Five Diamond Classic at Bellagio

Poker tournaments require a significant time commitment. Usually a couple of days. Since I had to do various book promo activities, I could only fit one event into my schedule. I played in the $1500 buy-in event on Wednesday, December 9th. I show up ready to go and scope the 168 player field. Not many pros. I only see a couple. I weave my way to my table and amazingly enough the most well-known player in the room is seated right next to me. It's Humberto Brenes. You may have seen him on TV. He's the crazy Costa Rican who likes to chat, laugh, wear funny hats and make fun with his little toy shark. Well the shark wasn't there, but Humberto was his usual animated self. I've played with him a few times in the past and he seemed as surprised to see me on his right as I was to see him on my left. Damn, what a horrible spot. Anyway, I play my usual game. I mix it up early with a bunch of raises when the risk is low. And everytime I do, Humberto gives me a suspicious smile. "You play a lot of pots, my friend," he says to me on more than one occasion. I smile back and show him a few of my hands after everyone has folded. Of course I only show the good hands. "Sure, this time you have something," he says. I fell into his trap of showing even those hands. I knew he was looking for information.

A quarter of the way into the tournament, Humerto starts hitting a bunch of flops. Bang, he nails a straight on some dude who goes all in against him. "I call," he says sheepishly as he scoops the pot with his monster. Now the worst has happened, a great player (I love his game) is on my left and has a huge chip stack. I now have to slow down as he calls or reraises me just about every time I enter the pot.

As we approach the halfway point, I hit a cold patch and my stack has dwindled. I have probably 80% of the average stack. I know I needed to keep my fold equity solid. Unfortunately, I bluffed a bit more than I normally like to due to my card dead status and I know Brenes has me pegged as a loose player. Finally I get KK in early position. The first guy straight calls the big blind. I think long and slow. "How best to maximize my situation," I ponder. I have the perfect table image at this point. My objective is to raise enough to get one or two callers. Then if no ace comes on the flop, I'd go all in -- the standard play. I raise to three and half times the big blind. Humberto immediately goes all in. The field folds around to me. "If you got aces, you got aces," I say as I slam the rest of my chips into the pot and flip over my cowboys. "I thought you bluffing again," he says as he turns over Ace - King. But he's all smiles as he shakes my hand and says, "Very nice. Very nice." His smile slips away as the flop, turn and river fail to produce an ace and his chip stack takes a substantial hit. Now he can't stop talking about the hand. "You bluff too much. I don't think you have anything," he says to no one in particular.

Prior to that hand he had won numerous pots, but Humberto doesn't like to lose. "He bluff too much," he repeats to the dealer. But before you can say "Costa Rican on tilt" (I was hoping he was, but he wasn't). He wipes out a player with two pair and takes out another with his own pocket kings. Again I get nothing for an hour or so. I try to steal, but get caught each time. Now we are down to 55 players. I'm down to 40% of the average chip stack and the blinds are huge. I got maybe two and half rotations left. In middle position, I see an ace as my first card and make what I hope is an ominous raise for half my chips. Brenes calls immediately. The flop is King - Ten - Four. I immediately go all in hoping he folds. Would you believe it, he's got pocket aces for about the fourth time. I flip over my Ace/Five. Needless to say I'm out of the tournament. Humberto is very gracious. He stands and gives me a warm handshake and a shoulder shrug. Whattayagonna do.

Humberto is one of those players I love to play with. The man loves life. He's always having fun and he is so good. I definitely picked up a few moves watching him play. Wouldn't you know it, he went on to win the tournament. Good job Mr. Brenes. It couldn't happen to nicer guy.