Hollywood in Vegas, Bad Beat turns 6K pot with Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen.
Part One, Bad Beat.
It’s Thursday night, 7pm, I’m at a 2/5 blinds No Limit table at the Mirage (my new least favorite game in the world….haven’t seen that many tight bitches since I did a stint at BYU in 1992… I raise $5….everyone folds.) Buy in is max $300. I got busted on my 3rd hand, pocket kings beat by pocket aces…I re-bought…I build my stack back up to around $550, a nice come back. I get pocket kings AGAIN. New guy who just sat down raises pre-flop to $10 (a lot for that bitch-table)…I limp and call. Flop come 6/K/Q with two diamonds. He bets $100, I raise to $200…. In an over-the-top, exaggerated, Hollywood-style move he bellows “I’M ALL IN!!!!�… I flip my kings over to show the set…He turns over pocket 8s, one of which is a diamond. He says “Wow, guess that wasn’t a very good move�. Swear to Christ. With two cards left, he has almost no outs… Turn comes ten of Diamonds, River comes Ace of diamonds, giving him a runner, runner, runner, runner….Ace-high diamond flush. Fuck. Now I’m bent. Now, I normally don’t get too riled up on a bad beat…but I was quite annoyed…. I’ve already stood up and collected my shit (along with my leftover chips, I had him well covered….) I turn to him and say “you stupid fuck, that was the worst call I’ve seen in six months. I’d stick around and take my money back from your moronic ass, but I don’t want your idiocy to rub off on me�. Then, to make matters worse, with Kelly, AKA Blondie, sitting right behind me, I scream at the top of my lungs ‘FUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCK�. The WHOLE room comes to a standstill…I leave. Quickly.
Part two, Redemption.
After the Mirage disaster, I tell my sweetie I need to take off…blow off some steam… I get in a taxi and head for the Bellagio…. (you’re supposed to keep playing after a bad beat, right?)… I’m pissed, bitter, on tilt…. I have about 3K in my pocket. Oblivious to everything, everyone, I walk up and find a seat open at the 10/20 blinds, no-limit table in the high stakes area. It’s crowded, people standing around, packed…..I’m thinking it must be my lucky day to get a seat…The minimum buy-in is $600. I buy in for 1K and post. I’ve got my headphones on (MP3 player), I’m ignoring everyone, still thinking about my trip kings getting busted…. First few hands are non-eventful… After about the 4th hand, I’m looking around, at the rail, the other tables, etc…wondering what the fuck all the hoo-hah is about, I look to my right and two seats away from me is Phil Ivey. Right next to him, Gus Hansen. Gus’ luggage is right behind his chair, presumably he came right to the poker table from the airport..didn’t even check in… That’s my kind of poker player. Well, NOW I’m interested.. I take the headphones off and start paying attention. People keep coming up to Phil and Gus ( Phil mostly) for pictures, interrupting the game.. Finally, they put up the ropes so nobody can get through… So, let me set the scene…I’m playing 10/20 No Limit with Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Mike Ross and god knows who else..behind the ropes in the high limit area at the Bellagio. Fucking perfect. I notice that my little 1K stack looks feeble compared to others, so I get another 1K in chips. This will turn out to be an incredibly good decision. 2 hands later, I get A/10 suited (spades) on the button….Player in first position raises to $100, four others call (including Mr. Hansen), I call on the button. Flop comes 8s, Ks, Qd . I’ve got four to the nut flush, and the nut straight draw. Player 1 raises to a thousand. A thousand! Hansen folds, as do two others. Player in 8th position calls…Now there’s Approx. $2,500 in the pot. I call with half my chips. Fucking god alive…I’m definitely paying attention now. Turn comes Ace of Diamonds. Now I have top pair…no flush yet, no straight yet. Player 1 shoves…all in. Player 7 shoves…all in. I think, Christ! What do these guys have. The board has not paired up so a nut flush wins…. Only spades are viable for the flush… I look down at my stack..shaking my head, knowing that if I lose this hand, a large portion of my vegas bankroll is history. I figure I have 15 outs (9 spades, 4 jacks, 2 aces)…. I call. There are now three people all in, two of whom have shoved with half chips/half hundred dollar bills (at this table, hundreds, and only hundreds, play as long as they’re on the table, next to your chips when you sit down)…so there’s a huge chip stack covered with $100 bills….I’m feeling like it’s all a bit surreal. People on the rail are literally clapping and hollering…..The river, the glorious fucking river….comes Jack of Clubs… NUT STRAIGHT!!!!! Player one turns over one pair (kings)…what the hell was he thinking? Player two turns over two pair, Kings and Eights. All he needed was another 8 or K for a boat..So, I had less outs then I thought. Regardless, the dealer is shoving so much money my way, I can hardly breathe… Everyone at the table is saying great hand, blah blah blah… The two players who were all in are leaving, I’m text-messaging Kelly and Jasen as fast as I can…..�I JUST WON $6000 IN ONE HAND!!!!�. Never had so much fun in my life. So, I have to silently thank dumb-ass over at the Mirage for booting me off that table, otherwise, I’d never have met Phil and Gus, and never have been in that hand. Kelly made it over to the Bellagio in time to meet Phil and witness my stacks of $20 chips…
Only downside is going back to play 8/16 or 15/30…Uh oh, he just raised me $8, what should I do…Christ, I was in a $6000 hand with Gus Hansen. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
