Tony Guerrera

Sunday, I played in the Poker Author Challenge at Binion's in Las Vegas. I've spent a bit of time in Vegas during summer months, but this was my first visit to Vegas in January. All I can say is that it was damn cold...make sure you bring some warm clothing!

The day started at 9:00AM. The participating authors got together for a meeting and set things up. Being that I couldn't get myself to fall asleep until 4:00AM the night before, I was pretty tired. I usually make it a habit never to schedule things in the morning, but occasionally, forces outside of my control prevail.

From 10:00AM until noon, we spent a lot of time talking amongst ourselves and with people walking by to see what was going on. Meeting the other authors and talking strategy with them was great. I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone I met at the tournament.

Besides meeting the authors taking place in the tournament, I also had the pleasure of meeting Wise Hand Poker's own Jennifer Newell and Garry Gates. I've been interacting with Jennifer via email for the past several months, submitting articles for American Poker Player to her, but even though she lives in West LA, which isn't too far from Pasadena, it was the first time we had met. Meanwhile, Garry, a Las Vegas local, decided not to play in the Sunday Million Guaranteed on Poker Stars to stop by and say "hi." Next time I'm in Vegas, I have to play in his home game, which now features a poker table recently procured from the Stardust. Garry and his friends better learn how to play Super Duper Twist (see my articles)--hehe.

The tournament started at noon with 48 entrants. The other authors and I put up $20 each in a last longer bet, but I declined a heads-up last longer of $50 against Killer Poker's John Vorhaus (JV). The blind structure was fairly fast, meaning that I was going to look to make moves early. Because of this, I knew that I was either going to be eliminated quickly, or that I was going to make it very far, and I know JV's style well enough to know that he probably had an edge in a last longer given how I was going to play (incidentally, I ended up outlasting him, but oh well, I'll just rob him blind in the next home game we play, which will be this coming Thursday).

We started with 3,000 in chips, and blinds started at 25-50. Early in the tournament, I was in the big blind with 85o, and after 3 players limped, I raised to 400. Everyone folded, and I showed. An orbit later, I had 97o in late position. One player in middle position limped, I raised to 300, and both the big blind and the middle position limper called. The flop came Q33 (ugh, I think it was 33...I just remember that the board was paired and that there were two low cards along with two of the same suit on the board). Both players checked to me, and I seriously considered a continuation bet. But given that my stack was 2,700, that the pot was 900, and that I thought that a player with an ace would call me, I checked. I didn't think that a continuation bet had a high enough probability of success to be worthwhile. The turn was an ace. Action was checked to me, and I was certain that the lady in the big blind, who had already established herself as an extremely passive player, had hit the ace. I checked behind, and a 7 fell on the river. Action checked to me and I checked behind. Sure enough, the lady in the big blind had A5 and took down the pot.

The blinds went up to 50-100 soon after, and between two limps preflop and the blinds, I found myself at around 2,000 in chips with the blinds at 75-150, and the average stack in the tournament approaching 4,000, I was at a point where I was beginning to look for a spot to make a move. And that spot soon came. Action folded to the button, someone who I gauged to be a relatively tight player who would open from the button with a wide range of hands but who would fold most of them to an OTT all-in. As expected, he raised to 450, and the small blind folded. I had A5 in the big blind, which decreased the probability of him having an ace, and increased the probability of him having hands in the following distribution: [KQ,KT]||[QJ,QT]||[JT]. Knowing that he'd fold these hands along with pocket pairs lower than 55, I pushed all-in. My opponent thought for awhile, and eventually he said, "well, you might think I'm stealing, so I call." He had 66, which I had put on the bottom of his pocket pair calling distribution. Fortunately, I won my 30-70 when I spiked an Ace, and I found myself in much better shape at around 4,000 in chips. You can't take stupid risks, but at the same time, you can't be afraid of dying.

