbestos in his lungs, and doctors to give him two months to live. Back home in Sweet Home, Oregon, poker is all they talk about. Barry pointed out how this exemplifies poker’s American spirit, and how unfortunate the recent legislation is. Still, the gathering wasn’t about politics; it was about playing for all of the chips.

Bellagio provided a dealer and table for the match, and Barry started by saying, “Wayne, I don’t care what your medical condition is. I’m going to try to win. The game was on: $5/$10 NL Hold’em with each player starting with $200.

Barry was all excuses in the beginning. “This guy has a real advantage over me. He’s studied my game on TV and I’ve never seen him play.” Despite shaking knees, Greenstein found his way to the table and play got under way.

For the first fifteen minutes, they traded money back and forth. Barry was loose, commenting, “I think the oxygen tank is a setup” and, “The last time I played a guy who had two months to live, it was John Bonetti.” (Bonetti was given three months to live before the 2004 WSOP. He’s still going). With news crews present, Barry let his son Joe Sebok sub in while he granted media requests.

Joe was friendly with an “aw, shucks” attitude as he proceeded to take Wayne’s remaining $150. Upon completion, Barry chided, “You took a dying man’s money? How did I raise you?” Finally, Barry gave Wayne an autographed copy of Ace on the River, saying “You didn’t win this time, so you’ll have to come back next year and try again.” “I’ll try,” Wayne replied, happily.

It was a wonderful display of what’s great about the game. We hope Washington is reading.

I really like to get a good feel for my table early on. I feel out who is playing their first live tournament, who got there through internet qualifiers – that kind of thing. This helps me determine my strategy for that table. There are a few ways that I go about this. First of all, I just talk to the people directly around me; shoot the shit a little bit. A lot of times they will tell me how they got into the event. Another thing I look for is how comfortable they are at the table. Do they know how to handle chips? Do they know how to look at their cards? If I raise the big blind, and he sits and looks at his cards for a little while, pondering, he probably has a hand like Q-9 or J-8, which should, in the Big Blind, be an instant call. However, a lot of times, I see the player shake his head a bit and muck. Now I know I have a tight player, maybe an internet qualifier who got in for thirty bucks. I can now use this information and raise this guy pretty frequently, because I know he will only defend his big blind with big hands.

Now, on the other hand, sometimes you get that internet qualifier who is an absolute maniac. These folks are easy to spot as well, because they are fearless and are playing a lot of pots. I tend to be a little bit more selective playing this type of player.

When I first sit down at a table, I like to set my image immediately. I already have an image from what people see on television, and that image is one of a maniac. A crazy fool. What people don’t get is that I am only a crazy fool before the flop. Sure, I’m in there raising a bunch of pots pre-flop, but every time you see me in a large pot post-flop, I have a hand. I don’t get all my chips in there with nothing. I get all my chips in there when I have a hand that backs that up. Because of my lunatic image, people aren’t afraid to get all their money in against me with just top pair after the flop, whereas they might be more cautious against a tight player. So that’s the first step: setting or confirming my image as a maniac.

Everyone has read all these books on poker. There are about a hundred books on how to play tournament poker. They all say to play very tight and conservative until the antes come into play in the later levels of Day 1. This is a very common known strategy. What I like to do is take advantage of the fact that everybody has read those books. I’m going to play a lot of pots early, and take a lot of that money that no one seems interested in picking up. By the time the antes kick in, I want to be the guy who has a lot of chips, and then I can turn it up even more and pound on those shorter stacks.

The final table bubble is a little bit different from the money bubble in a large field, large buy-in tournament. The difference in money between fifteenth and first place is pretty significant. As with everything in poker, knowing your table is imperative in this situation. If I am at a fairly aggressive table, I tend to sit back a little bit and play more passively. If I’m not playing a lot of pots and other guys are, there’s a good chance people will bust out before me. However, if I notice everyone else is sitting back and waiting to hit the final table, then I’ll play more aggressively, grabbing the blinds and antes.

As in any tournament, however, timing is a key factor. For instance, at the 10k WPT event at the Bellagio in October, I lost a big hand on the final table bubble that caused me to go out 13th, when I could have made the final table if things had played out differently. With the blinds 6k-12k, Can Kim Hua made it 45k to go, and I looked down at As Qd. I had about 260k when the average was about 550K. I made it 160k to go, and he went all in. I was committed to making the call, and I did. Unfortunately, he had kings. The flop came Js 3s 5s, so I picked up 12 outs. The turn was a deuce, so now I picked up four more outs. So with one card to come, I would win with any ace, four, or spade. The river was the 8c, and I was out.

Even if I had smooth-called pre-flop, I was still likely to go broke with this hand, considering the flop that was dealt. This is a great example of how, even on the final table bubble, timing is everything.