blonde poker

 

No poker till Monday for me as its all non-hold'em stuff today and tomorrow. I used my last pair of boxer shorts this morning so took a trip to Caesar's Palace Forum shops to re-stock. I decided to stop off at The Bellagio on the way and exercise my WPT 5 Diamonds demons. I hadn't been there since December when I went out 52nd (50th got paid $25K) in the $15K main when I was standing 6th in chips before the hand of death - I held JJ, re-raised the 4th chip leader, he called, flop AA8, he checked, I checked, turn 9, he bet $50k, I moved all-in for $500K representing AK and he called holding A5 of clubs and I was out. I sat at the bar reminiscing the flack I got from everyone after making that move (even total strangers had generously stopped by to tell me I was an idiot that day). Its only over the last couple of months that I have been able admit to myself why I did it - I believe now I made the move for 2 reasons; primarily because I was on the TV table and secondly, I was still really unhappy about the previous hand, when Howard Lederer had correctly laid down KQc on the BB before the flop when I put in a very small raise with AA - he was so close to re-raising me all-in as it was the 3rd consecutive time I had raised his big blind. Anyway, just as I was pondering all of this, a well known Chinese tournament pro (although I can't remember his name!) interrupted my day dreaming by tapping me on the back and saying hey, you the guy that fuxxed up in the WPT, yes?, I smiled through gritted teeth as I remembered he was one of the strangers that had spent over an hour telling me that I suck at poker immediately after my tournament exit. He then asked me for a cigarette, and a light, and then without a word, walked back into the high limit card room still shaking his head in disapproval - anyone would have thought he had paid me into the damn thing. The relevant point here is that top pros never forget a hand or a face, even when they are not even in the hand or on the table! I think I because I am half Chinese, I tend to get a lot of the older Chinese players giving me advice, which is always welcome. I remember Willy Tan taking me aside after I had been playing 3 months and saying, you gotta stop playing this way, son, after he had took all my money in a cash game! It's been one of those days I'm afraid, I even tried a short cut out of Caesars through the casino employee exit and nearly got run over on the freeway and it took over me 2 hours to walk back to the Rio!