Soon after that, blinds went up to 100-200, and our table broke up. I found myself at a table that seemed to have a bunch of solid players. There was a lot of aggression, and given that I had 20BB, I was content to sit and wait for good hands to go OTT with. I don't really remember many specifics from that stage of the tournament, but I do know I had somehow gotten up to about 6,000 in chips by doubling up with AK. Soon after that double up, I lost 1,500. With the blinds at 150-300, and antes at 25, a short stack pushed all-in to 1,500 from early position. I went OTT all-in to 6,000 with AK, and everyone else folded. My opponent had JJ and took down the pot. A few hands later, though, I ended up in a huge hand. A slightly aggressive player raised to 900 from early position. Action folded to me, and I had AQ in the BB along with about 4,500 chips. I sat and thought for awhile. I was debating between going all-in or just calling to see what developed on the flop. I decided that I liked calling best, since I could still do something creative with 3,900 in chips if things didn't work out.

The flop came AKQ. I wasn't very excited about this flop since I estimated that I was only ahead of about 50% of the hands in my opponent's distribution, but given the size of the pot with respect to my stack, and given that there were still about 25 players left in a tournament that only paid the top 6, I was committed to getting all my chips in. I checked, my opponent bet 1,500, I went all-in, and she called instantly. The excitement with which she called scared me, but fortunately, she only had KQ, and I took down a huge pot that brought me to just under 10,000 in chips.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do much with my chips stack. The blinds were getting so high that many of the players were in desperation mode. There was a lot of pushing going on, and I wasn't getting anything that I could justify entering a pot with. Eventually, I found myself at 5,000ish in chips with the blinds at 600-1,200 and antes of 100. I usually look to make a move sooner than this, but the dynamics of my table combined with my cards just didn't allow such a move to be made. Action folded to me in the cut-off, I looked down at a 93o, and I pushed all-in. The button looked at her cards, thought for a long time, and decided to call, leaving her with only about 2,000 in chips if she lost. The blinds folded, and my opponent showed QJs. She took down the pot and forced me to accept something around a 15th place finish. She got a free copy of Killer Poker by the Numbers, and since JV personally put a double book bounty on me, she also got a copy of his soon-to-be-released Killer Poker No Limit.

After being eliminated from the tournament, I appeared on Hold'em Radio for a long time, and I talked about everything ranging from poker to politics to relationships. It was an absolute blast. Once I stepped off the microphone, I made my rounds and thanked everyone who made the event possible, and then I went up to my room and slept. Even though I already thanked everyone, I'd like to give Sheree Bykofsky, Binon's, and Hold'em Radio one more shout-out here on Wise Hand Poker!

After I woke up, I took my friend Stacy to The Wynn, and we met up with my friend Craig, who was tearing up the $1-$3 blind NLHE game there. Craig was comped at the buffet and ate there; meanwhile, I took Stacy to eat at Bartolotta. The ambiance, the food, and the service there are all superb. It's costly, but it's worth it!

The next day, Stacy and I took our rental car to the outlet stores in Primm. She did her thing, and I searched for a gift to buy a very sweet girl named Evelyn that I've been seeing since New Year's Eve. Eventually, I stumbled upon a cute sweater and bought it.

After buying the sweater, I looked for an arcade where I could play some video games, but the arcade at Primm Valley was closed, so instead, I hit Buffalo Bill's poker room, the only poker room at the state line. The only game going there, as usual I think, was a $2-$6 spread-limit hold'em game. It was an extremely loose-passive game...I forgot that games like that still existed! The players were a bit slow and clueless about things like when they were supposed to act, which annoyed me a little since I wanted to play as many hands as possible in that game. As the game was, I think my hourly would be something in the $20/hr range...not exactly huge, but it was the only +EV to be had, so I happily accepted it. My result was +$19 after an hour of play...gas money...woo hoo! Stacy and I then drove back to Vegas and caught our flight back to So. Cal. I'd like to thank the sales associate at the Brookstone's in Vegas's airport. He was very friendly as Stacy and I used the massage chair and foot massager for about 20 minutes while we were waiting for our flight to board. We flew Jet Blue, and I got to watch some High Stakes Poker on GSN, so that was awesome.

That's the word for now. I need to crank out the finishing touches for Tournament Killer Poker by the Numbers this coming week. As always, I hope that all your moves are +EV!

Tony G