Flushed out: 2005 WSOP Event #4, $1500 Limit Hold 'Em

Teddy and the Monkey

I didn't really enjoy limit tournaments but I had done well in the past so I entered the $1500 Limit Hold 'Em tournament at the Rio. There were a stunning 1049 entrants and I drew table 141, seat 10. The very loose Steve Shkolnik was on my left in seat one; Ted "Teddy Bear" Forrest, one of the top players in the world, had seat two; Robert Williamson III had seat six; the aggressive David Williams, seat seven; another good player I recognized but didn't catch his name was in seat eight; and tournament pro Gioi Luong was in seat nine on my right. I said hi to Ted, whom I liked, just not at my table, and he noted that since it was limit there would be no need for me to make the monkey face. I flashed one at him and he quickly averted his eyes, I thought he was genuinely scared of the monkey face. I played solid and was dead even at 1500 at the first break.

 

Williams aggressed off all his chips and was gone when I defended my blind in a multiway pot with Ten-Seven of Clubs and flopped a Flush. I bet out and got two callers: Shkolnik and the guy who replaced Williams. Turn was a Nine, pairing the board. I bet again and both players called. River was another Nine. The only hands I could beat now were an unlikely smaller Flush and overcards with the Ace of Clubs. I checked, Shkolnik bet, seat seven raised, and I cheerfully mucked. Shkolnik called and seat seven showed Ace-Nine for quads with the nut Flush draw.

 

I threw in my last chips when it folded to me on the button and I saw paint, but I forgot to make the monkey face and Teddy bear called on his big blind, beat me, and I was out early.

 

Dinner was at Andiamo at the Las Vegas Hilton. I had my usual osso bucco, washed down with the last bottle of 2001 Caymus Special Selection as the Maitre D' told us how he was on the lam from Florida authorities for strangling a robber to death in the parking lot of his night club and losing a civil suit by the criminal's estate after being acquitted on criminal charges. Only in Vegas.