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A good friend of mine won a seat into the World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational. He wanted me to meet him there to watch and play poker. Fortunately, I was able to get a good deal on a flight, hotel, and rental car. I booked the trip and was off to root for him. Naturally, I left early to play poker myself. The last time I was in LA was for the WPT Cash Boot Camp -which was purely awesome.

I flew out on Wednesday February 27. My flight arrived around noon, so I was all checked into the hotel by 2:00. I had my trusty GPS with me, so off to The Bike I went.

The level of play was just as it was when I was here a year ago. The games were pretty soft. Unfortunately, it was a night of second best hands. I lost $400. Frazzled, I decided to go check out the Commerce Casino. It is only a couple of miles from The Bike.

The poker room at The Commerce Casino was HUGE. It has upwards of 200 tables and any limit you would ever want - from 1/2 limit to 100/200 NL (with a $40,000 minimum buy-in). I settled on a 2/3 NL game with a $200 buy-in. It was not too long before I was felted. I decided to call it a night after being down $600.

On Thursday, I decided to head back to The Bike. I played 5/5 NL, but again it was another day of second-best hands. Full houses beat by quads, flopped flushes beat by larger flopped flushes, etc. Very frustrating. I got felted, and had to buy back in. Fortunately, I was able to hold my own and cash out even for the second buy-in, but still down $500 for the day. Total: down $1100.

Friday was a fun day. I went back at the Bike to play more. I really like the Bike because when you sit in the High Limit area they comp whatever food you want. The food is pretty good too, so its a big bonus. Again, I got felted with in the first hour, so I had to rebuy. I was up and down when this hand happened:

Game: 5/5 NL

Buy-in: $300-$500

My Stack: $500

There are several callers, and I get:

in the big blind. I check my option and see the flop with 6 other people.

Pot: $35

Flop:

I pick up a decent flush draw, but I am out of position. I decide to check to see what happens. It is checked around. The pot is still $35.

Turn:

Good news, I hit my flush. I want to see if anybody else has hit theirs, so I check. Again, it is checked around. The pot is still $35.

River:

Jackpot card! I have the absolute nuts with the king-high straight-flush. I need to bet here. If somebody has the ace of diamonds, they will certainly let me know by raising. I make a $50 bet into the $35 pot. Everybody folds to the button who does not hesitate and says, “All-In” for about $550 total.

As soon as I say call, I hear him say, “Straight-Flush” in a scared voice. I look at him and say, “Nuts.” He hangs his head and does not wait for me to show my hand - he starts counting out chips. I show the straight-flush and everybody at the table is in awe. Pretty cool! I rake in an $1100 pot.

At the end of the night, I cash out $1500 for a $500 profit. Things are starting to look up.

The Invitational started on Saturday. I met John and we had lunch. Unfortunately, nobody was allowed in the tournament room because of all of the high-profile people that were there. So much for watching my friend play. I had to sit back and play cash games (shucks darn). I went back to the Bike to play. As it turned out, Saturday was dead-even. I bought in for $500 and cashed out $500. I was up to $1200 at one point, but gave it all back. I did see Jerry Buss and Barry Greenstein though.

More to come in Part II . . .

When I was at the Bike a few months ago, I sat down at the 5/10 NL table. The players were competent, and the game was rolling along just fine. Around 1am, none other than Jose Canseco came to the table and sat down. I have played against several pros, but never against a famous professional athlete.

Jose sat down and introduced his girlfriend. He explained with disdain that he had been playing at the 5/5 NL tables, and how he had trips beat four times on the river. He figured that he would come over to the larger stakes table to “play some better poker.”

After about 90 minutes of playing, I got tangled up in this hand with Jose:

I was in EP and held:

I made a raise to $40, which was called by a guy in seat 4. Jose makes the call, then his girlfriend calls as well.

Pot: $175

The flop delivers:

Not exactly what I wanted to see, but I had the nut flush draw nonetheless. I led out with a continuation bet of $80. The guy in seat 4 folds. Without hesitation, Canseco pops it up to $200. Jose’s girlfriend does not hesitate too long and she calls. At this point, I know I am beat, but I have the draw to the nuts.

Quickly, I calculate my pot odds:

175 + 80 + 200 + 200 makes $655 in the pot. I must call $120 more. I am getting 5:1 Pot Odds. Since I am a 4:1 to make my hand on the next card, I easily make the easy call.

Pot: $775

The turn arrives, and it is:

Blah, I hate playing out of position.

I check.

Jose decides to push all in for another $220.

Jose’s girlfrind calls, but she only has an additional $180.

I run the pot odds calculation and arrive with this:

Pot: 1175 (775 + 220 + 180)

To Call: $220

It is another easy call.

The river delivers:

Giving me the nuts. Jose throws his pocket 44 on the table and yells loudly at how bad of a player I am.

“I cannot believe this. That was terrible.”, he says as he storms off.

It goes to show you that knowing your pot odds is a critical piece of information. If Canseco had pushed all-in on the flop, I would have had to fold.

I guess he did not understand pot odds very well.