I don’t get the opportunity to play a lot of poker these days. I’m busy as a commentator with the World Poker Tour, involved with NLOP.com and Party Poker, but most importantly, I’m a new father (Ty Michael Sexton is ten weeks old!). That means I spend a lot of time babysitting, feeding him, changing diapers, and not getting a lot of sleep – and I love it all – except the not getting much sleep part. My wife Karen and I have been married 18 months and this is the first child for either of us. We truly are blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy son, and he is a joy!
I know how tough it is to make a living playing poker, especially tournament poker. I played on the tournament circuit for about 15 years prior to taking a job with the WPT. I have a lot of respect for those who do it. One thing is for sure: To be successful, you have to have the right mindset to play tournament poker. If you’re not mentally tough, you will never make it. That’s because regardless of how good you are, on most days, you’re going to lose. Accepting this fact is difficult for many. And even if you finish fourth, for example, you’re still not happy because you had a good shot to win and didn’t do it.
Top players understand that all of the real money is at the top (the first three places for the most part). That means many are going for the “W” from the outset. They are not trying to simply “survive” nor are they worried about getting knocked out early or finishing in the money to make a small profit. Good players understand the power of chips and “if” they make it to the final table, then they will more than likely have a lot of chips, meaning they’ll a have a good chance to finish in the top three.
Here’s an edge I believe a number of top players have: They are getting staked or put in by an online site (Incidentally, I appreciate and admire that because they have earned that status or they wouldn’t be sponsored). In my opinion, this makes it easier for them to play more aggressively. For the most part, those putting up their own money do worry about getting knocked out, generally play tighter, and have a three-step plan. The first step is “making the money.” The second step is making the final table and then they think about winning (step three).
We all understand that bad beats are a part of the game, but when you take them at a critical time in a tournament where you can win a $1 million or more, it really is difficult to take. It’s tough to maintain your sanity and composure when you get knocked out on a brutal beat.
Having said all that, I still enjoy playing the big buy-in tournaments. I love the challenge of playing against the best and playing under pressure for the big bucks. So, I recently played in the $10,000 buy-in championship event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. I had a shot at the $1 million first place prize, but eventually finished 11th.
This tournament was perhaps the most unusual I’ve ever played. That’s because for three days, I never had average chips. Think about that. I finished 11th (taking home $35,700) and was virtually short-stacked the entire tournament. The only time I would have had average chips was “if” I’d have won the last pot I played.
This tournament was what they call a “deep-stack” tournament. They started us with $100,000 in chips. Most players love this and think this many starting chips is the Holy Grail. It amazes me that players don’t seem to realize that it doesn’t matter how many chips they start you with; what matters is the amount of the antes and blinds in proportion to the average chip stack. In this tourney, you start with a lot of chips, but by the middle of Day 2, the antes and blinds are high in proportion to the average chip stack.
A number of players were complaining that the hours were too long and the structure was too fast (In fairness, because this was predetermined to be a three-day event, long hours were necessary and any structure would have to be fast to complete it in that amount of time). Here’s a piece of advice you should remember: “Good players don’t complain about the structure. They adapt to it.” I’ve always lived by that, so I don’t get upset about structures. Whatever it is, it is. Play accordingly.
Watching numerous players getting eliminated on bad beats reconfirmed my thoughts about how you have to not be lucky, but “not unlucky” to win tournaments.
Here are two examples: With five tables left, Layne Flack was playing great and had nearly $700,000 in chips. The guy under the gun (with slightly more chips than Layne) raised it, everyone folded to Layne (who was in the Big Blind), and he called with two tens. The flop came 10-6-2 rainbow. He checked, his opponent bet, and Layne raised. His opponent (who had more chips than Layne) then moved all-in! Layne quickly called, turned up the top set, and was delighted to see his opponent table A-K.
Then, “Pow!” The turn card was a Queen and the river card a Jack, giving his opponent a straight (winning the pot in the only way possible) and sending Layne to the rail. And to Layne’s credit, there is not a player in the world who could have taken that beat any better. He didn’t moan or cry about his bad luck. He wished everyone good luck and departed the table. But “wow,” what a beat.
Want more horror? With two tables left, Sabyl Cohen-Landrum was one of the chip leaders. Twice, she had two Kings and played monster pots – all-in before the flop each time. The first time she was up against two eights and lost to three eights. The second time she was up against an A-K and after a flop of Q-9-2, the dreaded Ace appeared on the turn. Instead of being the chip leader, she’s tapioca pudding. She’s probably still saying, “Why me?”
After seeing these beats, I couldn’t complain about mine. We were down to 11 players. The ante was $10,000 and blinds were $40,000/80,000. The average chip stack was about $3 million. I was on the five-handed table in the Big Blind with about $1.5 million in chips. The button made it $175,000 to go (a small raise). The Small Blind folded and I looked down at the K-2 of hearts. Getting around 4:1 odds on my money, I decided to make the call. The flop came 3-3-2. I checked. My opponent hesitated a little and then bet $250,000. I didn’t think he had a pair, so I moved all-in for about $1.2M. He called me with an A-Q. A seven came on the turn and a Queen on the river. Bye-bye, Mike.
I was proud of the way I hung in this tournament for three days. Certainly, I could have gone out a day or two earlier, but I really hung tough and stayed alive even though I never had average chips. What’s ironic is that “if” I had won that last pot, I would have had average chips at the final table and who knows what might have happened from there.
When you make money, however, you shouldn’t complain – especially when you see what happened to people like Layne and Sabyl.
Take care.