Player's Stories

The Amateur's Tale, Part 5:
Paying My Tuition
By Mark Burtman, M.D.

If you have been following my series of articles, this is what you know so far. First I am an amateur poker player with delusions of grandeur. I am a gynecologist by day (not a delusion) and avid poker player by night. This year I decided to try major tournament poker with some success. At the World Poker Open I made the final table in my first event, and I made the money in another tournament.

Armed with confidence I went to the Mid-America Poker Classic, also in Tunica, and won $20,000. I finished second in the championship event, which was only my second ever no-limit tournament, my first one being the day before. My first four articles are about those successes. My goal has been to inspire others who wish to make the transition in their games from amateur to world class poker player. At this time, I am somewhere in between.

In my first eight events I had a net win of $18,000 with two final tables. My next step was to go to a major tournament and play all of the events over a ten-day period of time. If I could maintain a 25% final table rate and 37.5% win rate, I felt that I should be able to have a profitable trip. Hence, I selected the Four Queens Classic. I decided to play all of the $1,000 and up events as well as the sunset events.

My trip was delayed due the shutdown of commercial air travel brought on by the tragic events of 9/11. However, I refused to allow those terrorist bastards to impact my life anymore than possible, so I took the first available flight out of Paducah to Vegas. Unfortunately, many others cancelled their plans, rendering the tournament into a much smaller event. None of the tournaments had greater than 100 entries after 9/11.

My first event was pot-limit hold-em. I had never played it before. With the reduced number of participants, there were no soft players, except for me maybe. I ended up finishing 13th, but they only paid 9 places. I never built a large stack, I just hung on. I finally made the money in the sunset SHOE tournament on day #2 of my trip. I finished 6th and won around $500. That was the only money I won on the trip.

I did make another final table in Pot-Limit Omaha, but there were only 44 entries, so they only paid 5 places. I was quite pleased with my play in that tournament. First, I am new to pot-limit Omaha high, but I have really tried to perfect my game in a short period of time. I play a lot of limit Omaha High here in Paducah and I consistently win $500 to $2,000 a week, but in PLO I am still a lifetime loser. Nonetheless, in August I began to get a better feel for the game.

With only 44 entries, I was probably the only true amateur there. I was sitting to the left of Men "The Master" Nguyen. Three spaces to my left was Jim Lester, who claims to always make the final table in PLO. Danny Negreanu was to his left. This was a rebuy tournament and after rebuying 5 times in Tunica, I was determined not to contribute so much to the prize pool this time. To my amazement I never busted through the rebuy period. At one point I had doubled through. Danny Negreanu busted something like 8 times. Even Jim Lester had to rebuy.

After Men "The Master" busted out, Eric Seidel came our way. He made a preflop raise that left him $5. I called him with pocket Kings among my four cards. There was three-way action. A rainbow K-10-4 hit the board. Eric put his last $5 in the pot. I raised the pot which was $700. The remaining player, Asher Derei, called with his set of 4's. A Jack of clubs on the turn caused us both to check with a straight on the board. A third club on the river gave Asher a back door flush. This took me down to $700 with the rebuy rounds nearly over. I expected that I would go on tilt and bust out shortly, however I actually managed to rebuild my stack back to where I started at $1,000 when the rebuy rounds ended.

As I sat through the break I noticed that Jim Lester rebought a double add-on to give him $5000 in chips, meaning that he had spent a total of $4,000 to end up with $5,000 in chips. With about 60 seconds left to add on, I finally broke down and added on one time. I decided that I was very happy with my play, and I felt that I had a real chance to score in this one. Furthermore the prize pool was up to $97,000, so I was going to make a profit by making the money, as the minimum prize was over $4,000.

We were quickly down to 3 tables after rebuys ended. I found myself up against Jim Lester again and Phil Ivey. I had one hand where I flopped a set of 6's against Jim lester. I checked to him knowing that he would bet, being the aggressive player that he is. He made a bet and I made a pot sized raise that put all of my chips in. He called having 4 times my chips and my set held up, giving me a double through to $3,000.

On another hand I had position on Phil Ivey and I found myself heads up against him. I had some small cards with an Ace, and I put him on big cards. I hit a 6 on the board with my own six. He bet. I called thinking he had at best 1 big pair, while I had a chance to catch a wrap around straight draw or flush draw or two pair, fairly inexpensively. Another 6 came on the turn, and he made a big bet, which I simply called in case he actually had a full-house. He checked the river, as did I, figuring I could only lose with a bet. He wouldn't call unless he could beat trips, in which case I would lose even more. I showed him my six and he mucked. This brought me up to $4,000.

