Actually I think I made two mistakes, but the second, more costly one, was not seeing a flush (someone else's) forming on the board. I had AK, and K came on the board, so I had a pair of kings with an ace kicker. Not bad. I bet hard into it, and only one geezer called me. A meaningless card came up, but I checked, because I was wondering why the old goat had called at all. Maybe he had trips, which you can't see (someone can be holding a small pair and get a set when the third card hits the table). He checked back, so I convinced myself he didn't have trips, or else he would have bet them to get the pot up. I was right, he didn't have trips. I wasn't worrying about him having kings, because I had the ace kicker. So, both of us having checked, the last card was dealt, another meaningless card. I put him on a smaller pair or the kings. I bet hard. He not only called me, he went all in.
Huh?! That's when I should have stopped and asked again, why is he doing that? But I didn't go through my mental checklist (always check the board for a pair, a possible straight, or a possible flush). I was in love with my KKA. I was mentally counting my chips. You already know the story. He had two pocket hearts. Two hearts had come on the flop. I gave him a free final card by checking the turn card. The final card was another heart. Three hearts on the board, and I literally did not see them. I went all in, was stunned when the dealer did not push my K forward, and instead watched in hrror as he pushed forward 3 "meaningless" cards--all hearts. He had me covered slightly, and I was gone. Had only eaten half my Snickers.
Well, I'd like to say I'll never make that mistake again, but I probably will. This has been a great experience. Sue got here on Tuesday (after a 7-hour delay), but we "did the Strip" on Wednesday and Thursday and had a great time. Hit several of our favorite places, including the incomparable Petrossian piano bar at the Bellagio. We came back and watched the final table of the first event I had been in. Watching live poker is like watching paint dry. Veerrrry sloooooow. Saw one of the finalists make a rookie mistake--she mucked her cards when she was the big blind (she didn't mean to, but she did) and they wouldn't give them back to her. She lost her blind. We left after 6 hands took about 20 minutes. The constant-action poker you see on ESPN is highly edited, believe me.
Celebrities:
- Daniel Negreanu, 2004 Player of theYear, was with us watching the final table too. His friend won it all, we read the next day. The kid's about 24, and he won $493,000. The woman who lost her blind finished 7th, about $66,000. The kid winner had finished 5-4-3-2 in other tournaments over the past couple of years. You see that kind of thing a lot, and it is the best answer I know to people who say this is all luck. Clearly there's some skill mixed in somewhere. I'm still looking for mine.
- Doyle Brunson, The King. Saw him scooting by (literally on a scooter) in the concession area shortly before the beginning of the Senior tournament yesterday. He's 78 or so, always has a big cowboy hat on. He literally wrote the book on Texas NLHE, considered the bible of the game.
- Celine Dionne's husband. I didn't see him, but Sue and our friends Becky and Roger from Texas did. He played for awhile at Roger's table. Apparently he's in his late 60's, a kept man, and plays poker while Celine is exercising her vocal cords.
It's a wild scene here, and I think there are more players than they expected. They announced that the Senior tournament yesterday was the largest Senior event ever, and the largest event of any kind where they didn't have to split "Day 1" across several days.
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