Since I play poker 40 hours a week in casinos I can (and will) have lots of poker stories to share here on this blog. One recent tournament I was in was off the hook, however. It was an invitational tournament run by a casino where they invited their best (meaning “losing”) gamblers to play. I was able to play because of my video poker play at the casino. It wasn’t because of my poker play. What was particularly nice about this invitational is that the players were blackjack, baccarat, and slot players. These were not poker players, and many of them didn’t even know the basics of the game.

I had one hand where I had 9,000 in chips and the blinds were 200-400. I had pocket aces in middle position and raised to 1200 preflop. The small blind called me and we saw the flop which was 983 of different suits. The small blind bet 1600 into me. I decided to go all in with the aces. There are a number of hands where I would be way behind. If he had 99, 88, 33, 98 or another two pair then I was in pretty bad shape, but I just couldn’t fold the aces there. He thinks and calls 6,000 more. I don’t know if I’m good or not when he calls until we show our hands. He has A6 offsuit. He called my raise with an ace-high no pair. No flush draw. No pair. No nothing really. The turn came with a 5 which made me a little nervous since he picked up a possible straight with a 7, but it didn’t come and I won the hand.

There is bad play and then there’s this. It’s very, very bad.

On another hand which I was not involved in, the flop came A96. The early position person bet 400. Another person raised to 1200. The original person betting called the raise. The turn was a 6. First person checks, other person checks. River is a 2. First person checks, other person checks. Late position guy shows 99 for a full house, 9s full of sixes. Other person throws away his hand. Mister 99 says “When that 6 paired I was sure you had pocket 6s and had quads.” He was scared of 4-of-a-kind.

I ended up finishing the tournament in 6th place (out of 330 players) and won $9,000. Needless to say, if you can get into a poker tournament that’s made up of casino gamblers (not poker players), I highly recommend you do so.

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