We were then down to 2 tables. I was seated now to the left of Asher Derei, who had amassed a huge stack in excess of $12,000. He took it upon himself to challenge every small stack with a raise. He single handedly knocked off half of the table. As we were playing, a kindly 60 year old gentleman sitting to Asher's right said, "This is such a fun game. I've never played it before"

Asher and I commented on how well he did for a beginner. Shortly thereafter Asher picked him off. But not before I realized that we were playing none other than Brian Saltus, the winner of this year's TOC. I complimented him on his classy speech after the victory. Then I remembered being very critical of him during the SHOE event which I took sixth in a few nights before, prior to knowing who he was. In the Stud Hi-Lo part, where I seemed to dominate while losing in the other events. I made a bet on 6th street with a pair of deuces and a strong low board showing, expecting to steel the pot from my two opponents, Brian Saltus being to my right. The man to my left called and Brian raised. This is when we were down to two tables. I threw my hand in the muck figuring I got caught steeling. The river was checked and the man to my left won with a pair of deuces, which I would have beat with my higher kicker.

This move crippled Brian, and cost me the pot. I was fairly vocal about what I perceived to be a misplay at the time. Imagine my dismay at my discovery that I had been critical of the man who won the TOC which is essentially a SHOE event. After meeting him, I found Brian to be a true gentleman, consistent with the depictions I had read about him.

Asher continued to force people to play for a high price tag. I had a 3-3-4-5 that I kind of wanted to play, but Asher made it far too expensive for me, as I would have been crippled had I played it and lost. To my dismay I would have made quad 3's, which would have tripled me up. Nonetheless when I finally made my stand against Asher I managed to triple up in time to make the final table with about $6,000.

For the first time in my life I was at a final table with T.J Cloutier. T.J. was actually the first one out, when he had his stack decimated by Chris Bjorn. T.J. raised it big before the flop with Aces doubles suited. Chris caught King high flush in a different suit, and T.J was out in a few more hands. I played poorly at the final table, but I learned a whole lot. I finally went all in one space before the button. I had A-7-8-9. Chris Bjorn called me with A-J-J-x with Ace suited in diamonds. I flopped a straight, but there were two diamonds on the board. The board paired on the turn. A Jack of diamonds came on the river, giving Chris both a full house and a flush.

This gave me 8th place and no money, but quite a thrill. I thought there were a few interesting twists to the finish. Asher, who came to the table with about 20% of the chips in play, did not make the money. Tony Cousineau, who had the fewest chips at the start of the final table, made the money. All this tells me that, if I could have been a bit more patient, I had a chance. I just got anxious and tried to make moves, when I didn't really have to.

The rest of the week was a series of disappointing finishes. I paid for every flaw in my game. However, I don't consider this money lost, rather I consider it tuition paid. There was no better way for me to see the flaws in my game, than for me try these plays against the best in the world. With the terrorist activities of the preceding week, there was no one at the tournament except the pros, and they were giving lessons.

I decided to play the $5,000 entry fee Championship Event No Limit Hold-em. Before we got to that point I played the $300 Omaha Hi-Lo. I was at a table with Scotty Nguyen and David Rabbi. An amateur sitting to my left was talking about how he was just passing through and heard about the tournament. He asked me if there were any big names at the table. I pointed over to Scotty and said I thought he was the best Omaha Hi-Lo player in the world. I pointed to Dave Rabbi and said that he finished second in Low-ball at the World Series of Poker.

Then I said, "As for me, I'm nobody" Dave Rabbi heard me say this from across the table and said, "C'mon, you're not nobody. You made the final table in Stud Hi-Lo with me at the World Poker Open." I thought that was a gracious thing to say, but at this point in the tournament, I was feeling like a wannabe at best. The amateur who sparked the whole discussion was gone before long. I held my own against Scotty Nguyen, and I outlasted him. I tried to take Dave Rabbi out, getting him all-in with his A-3-J-x against my A-2-3-8. A deuce on the flop gave us the same low, with me having a precarious pair. He paired his Jack and got ¾'s of the pot. I had played the best tournament Omaha Hi-Lo I had ever played up to that point, but after that hand the blinds got too high and I couldn't get any of my hands to hold up. I failed to make the money, but Dave pulled himself back up and placed in the money.

