Last night I played in an inexpensive tournament on The Hill. I play this particular event because, while the stakes are minimal, it's a good chance to chat with some reasonably decent players and, more importantly, there's always a good chance of an Omaha cash game developing after the tournament (and I do like me some Omaha).
This tournament started out with a bang and a whimper. I was chip lead at my table and got into a hand reasonably early on with two other players. I was playing low to middle suited connectors (7s-8s). I don't normally do this from middle position but decided to play a few more pots. I correctly bet preflop as opposed to limping in which would have been a poorer decision.
Flop came Qs-RAGs-Rag. I was first to act and bet 3/4 of the pot with my flush draw. I got an all in from a villain who I will call "Mr. Grumpy Cufflinks." To call would cost me half my stack, which I could afford but wasn't thrilled to do. Based on how he played earlier, I knew he likely had two over cards or a low pair on the board. I was getting ready to fold my hand when the 3rd player in the hand called the all-in from Cufflinks, putting himself all-in in the process. At this point I had to stop and think because that 2nd all-in just gave me spectacular pot odds (at least 4-1). To me it was a no-brainer... early enough in the tourney that, if I lost half my stack, I could recover. Enough money in the pot to justify the call and to possibly bust out two players (who would then rebuy and increase the prize pool).
I call.
Cufflinks predictably flips over his two overs. 2nd caller flips over As-Js. Shit. At this point, even if I hit my flush, the 2nd caller would have the nut flush. The only thing that could save me was to pair one of my suited connectors without hitting a spade. Which I did... on the river.
Mr Cufflinks was flabbergasted. As he put it, "Why would you call half your stack with that?!" I normally would have calmly replied, "Pot odds and I could afford it." But, I let it go and plugged back into my ipod. Several hands later, he was still going on about it. I jokingly said, "Are we still talking about this?!" I plugged back in. Two more hands later, he was STILL going on about this, so I commented, "Dude, are you going to Phil Hellmuth about this all night? Try playing a tourney with real stakes and then complain. I lost a $1200 pot last night that I was a 70% favorite to win. And you know what? I didn't complain to a single person at the table. Move on."
That was the point I realized that, in the process of calling him Phil Hellmuth, I had become Phil Hellmuth myself. We both should have kept our traps shut and played some poker.
I generally shut up for the remainder of the evening except for a text message to the host to let him know about a little tell of his that I'd started to notice at last week's game. When he has called a hand and the flop comes down, when his hand is weak and he's going to fold, he turns his thumbs in slightly. I let him know about the tell and sent him a link to the following article written by an FBI profiler:
http://www.anteupmagazine.com/featured-column/digging-their-digit-poker-tells.htm
I don't know if telling him about the tell was the right thing to do or not. But, it seemed like the friendly thing to do; and, after my run as Hellmuth on Hellmuth, being polite with the thumbs seemed the only way to go.
Finished final table, just escaping bubble-girl status and cashing out in 8th place.
