AP news

June 28, 2009

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Recounting Two Key Hands & Monster Pots
By Mark Seif

I don’t know. I’m getting kind of tired of writing about lost golden opportunities for big bucks in big online poker games tournaments. There have been so many over the past several years. When I recount them, I have to relive those key hands that brought the house a-tumbling and that’s always painful, regardless of how long it’s been. But, I guess, in a sense, it’s therapeutic, and more importantly, the process causes me to think in detail about exactly what happened that led to the latest disaster. Any top pro will tell you this type of post-mortem analysis is key to improving his game and avoiding similar mistakes in the future. So here we go – again.

But first, I’ll describe a tough, although ultimately bad call I made early on, which put me in great chip shape. Doug Dalton, Jack McClelland, and their staff are seasoned experts at running big-time poker tournaments, as evidenced by the fact that back in 2006 a then remarkable 606 players ponied-up $25,000 each to enter the WPT Championship at the Bellagio. First place paid over $3.7 million, and with 50,000 in starting chips, along with 90 minute rounds, this was a tournament that suited my game and my goals. I wanted to take this one down.

My pre-tournament strategy was to survive Day One and build chips in Day Two. In short, I was going to give up small edge/high risk opportunities in favor of chipping away when I clearly had the best of it. I was determined to play a controlled, relatively lower-variance game early on.

I normally try not to have any distractions on game day, but the morning of the main event was a bit unusual. I received a series of calls I had to take. Each of them was important and required some follow-up. By the time I arrived at the Bellagio, I knew that my focus and preparation were lacking. But as a pro, I had to suck it up and perform anyway or else I’d join the NFL. This acronym does not stand for National Football League. No. It stands for Not For Long.

At my starting table was easily the wildest man in the tournament. His name is Robert Alexander. Alexander is rumored to have owned the company that developed the wildly successful and even more controversial video game, Grand Theft Auto. Alexander is not really a poker player, but he loves to gamble, and I mean gamble big. I know this because Alexander and I played at the Bellagio together a few times. We are talking about a guy who can win or lose several million dollars in one session. Not just in poker.

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