At this point, all that was left to play was the $5,000 main event no limit Hold-em. I hadn't played well up to this point, but I was also aware of this, and I had paid close attention to the play of those who were successful. So I was determined to completely change my style of play for the main event, and actually play solid poker. In losing virtually every event I played, I had paid a hefty tuition for my lessons in solid poker, so I was determined to get the most out of my education. I also expected people to expect me to continue with some of the poor plays that I had made throughout the tournament. At the Mid-America poker classic I had a disappointing tournament up until I took second at the championship event, and I was clearly hoping for a repeat. With better play I hoped to sneak up on some of the pros who didn't respect my game.

Unlike most everyone else, I couldn't win a satellite to get into the main event, so I had to get in the old fashion way, and pay $5,000 cash. Up to this point the events had been slow and I really wondered if we would have more than 30 players for the big one, however we actually got about 75 players, which made for a nice tournament. This was to be my first three-day tournament. It was a star-studded field. I was probably the only weak player there. At my table was T.J Cloutier, three to my right. Then there was Jeff Schulman of Card Player, and immediately to my right was Allen Cunningham. To my immediate left was Brian Saltus, then Martin Oules who was the highest European finisher at the TOC, and third was Russ Hamilton who previously won the World Series of Poker in the early 90's.

The tournament had an interesting format, in that we were given our $10,000 in tournament chips $5,000 at a time. We were given four levels to claim our reload, which made the action a bit looser in the early going. I got off to a good start and doubled through fairly early. I busted Russ Hamilton for his first $5,000, when my Ace high flush beat his King high flush. This added another world champion to my list of former world champion opponents, whom I have beaten.

Later I also had a chance to play T.J. He had raised preflop and I called with a K-J of hearts. Two hearts flopped and he checked down to me, until a Queen of hearts hit on the river. He checked and I bet $500 on my King high flush, and he called, showing me an A-Qo. Then he said to someone, "He really likes to play the K-J suited." Later I mucked a hand after the flop and showed Brian my hand and said, "I can't play this." T.J. spoke up and said, "I bet you're throwing away and A-Q." "Close," I said, "I had A-J." I was real impressed with how T.J. got a quick read on me. This was the first time I really spent anytime at the table with him. That one hand that I beat him on was the only real hand that we tangled on. T.J. didn't have a good tournament that day and was gone before too long.

I had a chance to talk with Allen Cunningham. I congratulated him on all the good things I had been reading about him at the World Series. I talked to him about Tunica and the WPO, where we vaguely remembered each other. Then as we talked he said, "You're the guy who writes those articles on Poker Pages aren't you?" "Yeah, That's me." He said that he liked my articles, which I really appreciated. "Jesus!" I thought, "Who else reads these articles?" At least he said he liked them, so at least I'm not too much of a buffoon.

Allen and I sparred all day. Allen was aggressive with small raises. If we were in the blind together, he invariably raised. He raised from late position once and I called on the button with K-J. The flop came K-5-blank. I called Allen down to the river, since he didn't bet too big and he showed me K-5. At that point I devised an Allen Cunningham strategy. IF I had anything worth playing I would reraise him. In the large blind I had A-10 suited, so I reraised Allen with it. He mucked and he mucked every time I came over the top. ON one hand Allen had raised my blind and I had A-J suited, and as usual I came over the top a couple of thousand. Only this time, there was another player, looking real close at his hand and thinking very hard about calling or raising. He finally threw away his pocket Queens, and Allen threw away whatever garbage he raise me with. Allen and I were the last ones to get our $5,000 reloads.

Brian Saltus and I talked all day. He is such a pleasure to have in a game. He was short stacked most of the day. He slow played pocket Aces into me for a moderate win. Then I raised him with pocket Queens. He called. An Ace came on the flop. I decided to fire out in case he didn't have an Ace. My stack was 5 times as big as his, so I could afford to take a chance. He raised me his last $500 in chips and showed his A-K. A King came on the turn, but a Queen on the river gave me a set and Brian was stunned as he got up. Brian asked me the next day if that was the Queen of spades, the same card that he won the TOC with, but I didn't remember.

With the departure of T.J., Russ Hamilton and Brian Saltus, the table didn't get any easier. We were given John Juanda, who sat to my immediate left, and across the table Scotty Nguyen came into the game. John and I had a nice talk. I told him about the article I wrote in which I mentioned playing with him. I told him how I essentially knocked him out of the tournament by misplaying the hand. He recalled the hand and agreed with my assessment.

