Playing in the Bicycle Casino WPT Legends Poker Tournament

by Matches Malone

I started the day well, at home, looking for a book to read on the long bus ride to The Bike, and found the latest Robin Paige mystery that I have yet to read, and at the same time, noticed that I hadn't finished the previous one, so, I picked that up too.

I finished that one about the time the bus dropped me at the corner of Eastern and Florence, which is a short block away from the main entrance of The Bicycle Casino located in Bell Gardens California, and the site of the Legends of Poker WPT tour event every year. I was there to play in the Media Invitational Event. This tournament was named after Doyle Brunson, who won the event two years ago, and I was hoping to see him there, as all past Legends winners were invited to attend as well. The part I missed was the fact that it was all past winners of any Legends event, so, the only face I recognized in the tourney itself was Mel Judah, whom I spied in the high roller section earlier.

When I arrived, I walked around, got my bearings, and found out I was an hour early for check in, so, I picked up the latest issue of Card Player with Jamie Gold on the cover, as well as the latest issue of Poker Player, found a quiet place to read in the deli, and sat down to try to scope some of the latest poker tips.

I read this newspaper cover to cover, starting with Mike Caro's current strategy article, and finishing up with John Vorhaus' column, which usually appears on the last page before the full page ads on the inside and outside back cover. It was an interesting read, as always, made even more interesting, when he sat down at my table at the start of the event. We got to talking about it, and he even asked me for contact info, which was cool. As a result, his strategy columns also appear in this magazine.

As for the tourney itself, it did not go well for me. In addition to John, Jennifer Newell of American Poker Player magazine was seated two seats to his left. Two other media types were at our table as well, along with five no name winners of previous Legends events over the past ten years, filling out our table of ten.

The first hand, I was deal AQo, and mentioned that I never liked playing the first hand, although, after John and another called, and a really blank flop, my continuation bet took down the pot. If only they were all that easy.

I played a few more pots before the hand that took me out of the tournament. I say took me out, as I didn't bust out, however, this left me short stacked, which is never a good place to be. In those previous pots, I picked up a straight on the river in one of them. I was head to head with one of the aforementioned Legends, so I felt pretty good at that point. Had another pot that I took down with a 'check in the dark,' a play I use on occasion. John remarked that it's the most powerful play in poker, although, I'm not sure if he was being sarcastic or not?

So, I'm under the gun, and after my usual remark of, 'I'm first to act? I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!!!' I look down and find pocket Kings. I come in for my standard raise, and Jennifer calls. Three folds to the Big Blind, who promptly moves all in.

I call, 'Time,' and immediately go into the tank. I put Jennifer on AK, which I find out she indeed had after the hand played out. It's at this point that I got myself into trouble, and over thought the situation. The odds are that if she has an Ace, it's 25% there's no other player at the ten handed table with another Ace, much less two. Knowing this, I call.

And immediately regret my decision and run into the other 75%. Mr no name Legend Big Blind did indeed have pocket Aces. Fortunately, I had him covered, but unfortunately, not by much. This put me on the short stack at the table, and I found out after the break, that I was the short stack in the tournament as well. I did manage to win another pot that got me back to around what I started with, but with the blinds at 200/400, that didn't last too long. Found a hand that I liked, moved all in, and even got two pair on the turn, however, that filled out the guy's straight, and I busted out around 60th out of an original field of over 120.

You can decide whether or not I didn't embarrass myself too severely. I did manage to last longer than John, who had busted out several hands before.

What all this means is, when the main event started a few days later, I was on the rail, instead of an active participant, as The Bike's hospitality extended only so far. 466 others put up $10K, creating a prize pool of $4,520,200 for them to play for.

460 bust outs later, and we were down to our final televised table of six: Hoyt Corkins, Randy Holland, Scotty Nguyen, Frank O'Dell, Kevin O'Donnell, and Joe Pelton. Three of those names you've probably heard of, and the other three you haven't. I'll let you decide which three. After several hours of play that will be boiled down to about 20 to 30 hands when this tourney is televised, Joe Pelton from Newport Beach CA took home a check worth over 1.5 million dollars. It should've been me.

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Next time, I'll write about poker. Be there. Aloha.

Matches Malone has been writing for us for a couple years now, and if you'd like to contact him with your opposing views, he can be reached at Batman@azteca.net