another quickie

The Phil Hellmuth rubdown..

The first time I played with Phil Hellmuth was before the turn of century in Reno. I remember seeing Phil many times during that trip and how each time, it was always with great awe.

Our first meeting across the table was when the last three tables combined and he was sat two to my right. Back then, I was of course as cocky as hell (but always with a smile), so I was always looking to get into his head. Raising my blind again, I decided to slow play my 7-2os and check raise him on a flop of big cards. Of course, I couldn’t wait to show him when he mucked. To be fair, Phil was very generous and made some sort of comment that he didn’t mind getting outplayed every now and then. “Good”, I said, “cos you’d better get used it!”.

Just a few minutes later, I decided to not slow play my Q-Q and re-raise him. Holding A-K, Phil found it difficult not to at least call. Flopping another queen on a rag flop, I now had the perfect opportunity to trap the man. Unluckily for Phil, he paired one of his over-cards on the river and was forced to call all-in. But Phil liked his hand so much that I didn’t even get a chance to turn my hand over first.

On seeing his A-K, I pretend to be upset and bang the table in disgust. Of course, that reaction convinced him he had won the hand - until he saw my hand that is.

It wasn’t a slow roll as such as it was done at speed. But of course, Phil asked why I had banged the table in that manner. I explained to Phil that I didn’t bang the table very often, but this time, I was just too upset at the outcome. “How can busting me upset you” Phil asked. I explained that I didn’t want to him busted at this stage, because I wanted him heads-up! How cocky was I back then?

Anyway, strange how things turn out. I got to be great friends with Phil and began to appreciate just what a true gent he is away from the table. In truth, I doubt if there is a more generous and trustworthy person than Phil. As it happens, Phil and I are now full partners in a new games company that we set up a couple of months back. We are starting off with four games that I created and with a few more in reserve. It’s obviously early days, but I do hope he gets rewarded for his great belief in the games.

One more thing about Phil, there is simply no other player that works as hard as he does - the guy is a machine. .

Moving on….

I always liked Allen Cunningham from the first moment I played with at Hollywood Park Casino in LA back in the late nineties. As it happens, we seemed to find ourselves in the same table more often than not in the years that followed. In fact, I was witness to many bad beats that Allen suffered before his great rush of a couple of years ago. So much so, that I even wrote an article about him for the US publication, Poker Player. I remember saying how much he could do with a bit of luck for a change. Well, that’s exactly what Allen got to win his first WSOP bracelet at the Rio….

As I recall (hope I get the facts right here), in that tournament, Allen was all-in pre flop for his last 700 chips (blinds 150-300) with K-9 and was called by three other players. I think the flop was something like A-4-4. The betting was as follows…

A-J checks as does T-T. For some reason, the fourth player in the hand decides to push all-in with his big stack of around 40K, holding 7-8!. I suspect he must have had a flush draw, but even so, with Allen all-in, it was probably the craziest bet ever made at the WSOP.

A-J probably thought about it but not for too long before mucking. T-T obviously mucked without thinking. So as it stood, Allen’s King high was ahead. But the story doesn’t end there….

The turn card was a Ten as was the river. Obviously, the guy with T-T was not too pleased about the move from the 7-8, while at the same time, the guy with A-J was thanking his lucky stars for the sheer stupidity of the play. In the mayhem that followed, everyone, including the dealer, failed to notice that it was actually now a split pot and pushed all the chips to Allen. Allen went on the win the event and then another and another….Great player and what a way for one’s luck to change! Funny game this poker….