The Luck Is Going In The Wrong Direction At The Wrong Time

In what I would describe as "Spring Training" for the World Series of Poker Main Event this week in Las Vegas, my friend "The Governor" Sean Boles and I went out to Harrah's to play in the $125 buy-in tournament Saturday.

"The Governor" made a hell of run at the 2007 WSOP, finishing 158th and winning nearly $60,000 last year. He'll be playing in the Main Event on Friday.

I thought it would be helpful, as mainly an online player, to go out there and get in the "live game" mindset. I think there's a misconception among casual players of the game---or those that just don't play it---that it's important to be able to look an opponent in the eyes and try and pick up a tell on whether or not he has a hand or he's bluffing.

I don't believe that, personally.

Rarely are you going to have John Malkovich twisting an Oreo to let you know that he's got you beat. Instead, you can usually pick up a player's hand strength by betting patterns...and you can get that both online and live at casinos.

However, the biggest difference---at least for me---between going from playing almost only online to playing in a live game at Harrah's...or at the World Series of Poker...is that the total amount of chips in your stack and the total amount of chips in the pot is calculated for you online and always sitting at the top of the screen. In person, you have to do some math to not only know how much you have but how much is in the pot. And, both of those numbers are critical in playing a successful game.

So, I wanted to get in that mode of thinking before sitting down at The Rio in Las Vegas Thursday.

And, things were going just fine. I was playing my game and having success. Having only played "live" in St. Louis one other time beforehand, I'm not familiar with who the good players are. Apparently, one of the better players in the area was sitting to my left. I was in the small blind. He was in the big blind.

A loose-aggressive player---who had to have been playing 40% of the pots---was first to act and raised on the button (shocking). I look down to see AK of spades, and reraise him. The good player in the big blind, who had about 3,000 chips to my 7,000, reraises me all-in.

After some Nina Hartley-caliber theatrics, the player on the button folds, and I immediately call. I flip over AK, and the gentleman in the big blind flips over AJ offsuit.

Things are looking good...until he catches a straight on the turn.

Sucks...but it's all part of the game. If I get my money in with the best hand, I'm cool with it...whether it's a $125 buy-in at Harrah's...or a $10,000 buy-in in Las Vegas. If one has a difficult time accepting the inevitable bad beats that come with poker, one, perhaps, should play the game as little as possible.

Despite the bad beat, I was able to rally and get to the final two tables. The tournament started with around 70 players, and 4 hours later, we were down to about 16. I was probably in somewhere around 7th or 8th place.

The player under the gun (first to act to the left of the big blind) called preflop. I had AK, and with the blinds 400-800 (100 ante), I raised it up to 4,000. The player a couple seats away from me re-raised me all-in.

UTG (under the gun) folded. I immediately called, because his all-in only cost me another 1,000 chips.

And...

...sure enough...

...he flipped over pocket Aces.

So, that cut into my stack...moving me from a nice chip stack to trouble.

A few hands later, I was under the gun---and getting to be short-stacked---and looked down to see AQ offsuit. I moved my stack all-in. Everyone folded...until the player on the button...who was pretty loose. He moved all-in himself. He had me covered. Everyone else folded.

And, sure enough...

...he flipped over pocket Aces.

That wrapped up my day.

Honestly, I wasn't mad. I got 4 hours of practice in, got back into "live game" mode, and I played well. But, the reason I tell the story is that in just 4 hours...and against a field of just 70 players...the luck factor came into play and went against me on 3 different hands.

Thursday, there will be somewhere around 2,000 players at the World Series of Poker...and that's just Day 1A. There are 3 other "Day 1's." And, as opposed to 4 hours, it'll be around 14 to 16 hours of playing...just to survive to Day 2.

Luck will be needed for survival. And, luck has made a wrong turn as of late.

St. Louis Poker Fans Getting On Board...And The Imo's Delivery Guy

As mentioned in Friday's column, I've been blown away by the number of emails from people who have expressed their support for this coming week's World Series of Poker.

I think I'm starting to feel some pressure, because it's getting more attention than I anticipated...and an early exit on Thursday is a real possibility...for reasons mentioned above *and* the fact that there's a good chance I'll be sitting at a table with one or two guys who could run circles around me when it comes to playing poker.

Nonetheless, the best incident of support came from the Imo's delivery driver Saturday night. Isabella and I returned home around 11 p.m., and I ordered a pizza from Imo's.

When the driver arrived with the pizza, I reached in my pocket to give him his cash. He stopped me and said, "I don't even want your money. I just want you to go out to Las Vegas and win that tournament."

How about that?

God bless him.

After having to basically shove the money in his pocket so he would take it, he once again wished me luck, and he said, "I saw your name on the caller ID and I wanted to make sure I delivered your pizza so I could wish you luck in the tournament."

The Debut of The Cougars Next Door

I'm fired up about today's debut of the Cougars Next Door with our very first Cougar, Tracy.

If you haven't checked out the Cougars Next Door section, click here.

The thing that's been the most pleasant surprise about the Cougars Next Door contest so far is the number of ladies interested in participating.

I'm not sure if this contest will be able to last as long as the Girls Next Door contest...just because I have no idea if we'll have enough local ladies interested in participating.

But, we should have enough lasses to have at least 2 months of Cougars Next Door.

If you or someone you know would like to participate in the Cougars Next Door contest, email me at tmckernan@insidestl.com.

 You're welcome to leave comments below by logging-in and posting...or you can email me at tmckernan@insidestl.com.