All Drugged Up

All right, I bet that got your attention, didn’t it? I was actually on drugs when this hand came. You see, I had asked my M.D. wife to prescribe a strong sleeping pill for the night poker before the “Big One” (the $5,000 championship poker event) in Reno at the World Poker series Challenge in 2000.

I guess the lingering effects of this sleeping pill helped remove some of my inhibitions. In other words, I was out of control at the poker table as far as my hand selection was concerned, and I was acting as if I didn’t have a care in the world.

At one stretch, I raised 12 pots in a row, and if anyone called me, I would bluff out at the flop as well. Not only that, but I showed all 12 bluffs and was singing the song from the Mazda car commercial on television. (You know the one: “Zoom, zoom, zoom.”) I was having a grand old time, ramming and jamming , bluffing and rebluffing, raising and reraising, and singing the whole time! John Bonetti, who was at my starting table that day, told me at the break, “You’re putting the fear of God into these people today [with your fast, reckless play].”

With Richard Tatalovich playing very conservatively immediately to my right, I felt there was a good chance that he and I might go a little crazy against one another. You see, Richard is not known for tight, conservative play. In fact, he is a known “megalomaniac” (Daniel Negreanu’s word), which is not a bad thing. It just means that you’re capable of playing really fast at times, and calling other player’s big bluffs when you’re weak. In fact, Daniel won’t take a piece of a player in a no-limit Holdem tournament unless the play poker card games is megalomaniac! With Richard’s known fast-play tendencies, and me stuck in hyperfast made, you can see why I was expecting something crazy to happen between us eventually.

Anyway, Richard had accumulated some chips using his tight, aggressive style, and started playing bully at the table by raising a lot of pots and making a lot of bluffs. He took my place as aggressor, minus the singing of “Zoom,zoom,zoom!” With Richard pounding the blinds every hand, I decided that I’d seen enough ; it was time to make some moves. It was time to be a player (play-ahh!).

With the blinds at $50-$100, the following hand came up. Richard opened the pot limit omaha for $350 on the button, and I decided to raise him $900 more in the dark (without even looking at my hand!, although I did pretend to look at it), making it $1,250 total. Now Richard called the $900 more, and the flop was 3c-5h-6s.

Without even knowing my hand yet, I bet out $1,400, and Richard reached back deep and moved all of his chips (about poker $10,000) into the pot. Then I slowly peeked at my card games: first I saw a two, and then I saw a six. I had flopped top pair and a “gutshot” (inside) straight draw. OK, if Richard was bluffing or semi-bluffing with a straight draw, then my hand wasn’t too bad.

Now my focus turned to Richard. “What the heck does he have here, anyway?” I asked my self while I studied his face and movements and replayed the pre-flop action in my mind. As I further contemplated putting in my last $6,000 with this very weak hand, I sensed that Richard’s was even weaker. The more thought poker about it, the more I put Richard on a pair of fives. I was right, I did have the better hand! But could I hold him? He could win with a five, for three fives, and a deuce or a seven card stud would make him a straight.

The next cards were blanks (a queen and an eight), and I won this pot. The rest of the table just looked at the two of us like we were a couple of space aliens! I mean here we are, early in a $5,000 buy-in-no-limit Holdem tournament, putting in thousands of dollars with a five high and a six high low poker! Of course, everyone there was expecting to see us with big pairs as our hole cards! Richard and I shook hands, smiled, and said to each other, “ Boy, was that a fun pot to play or what!” I really like Richard and the way he plays poker, but I have to avoid those prescription sleeping pills in the future. (Or do I )