Friday, October 28, 2011
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Craziest Road to Victory......
Craziest Ever Road to Victory
I have played many tourneys but this one was the weirdest on every level. My head is still reeling from the events of the night, with back to back final tables and a win that I am still smiling about. First I managed to knock out Brian Hall who I had lost to in a heads up battle for the title the night before. A great confidence boost and a good sign for the day to come.
During the day I had befriended a visiting player from France and being that my native tongue is French I was enjoying talking to him throughout the game. When out of nowhere a well known gangster mustn’t have appreciated our banter as he kept saying to me “shut up, it is disrespectful”. I looked at him and said “ok don’t get mad there is no need for it”, a comment he certainly didn’t appreciate as his response was “Do you know who I am? Who the f**** do you think you are??” I said “Hey… hey don’t get upset just shut up let’s play poker”. He responds with “you’re disrespectful; French should not be spoken at the table”. This went back and forwards for a while until I finally said “Look just shut up, don’t talk shut up. Don’t talk to me like this lets just play”. Perhaps he was tilting because just after that he gets shoved and he is out of the tournament. Leaving the table with a rather enraged expression, pointing his finger at me saying “you will see me on the flip side motherf***er”.
I almost made a very large mistake, almost putting myself out of the tourney. During one hand, I go all in, everyone folds… or so I had thought. The big blind had not yet folded and stupidly I mucked my cards. In a split second realising what I had done, I embodied superman and launched my body onto the table, legs flailing and torso stuck to the felt diving onto my cards, grabbing them before they were taken away from me. Thankfully I saved my cards, the big blind calls my all in and I knock him out for a 250k pot.
Unfortunately there was also a player at our table who was taking over a minute to a minute and a half every hand before he would fold. I mean every single hand and I was not alone in the frustration that was being felt. In one instance knowing very well he was going to fold, he tanked for over 5 minutes and a player to my left had just had enough and called time, which is the right thing to do. The tanker took offence, cursing the other player and stood up saying that he would wait the full minute and then muck his cards, and he did. He stood; he waited and then mucked his hand. Still on a high from the threat and the superman save I had experienced earlier, I pointed out to the tanker that he wasn’t doing himself any favours by acting like a child when this was a gentleman’s game. Out of nowhere, a rather Shaq-esque sized looking man (who was obviously one of his friends) yells out “hey mate, you’re a f***ing d***head for calling time!” My high had now worn off and I was done with the ridiculousness of the situation. Fairly angry for the unnecessary insult, especially when I was not the one who had called time, I walked over to the rails and locked myself in an obnoxious display of testosterone, otherwise known as grabbing each other by the throat of our shirts and blazing eyes at each other. It took security no less than a couple of minutes to rush in and escort that gentleman out and the tanker received a warning of conduct.
Finally while just about to play heads up, something I’d never seen before happened… The gentleman I was to play against said to me “you can have the prize money if you just let me take the trophy?”. Without realising that I have been offered both the first and second cash prizes, I declined. Shortly and sweetly the heads up was over in one hand where I steam rolled him. I flopped the absolute nuts (full book), only to hear his sweet words of ‘All In’. Too excited I snap called him and took the first place prize money and the trophy with me. What an amazing night!
I have played many tourneys but this one was the weirdest on every level. My head is still reeling from the events of the night, with back to back final tables and a win that I am still smiling about. First I managed to knock out Brian Hall who I had lost to in a heads up battle for the title the night before. A great confidence boost and a good sign for the day to come.
During the day I had befriended a visiting player from France and being that my native tongue is French I was enjoying talking to him throughout the game. When out of nowhere a well known gangster mustn’t have appreciated our banter as he kept saying to me “shut up, it is disrespectful”. I looked at him and said “ok don’t get mad there is no need for it”, a comment he certainly didn’t appreciate as his response was “Do you know who I am? Who the f**** do you think you are??” I said “Hey… hey don’t get upset just shut up let’s play poker”. He responds with “you’re disrespectful; French should not be spoken at the table”. This went back and forwards for a while until I finally said “Look just shut up, don’t talk shut up. Don’t talk to me like this lets just play”. Perhaps he was tilting because just after that he gets shoved and he is out of the tournament. Leaving the table with a rather enraged expression, pointing his finger at me saying “you will see me on the flip side motherf***er”.
I almost made a very large mistake, almost putting myself out of the tourney. During one hand, I go all in, everyone folds… or so I had thought. The big blind had not yet folded and stupidly I mucked my cards. In a split second realising what I had done, I embodied superman and launched my body onto the table, legs flailing and torso stuck to the felt diving onto my cards, grabbing them before they were taken away from me. Thankfully I saved my cards, the big blind calls my all in and I knock him out for a 250k pot.
Unfortunately there was also a player at our table who was taking over a minute to a minute and a half every hand before he would fold. I mean every single hand and I was not alone in the frustration that was being felt. In one instance knowing very well he was going to fold, he tanked for over 5 minutes and a player to my left had just had enough and called time, which is the right thing to do. The tanker took offence, cursing the other player and stood up saying that he would wait the full minute and then muck his cards, and he did. He stood; he waited and then mucked his hand. Still on a high from the threat and the superman save I had experienced earlier, I pointed out to the tanker that he wasn’t doing himself any favours by acting like a child when this was a gentleman’s game. Out of nowhere, a rather Shaq-esque sized looking man (who was obviously one of his friends) yells out “hey mate, you’re a f***ing d***head for calling time!” My high had now worn off and I was done with the ridiculousness of the situation. Fairly angry for the unnecessary insult, especially when I was not the one who had called time, I walked over to the rails and locked myself in an obnoxious display of testosterone, otherwise known as grabbing each other by the throat of our shirts and blazing eyes at each other. It took security no less than a couple of minutes to rush in and escort that gentleman out and the tanker received a warning of conduct.
Finally while just about to play heads up, something I’d never seen before happened… The gentleman I was to play against said to me “you can have the prize money if you just let me take the trophy?”. Without realising that I have been offered both the first and second cash prizes, I declined. Shortly and sweetly the heads up was over in one hand where I steam rolled him. I flopped the absolute nuts (full book), only to hear his sweet words of ‘All In’. Too excited I snap called him and took the first place prize money and the trophy with me. What an amazing night!
Putting a price on a trophy!
Has your integrity ever been questioned? Have you ever been put in a place where you have the choice to receive a juicy cash sum in place of a personal victory? During a tournament at CROWN I had this very situation put to me. At the end of the day, about to play heads up for the win my opponent turned to me and in broken English said “I will let you take the money if you let me have the title”. Initially I thought he was just offering me just the 1st prize cash and considering I had 3.2 million to his 900 I politely declined. In a quick one hand decider, I took the first prize, the trophy and the title. After we had shaken hands, my opponent turned to me and asked “Why didn’t you take the money? I offered you both first and second prize cash?” At the time when he offered the deal I was under the impression he meant just the first prize, so this brings forth the question… When being offered a juicy cash sum… is it worth selling out?
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