Day 03 of the NBC Heads Up Championship proved to be much more difficult than the first two days.

 

My first match was against Nam Le. I hadn’t played much against him and honestly, I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves. He had a better strategy than I, going in. He kept whittling me down but I won big pots to stay in it, tricking him into thinking I was weak when I wasn’t. I also made a big call with bottom pair. Ultimately, the blinds got so large that winning big pots became much more important than winning lots of small pots. He kept limping into pots in position and out playing me post-flop. He played almost every single hand, and I had trouble figuring out when he actually had a hand and when he had absolutely nothing. He didn’t give me a walk until an hour into the match, whereas I was waiting for hands that had potential. I sacrificed small pots, but the ones I did play, I gave myself a chance to win. Here are a few hands from the match as best as I can remember:

 

He raised and I thought about what to do with A 10 and decided to just call. If I reraised and he went with it, I’d be in an awkward spot. The flop came A, 10, 7. I checked and he bet half the pot (16k into a pot of 30k). After a long think, I reraised, trying to induce a reraise on his part. He did just that. I went in and he folded. I think he was on a complete steal. He had had been a 2: 1 chip leader up to this point but after the A, 10 pot, I had him outchipped 2: 1.

 

Shortly thereafter, the blinds went from huge to outrageous. He opened all-in and I called with K, 8 suited. He had J, 10 and won the race. Now we were about even in chips.

 

This hand ended up being a huge hand: I raised on the button with A, 4 offsuit and he called. The flop came K, 10, 4. He checked and I checked too, because I thought he’d check raise with any two cards. The turn was a 5 of diamonds, bringing the second diamond. He bet into me (half the pot). I min raised to see what his reaction would be. He quickly called, which led me to believe that he either had a 10 or a draw. The river was a K, pairing the kings. He thought for a while and got this look in his eye that made me think he was trying to figure out how to win the pot. He bet small. At this point I had no idea if he had a 10 or just a missed draw, but given the odds I was getting, I decided to call. He had to be bluffing only 1 in 5 times for me to make that call and I thought he’d be bluffing at least half the time here. I called and my pair of fours was good.

 

After that hand, I had a substantial chip lead again. I went all-in with A, 10. He called with K, 5 offsuit but he hit a K and a 5, which evened us up again. I was a little surprised that he called there. In his spot, I would have gone all-in with K, 5, but not called an all-in. For most of the rest of this match, the worse hand kept winning.

The shove fest continued. Any A was an easy shove for either player. We finally both picked up an A. I went all in with A, 2 and he called with A, 6. A two came on the river, keeping me in the tournament. Then I shoved in with A, 6 and he called with A, 7. We chopped that one. Then I shoved with K, J and he called with A, 2. I hit a K, leaving him very short. On the next hand, he went all in blind. I called with A, Q and his 9, 2 didn’t hold up. Although the match ultimately degenerated into a shove-fest, I was very happy to have him all-in twice for his tournament life when I had the best hand before I had to go all-in at all. This was my toughest match thus far. I think in a deep stack heads up tournament, he would do extremely well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon was my toughest match of the entire tournament. I went in with a game plan that I thought had success written all over it. I thought she’d be extremely aggressive so I planned to wait for a hand and trap her. To my surprise, she came out playing small pot poker. I took an early chip lead, but then it got ugly. She simply stopped folding, no matter what I bet or when. I’d completely lost the ability to bluff, not that I was doing much anyway. Her strategy forced me to hit hands, and that didn’t happen for a while. When I did hit hands, she hit trips or two pair and I’d pay her off with top pair or middle pair. Pretty soon, she had a 5: 1 chip lead on me. Both of us wanted this badly, and it wasn’t looking good for me.

 

After we’d been playing for quite some time, Shannon raised on the button and I looked down at 10, 10. I’d trying to see flops and then getting owned so I just decided to go with the 10s. I shoved. She had to call with A, Q suited and the race was on. She flopped a Q but I rivered a straight to win the pot.

She was pretty devastated after that pot so I turned up the heat. I’d developed a substantial chip lead but both of us went card dead for about 20 minutes. Finally I hit a few hands in a row and she ended up having to call all-in with 5, 6 offsuit against my A, K. I came in thinking she was an actress and came out realizing that she is a poker player, and a good one at that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chad Brown

After a forty five minute break that flew by, I sat down to play ‘Downtown’ Chad Brown. We had both competed for Bluff Magazine’s Player Of the Year in 2006 so we had a mutual respect for each other. Unlike the contests up  œtill this point, the final heads up battle was a best two of three. Early on during the first match, he’d win a few small pots and then I’d win a medium sized one to even the score. I caught him bluffing a few times which seemed to rattle him a bit. I began by playing tight and passive, planning to use this (tight, passive, hard to bluff) image to become ultra aggressive later. I hit a few hands and acquired the chip lead. Before this tournament, I hadn’t actually played much head up and things started clicking. I swung into a high gear, putting him all in with A, J against 7, 5. He won. Then I got the chip lead back and put him all in with Q, 8 against his J, J. He won and the process repeated. I regained the lead and put him in with Q, J, against 9, 5 of clubs on a 9, 8, 4 board with two clubs. He, of course, instacalled and I needed a Q, J, or 10 but he doubled up again. Again I got the chip lead back by raising preflop and stealing blinds. He limped with 6, 8 and I checked. The flop came 6, 3, 3. He went all in and I called. He showed A, J of spades and I won the hand and the match.

 

The second match was over by the second level. We both came out playing very aggressively. He limped and I checked with J, 4. The flop came J, J, rag. Check check. The turn was the last J. I bet and he raised. I called. On the river, I bet and he called.

 

I kept the pressure on, raising with a good hands, betting the flop and forcing him to fold. This happened a few times. Pretty soon I raised with A, J. He reraised and I called. The flop came K, J, X with three clubs. I didn’t have a club. He bet and I called. The turn was a rag. He checked and I checked. The river was another K. He checked and I bet $80k for value. He called and my A, J was good.

Shortly thereafter, I called his raise from the big blind with A, 9. The flop came K, 9, X. I check called a bet. We checked it down and my 9 was good.

 

I had built up a hug chip lead at this point. He raised and I called with Q, J. The flop came K, 10, 9. He bet, I raised, he went all-in, and I called. He had a K, 4 and that was it. The next hour was a blur of interviews, photos, and getting paid. I finally celebrated with my friends and family around midnight. I don’t mean to sound condescending here but I actually feel badly when I eliminate good people from tournaments. I know I can’t win without accumulating all the chips, but I also know how badly everyone wants to win. That’s the game though. It felt so good to win a tournament outright. I had heard people call me “Mr. Second Place” and other similar names and it feels so great to have earned a first place.