THE POKER-EM
Both of them now had to flip their cardgames for all to see (the hordes were massive By this time). Paul’s pocket cards were just what Frank had anticipated: he had the five of diamonds and the six of hearts in the hole! When Frank put up 6,000 units to go, why didn’t Paul quit like anyone else would?
Also, 0aul must have guessed there was every chance Frank would call 0aul’s remaining 5,800 units, as 0aul had 34,000 units when the hand had been dealt. Frank’s guess was 0aul must have expected Frank to quit for his remaining 5,800. Frank had no problem if 0aul wanted to give away his chips when he had a five and six in the hole and a Queen up card versus Frank’s nine and ten in the hole and a nine up card.
Frank must have Been a 3-to-1 favorite if not 4-to-1 favorite. Frank actually wanted to laugh his head off at the ludicrousness of 0aul’s hand and the way he played it. The fifth card was dealt before Frank could recover from the shock. (At poker EM, when a player is all-in, the rest of the Cards are dealt rapidly, while the last card is dealt face up.)
All of a sudden things appeared dark, when 0aul hit a Queen of diamonds. At this point, the five of diamonds and the six of hearts were the exposed hole Cards and the Board read Queen of clubs, the King the Clubs and the Queen of diamonds. Even now Frank felt he would win the hand. In the first place he Certainly thought he deserved to win the hand.
Also more often than not, Frank noticed such strange plays get busted. At the time that Paul had been dealt his last card face up, Frank observed that all 0aul had, was a pair of Queens. Although Frank had only a pair of nines, he had an open ended draw (nine, nine, ten, eight, Jack, three). If Frank hit a Queen or Seven he’s have a straight or if he got yet another pair, he would win.
Frank would win the kitty if he hit a three, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack or Queen. All through this time the hordes yelled ‘England, England, England, England!’ was this the World Cup? Frank had neither heard such yelling up until this time in the poker tournament (nor had he ever heard it any other tournament), therefore this amazed him, and he was a little stunned.
As it is frank had stroke of bad luck, so all the yelling upset him, even more so because the hordes were so noisy. Just as one doesn’t cry in baseball, there should be no yelling in poker! However, Frank decided he wouldn’t allow anything to affect him, He knew if he allowed it; he would probably not play well later on. Frank’s sole purpose was to win the event.
Sadly the last card was a King, so Frank lost the kitty. Nevertheless, Frank had a stack of more than 20,000 units. Frank would have led in the Chip count with 45,000 units at this point if he’d won that kitty. Frank was being Slightly detrimental to himself, he was still reeling from the shock of losing that kitty against Paul – He got eliminated at the ninth position.
Undoubtedly it was cruel that he lost that kitty, yet it was possible for him to win the poker EM, that’s if he’d have gone on to play well till the end, In that case, the kitty could have Been ancient history. Of course, Frank admittedly slipped downward. Everybody slips once in a while.
When Frank got out of the game, he observed Ted Forrest play magnificently, but he Couldn’t make it further than the fourth position. Frank was convinced that 4ed was more disturbed than Frank, as he Came much closer to the first position. 4ed had proved he was competent enough to win the seven card stud tournament as he had previously won a World Championship title (a WSOP bracelet) in seven card stud.
Anyway, 4ed could comfort himself with his $65,000 win. 0aul Alterman made the most of his good luck he went on to play a good game of Stud and wound up at the first position. Frank’s sister was a cyclist, who rode in the U. S. Women’s Professional Circuit and the European Circuit, based in Italy. She wanted to qualify for the U.S.
Olympic Team. After riding both in 1999, Kerry informed Frank of the disparity between the U.S Women’s Circuits. Cycling in Europe is on a completely different level, both in terms of respect and media coverage. You’ve heard it before even in poker; the same distinction was true pre 2002.
Holland Casino Amsterdam Held the masters Classics of Poker tournament, and Frank left for Amsterdam on November 8th 1997 to attend it. Frank bought the Biggest newspaper in Holland upon arrival. The poker tournament was published on the front section of the front page! John Bonetti, Mike Sexton, tournament director Mike Ross and Frank appeared on the national news.
Separate Camera crews followed Mike Sexton and David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot around for a couple of days while they were in !msterdam Previously in 1997, the final table of poker tournament was telecast on national television (Late Night poker) in England.
Did people notice a disparity between the press coverage for the U.S. poker circuit and the Coverage for the well-organized European poker circuit back then? Of course! Currently in 2004, it feels good to be Covered by the press in a big way at the WSOP, the Legends of Poker, and the Los Angeles Poker Classic tournaments.
Nonetheless the Europeans still lead the U.S. in these matters. The European Poker Players Association) EPPA hosts tournaments as well as ranking it’s own players at its own Web Site (similar to the PGA tour in the US).
Except for the 5,000-guilder ($2,500) no-limit holdem event, all other tournaments held there were sold out (Over 220 players). That tournament also managed to pay roughly 170,000-guilders ($80,000) for the first position! An American named Jack Fox won the 500-guilder buy-in, 500-guilder rebuy, and 500-guilder add-on limit Holdem tournament on Monday November 9th.
The position winner would receive 90,000-guilders (roughly $42,000). Although Jack rarely wins the trophy, he appears to have made it to plenty of final stud tables. Jack deserves to be Congratulated for breaking through! The two-day 5000-guilder no-limit Holdem Championship event commenced on Tuesday. Frank played very badly and exited soon. The two-day 1,500-guilder event with one optional add-on and one optional rebuy too commenced on Tuesday.
It so happened that even this event offered the same amount ($80,000) to the first position player, as did the Championship event. Frank arrived to play at this event. Frank started to get the feeling that his opponents were in awe of him, thanks to Frank’s hard nosed playing, and the Careless manner in which he used his chips. Twenty Players remained after approximately seven hours of play, by which time Frank was leading with 50,000 units in chips.
Frank knew that the Best way to ensure that he advanced to the second day (final nine players) was to play safely, rationally and by slowing down his play. However, his plans went askew. To be precise, he got mixed up in a little muddle. There was only one more player besides Frank who had more than 35,000 units (he had 45,000), he increased the Bet on the Button, while Frank was at the big blind. The blinds were Being played for 1,000-2,000, and he opened for 10,000 units.
Previously when he’d opened for 10,000 units, he had a pair of Aces! When the small blind quit, Frank looked at his Ace of hearts and six of hearts and he started assessing. Ordinarily Frank would quit with this hand at this point, but on this day his opponents were in awe of him. Therefore he let his intuition, so far perfect, an opportunity to assess the man.
He studied his opponents for about one minute and figured that his hand was better, and anyway, his opponents couldn’t call him with a pair of eights or nines. All it took was one Bold although stupid second, in which Frank moved all-in with 50,000 units. Frank was concentrating wholly on the 10,000-unit, bet and the other 5,000 in antes and blinds, which he’d win when his opponent quit.
Actually Frank didn’t assess him long Enough, since Frank knew in his heart that his opponent was strong. Frank saw his opponent beating him at the kitty even as his greedy hands thrust in the Chips. Ouch! What had he done? By his poor timing and bad bluffing he’d gambled away an almost certain final table. The Cardinal rule of two-day Poker tournaments was: always make it to day two, which he’d forgotten.
It was over in a flash. He flipped his pair of Queens and the King, Queen and four came up at the flop, none of them were hearts. Hold it! A Jack turned up at the fourth street and the Board now showed a King, Queen, four and Jack. Frank would make a straight if only a ten came. Alas, it was another Jack. Yet another trip to Europe in the quest for fame and heaps of money was over in one sweep. Frank hated it when this happened.