Tournament Tips from Agassi, Weiskopf, and Nicklaus

by Dana Smith

Tennis great Andre Agassi-who lives in Las Vegas with his wife, tennis legend Steffi Graf-slammed his opponent's ace-like serve diagonally across the net to within an inch of the opposite baseline, catching his rival off guard and setting himself up for a preliminary round win at Wimbledon several years ago.

"There must be great shots you especially remember over your career. Will this become one of them?" the TV commentator asked him.

"Yes, I think it will," Agassi answered. "I remember several key shots that have won the match for me, and vice-versa."

Key Hands. In tournament poker as in tennis, there often is a key hand that becomes the turning point of your tournament destiny. In an Omaha high-low tournament, my friend Joe was one of the chip leaders in the early rounds. But no decent cards came his way for the next three levels, and just before the cut to the final table, he was all-in with A- J- 7-4 on the button in four-way action. "I figured I’d do or die right there because I wouldn't have enough chips left to be competitive unless I at least doubled through an opponent," he told me. The flop came 5- 10- 6 with the diamond queen on the turn. "I was praying for a black king on the river," he said. Presto! Joe’s all-in scoop of this key hand gave him the chips he needed to be competitive at the last table, where he negotiated a three-way split for top prize money.

Key hands can make you, but they also can break you. A poker pal of mine was playing a no-limit hold'em tournament at our regular card room when he woke up with pocket queens on the button. He answered the modest raise of an early position player by reraising him all-in. But when his opponent laid open pocket aces, my buddy knew he'd need a miracle queen to win. The board ragged off, his opponent doubled up, and my pal bombed out two hands later.

Put yourself in a position to get lucky. Isao Aoki began the second day of the U.S. Seniors Open several years with two bogies. But he recovered from his poor start by going on a birdie binge, making five in a row. By the final day, Aoki was trailing Tom Weiskopf, the leader, by only one stroke when again he drove to within birdie range of the hole. "Aoki keeps giving himself a chance to make birdies," observed the announcer.

Tom McEvoy, who recently won the Champion of Champions trophy at the World Series of Poker, coined the phrase “give yourself a chance to get lucky” in his vintage book, Tournament Poker. His advice rings especially true in big-field poker events. But how do you do that? Aoki did it by concentrating on his game one hole at a time, and by not going on tilt through a rough start. Poker champions do it by making the right decisions at the right times. They play conservatively when they need to, aggressively when they see an opening, and they gamble when they have to.

Performance under pressure. Later at the Seniors Open, I watched golf legend Tom Weiskopf sock his ball into the trees on the par-five 17th hole. "This could be big trouble if he gets unlucky at all," said the announcer. Then the man on top of the leader board whammed it out of the trees and into the rough about 163 yards from the hole. Shot three saw his ball roll into the opposing rough. But Weiskopf's fourth attempt put him on the green within range of making par, which he achieved on his fifth stroke.

"Weiskopf has made the best of every situation he's gotten himself into today," observed the color commentator. The same could not be said of Raymond Floyd, about whom the announcer surmised, "The wind went out of his sails when he hit three bogies in a row."

Every stroke counts when the chips are down. And the chips are always down in poker tournaments. Every play adds to or subtracts from your total results in a cumulative tournament snowball that gains in size as it speeds down the mountain, or melts away from lack of momentum. Contenders lose control under pressure. Champions use pressure to perform.

Optimism and Confidence. "He's the eternal optimist," the announcer said as he watched Jack Nicklaus birdie the 18th hole to tie for second place with Aoki, who had two greens yet to play in the final round of the shooting match. Although Nicklaus had aced a hole earlier in the contest, he still trailed the two leaders until catching up with Aoki on his very last stroke of the day. When Aoki only parred the final hole, Nicklaus slid into second place by one stroke.

It's hard to remain as optimistic as Nicklaus unless you are self-confident. Poker skills, tournament experience, and the ability to adjust to changing game conditions are important competitive traits. As the U.S. Senior Open commentator put it, "No two playing fields are the same, and the winners must know how to adjust to them all."

As Floyd sauntered away from the 18th green to the applause of his devoted yet disappointed entourage, the TV commentator said, "He played a good game of golf today when he needed a great game."

Poker tournament champions understand the truth in this astute observation. More than a few of them have lost by playing a good, solid game of poker on a day when a stellar opponent won it all by playing a great game.