Later in first day action I caught up to another guy with an overpair, by catching a set with my pocket tens on the river, when he held pocket Queens. It was the same guy I bluffed into throwing away pocket Queens earlier. Now he was out and I had over $30,000 in chips. The first day came to end shortly after that. I held my own, sitting in between Allen Cunningham and John Juanda. I had about $33,000 in chips and I was in 7th place right behind Allen. I was exhausted, but very pleased with how I played. It also helped to get lucky. However, I had more work to do the next day. I felt really good going into the next day. I was rested and feeling confident. I had played well and I had chips. Some of the players had gotten to know me. They asked where I was from. They asked what kind of doctor I was. I sort of felt like I belonged. At one point Melissa Hayden started bitching at someone, and Mark Seif said to me, "You're a doctor. Can't you prescribe her some Prozac?"

The day before, Steve Kaufman told on John Bonetti for saying the 'F' word, and Bonetti lost it. He jumped up from his seat and yelled, "You're a snitch!! You're a lousy snitch! I never ratted anybody out my whole life!" It was like a scene from Goodfellas. On the second day Melissa knocked Steve and his short stack out of the tournament. Bonetti came over from the other table and gave Melissa a hug.

For me the day's events boiled down to three hands. The blinds were $300-$600 with $75 antes. The first hand of consequence was a raise of $2,000 by me from mid position with A-10 suited in spades. Burt Boutin called from the small blind. The flop came with 10h-5s-6s. I had top pair and a four flush. This was a great flop for me. I bet $4,000, but Burt liked the flop even better and raised me $6,000. I couldn't let go of the hand, but I feared that he had a set, so I called. The turn brought a red Queen, and Burt went all-in. At that point I surrendered the hand. If I would have called and caught my spade, I would have doubled through. However, I most likely would have been out of the tournament. So I feel I made the right throw-away, although most would probably say I needed to decide what to do on the flop, rather than the turn.

Now I was down to $25,000 and we were down to three tables. At the new table Burt Boutin was on my left. On the next hand of significance, I was in the small blind and Burt was in the large. Mark Seif limped in under the gun, and everyone else folded 'till it got to me. I had A-J suited in spades. I raised about $3,000. Both Burt and Mark called. The flop brought an Ace with rags. I bet about $5,000, which sent Burt into a quandary. He was nervously shuffling his chips. Then he started looking at me and asked me, "Do you have Ace-King? Do you have Ace-King?" I just stared at the board from under the brim of my cap, saying nothing. After several minutes of shuffling and rattling his chips he raised it $8,000. Mark Seif folded and I looked at him and said, "Do you have Ace-Queen?" I then threw my hand in the muck.

The very next hand presented me with pocket Jacks. Allen Cunningham raised from early position, and I came over the top another $5,000. Allen put his whole stack out there. I called, saying "If you got me, you got me." He turned over A-K. I was relieved that he didn't show me a higher pair. I actually had a slightly better than average chance. The flop brought two Queens and a ten. The unfortunate turn brought an Ace, but gave me a straight out if the king came. I had no such luck. Allen eliminated me. He ended up finishing second to Barry Schulman. I told Allen, "Nice hand." I shook hands with Burt, as he was the one who really took me out. He told me that he had a set of sixes on the first hand and A-Q on the second hand. If he was truthful, that means I made the correct read and the correct throw away.

I was frustrated to have played well enough with the world's best poker players to have a shot at the money, only to be eliminated in scarcely one hour of play on day two. On the other hand I was very pleased with my play, and I left with some measure of confidence regarding my prospects for future play. So as I leave the Four Queens Classic 2001 behind me, I also left about $15,000 there as well. Some will say I lost it. I feel it was more like paying my tuition. I learned an awful lot. Going into that tournament, I developed a style of play based solely on observation and computer simulation. Much of my style was based on false assumptions about the strength of certain hands. I paid for some of my false assumptions, but in so doing I learned about them as well.

So I leave for Paducah with a plan. I first plan to read. I cornered Tom McEvoy and bought all of his and T.J.'s books. I intend to formalize my training in this way. I also need to work on my satellite play. If I played satellites better, I wouldn't have to pay my own way into all the events. I' m also wondering if I need to get some shades for the game, as I'm questioning whether people are getting reads on me. I want to get better at playing no-limit after the flop. I tend to over-bet before the flop, so that all of the decision-making is over before the flop. The skilled players like Allen Cunningham, T.J. Cloutier, and Danny Negreanu really impressed me with their play after the flop.

So I have my homework lined up and I will see how it goes at the World Poker Open this January. I think I have come a long way this year. Instead of being disheartened by my losses at the Four Queens, I am pleased with what I learned. Now I feel I am ready to make a splash in 2002. See you in Tunica.