One of the most oft-quoted lines from the 2005 World Series of Poker broadcast on ESPN–or at least the most aired by ESPN–was Phil Hellmuth, after a hand laydown, standing up and announcing that he could “dodge bullets.” Well I’m here to tell you that I did just that, twice, and lived to tell about it.
Not only lived, but won.
I decided to play the daily tournament at Bay 101, as it was my last day in the South Bay. It’s a spread limit tournament, but the way the limits go up, it ends up being a no-limit tournament after a few rounds anyway.
I got lucky early. In the first round, I was UTG and found pocket kings. I came in for a standard raise and everyone folded to the button, who re-raised. The blinds folded and I raised back. He raised once more, putting me–and him–all-in. I thought for a bit, wondering if he had the only hand that was a favorite: AA. I finally called, and he showed AKo. No aces came on the board and I doubled up early.
Just as a side note, I had pocket kings one other time in the tournament and they held up as well.
Dodging aces Number One. The table had gotten a new player on my immediate right, who was playing fast and loose, raising with a wide variety of hands and seemingly trying to steal blinds and pots. I was UTG again and found pocket tens. I made a standard raise, and everyone folded around to him. He went all-in. I had him covered, but I had to think. I recognized that he could have made that play with either a solid hand or in trying to steal. I decided to call–and he turned up the bullets.
The flop came Q-9-8, the turn was a blank, but the river brought a miracle jack.
Actually, thought, it’s not quite such a miracle, because that flop added 4 outs to my hand; I had 6 outs twice at that point, not 2. Still, it was a longshot draw, but it gave me a nice pile of ships.
A bit later, I was in the big blind where several players had limped and I found J-10 suited. The flop came J-10-8 and I checked, intending to check-raise. The person to my left indeed led out. I think there was a caller or two, but he was the only one to call–just call, remember that–my check-raise.
The turn brought another J and I had the nuts. I bet, he raises all-in, and I quickly call. Turns out he had Q-9o and had flopped the then-nut straight. Would I have called had he re-raised my flop check-raise? I don’t know.
But hands such as those, as well as playing my big hands solidly and taking few beats left me in good chip position and I made the final table with one of the bigger chip stacks. When the play got down to the last 5, one player–a pushy and rude young pup–suggested a chop, and continued to press for it even after I said I like practicing my shorthanded play.
Then again, at that point, I also liked my chances of winning it all.
When we got down to three players, I got beat by the eventual third-place finisher to give me a bit of a short stack, but careful play combined with a little luck allowed me to grow the stack back up, and ended up heads up, ironically against the player who was pushing for the chop and the guaranteed money, irony because he’d now make more no matter where he finished.
There was a bit of a back and forth, and with the chip lead and blinds at 5K and 10K, I raised with Q-5o. He re-raised me all-in. I thought for a moment, and figured that I was likely getting the right odds to call, and if I made a bad decision, I still had chips with which to fight.
Well, it turns out I wasn’t getting the right odds. He flipped over the second pair of bullets I faced that day and I figured I was in for a fight.
Until the flop, that is, when a miracle happened. Two fives hit the flop. I had trips and the lead. The turn and the river did nothing for either of us and I had the win.
Interestingly, he was gracious in defeat. And I was feeling mighty lucky to have drawn out on him as the heavy underdog.
But after thinking about it a bit, I realized something too. I played a good game for several hours, and that mostly solid play put me in that position to be the recipient of that luck. If I’d been careless or overaggressive in early rounds, I might very well have been bounced out much, much earlier.
So there you have it. Pocket aces–bullets–faced twice, taken down twice. Take that, Phil.