Why you don't shove in after taking a beat.

In a sense all poker players are story tellers, and they don’t even know it.

Us freeze out players tell a story every time we play a tournament. Sometimes it is a short story. Sometimes it can become a pocket novel or grow into a full length book with many different chapters. For a small percentage of us it can be that rare classic tale with the happy ending that makes the best sellers list!! We can pick up this book and read it over and over and enjoy it every time we read it!

While watching TV the other night I noticed on one of the movie channels that they were having a ‘Rocky’ week. Each night they would show a different Rocky movie and they started with, of course, the first one just called Rocky. I don’t think there are many who don’t know but Rocky is the classic story of a down on his luck prize fighter who picks himself up off the mat and wins the heavyweight boxing title(although this didn’t happen in the 1st one, he eventually won it). To me he does this not only in boxing but in his life and how he lives it.

It reminded me of a 50 seat sitngo I was in awhile back. I’ll always remember it because I made a note of it in my statistics book that I keep. I keep track on a monthly basis how many tournaments I play and how many cashes I get. There is a star beside this one. I thought early on that this may be one of those short stories as I was all in on the 5th hand of the match. My 3 kings were up against As 4s on a flop of 7s 4h Kd. The maniac hit runner runner spade and I was now the short stack with 48 players remaining. I sunk back in my chair with a big groan. I’m sure many of you know the feeling. It was like I had just been blind sided by a right cross from the champ ! Or even Rocky himself !!

After I folded a hand or 2 I began to get my senses back and thought, well, I have 150 in chips, it’s early and the blinds are still low. Maybe …

The turning point in my story came about 5 hands later when I got AK and survived an all in with a player who had pocket 4’s. I flopped a K and doubled up.

For some reason at that moment I thought of Jack Straus. I had been watching a show on wsop main event winners and they told the story of Jack Straus and how he was the reason we have the phrase ‘a chip and a chair.’ Again for those who don’t know he went all in early in the 1982 main event and lost. When he got up from the table he noticed a single $500 chip under a napkin. He was able to continue to play that chip because he didn’t say “all in” when he bet. He simply shoved, what he thought, were all of his chips in the middle. Well the rest is history as they say. He went on to win the tournament and become the 1982 main event champion. A wonderful story!

Getting back to my story, after that 1st double up I thought if I can just remain patient and make some good decisions I can still do well. The next few chapters of my story are not that exciting. I played no big pots, stole a few blinds and won a few medium pots, gradually building my stack back up to a respectable level.

Nearing the climax of my story I made it to the top 5(which meant I had made the money) but I was the short stack. I was excited to get to the money but wanted more now that I was there! Sound familiar anyone? It was a quick route to heads up as the chip leader took out 2 players and I was all in with another. My AQ dominated my opponents A8 and 5 bricks later I was in 2nd while it took just one more hand for my opponent to be eliminated by the chip leader.

I was now down to heads up with a 4-1 chip disadvantage. I didn’t know it yet but the climax of my story was at hand. I had J9 and just called, the chip leader just checked and the flop came down 10 8 2. We both checked and a 7 hit the turn. The chip leader goes all in and I quickly call seeing him turn over 9 6 for a smaller straight! That was indeed the turning point as he seemed gun shy after that, and noticing that, I cranked up the aggressive play. It took just 6 more hands to win the tournament. I fell to my knee’s with Rocky and Jack at my side and (as I always do when I win) let out a big ‘yyyeeesss’ !

Ah yes, mine was the classic tale. I didn’t play another tournament for a couple days just so I could stay in that ‘feel good’ zone I had entered right after my great victory.

Every poker player has a story to tell. If you are patient and disciplined enough who knows, you may one day have a best seller!