Week Four, World Series of Blackjack 2

Discussion in 'World Series of Blackjack' started by KenSmith, Feb 10, 2005.

  1. KenSmith

    KenSmith Administrator Staff Member

    World Series of Blackjack 2, Week 4

    Henry Tamburin, Rick Blaine, Nancy Kubasek, Kami Lis, Michael Konik
    Friday Feb 11, 10 PM premiere, 1 AM encore
    Sat Feb 12, 8 PM
    Sun Feb 13, 7 PM
    Tue Feb 15, 10 PM

    BJT Members at this table include HTamburin and NightTrain (Rick Blaine). Nancy, Kami, Michael: Any of you in attendance here?

    Look for my show recap this weekend.
     
  2. KenSmith

    KenSmith Administrator Staff Member

    Show Recap part 1

    Let's meet the players:

    Dr Henry Tamburin: This well-known gaming author also has a PhD in Organic Chemistry. The publisher of the BJ Insider email newsletter, and our BJT Member HTamburin: "You're going to see a conservative player, who is going to bet aggressive if necessary."

    Rick "Night Train" Blaine: Another BJT Member (NightTrain), Rick has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. His blackjack chops are just as impressive. He's the author of a couple of blackjack books, and he's run some large blackjack teams. "If I'm playing against an aggressive player who's coming at me like a bull, I'm going to be a matador."

    Nancy Kubasek is a law professor who has been on the national tournament circuit for many years. She's a top-notch tourney player. "Perhaps I don't take blackjack quite as seriously as people for whom that's a living, so I think I can be more relaxed."

    Kami Lis, a Polish blackjack professional who we are told has won as much as $55,000 at the tables. Her tournament philosophy: "Never give up."

    Michael Konik is an author, pro gambler and jazz musician who also does improv comedy. "In tournaments, whether it is poker or blackjack, one needs to constantly be on the offense, but there is a benefit to shifting gears."

    That's our lineup in seat order. If no one makes an early exit, the final bet button will be in front of Michael Konik on hand 25.

    Hand 1: Michael's first bet looks like he's noticed the bad button. He bets $8000 after everyone else bets the minimum $1000. Nancy's bright blue wig is explained; She wore it to a tournament once and won the whole thing. Some people have lucky socks... She has lucky hair. Deanna the dealer turns up a 5, but draws to 19. Kami picks up $1500 on a blackjack while the rest of the table loses. Rick and Nancy both lost $2000 on failed doubles.

    Hand 2: The betting looks pretty similar on hand two. Four players bet $1000, and Michael cranks up to $12,000. Max tells us he's trying to set the tone at the table. We see a pop-in of Michael's pre-game interview: "I know when it's time to make my move, and more important, I know when it's time to put it into neutral and let the other guys hang themselves." This time Michael's more aggressive bet looks pretty good when he draws twenty against a dealer six. Nancy doubles 9, Kami doubles 11, and Henry doubles a soft 14. When Deanna makes 18, Michael gets paid and we have to check the double down cards to see about the rest. Kami pulled a face card for 21, and she joins Michael as the only winners this hand.

    Hand 3: New hand, same story, with Michael betting $4000 against a minimum-betting field. We hear from Henry this hand: "I really think I have the skills and the confidence to win this thing." Crowd pleaser Kami hits 15 with a 6 for her 2nd consecutive 21. Michael doubles 10v8, and a Deanna bust pays the table.

    Hand 4: Michael is in the lead and now switches gears betting the minimum. Max points out that since noone else has been betting more than the minimum, Michael has put it in neutral, knowing they won't catch him right away. Kami's good cards continue, making a 4-card 20 against a dealer 8. Michael busts, but he's just the first loser of the bunch. Deanna makes an 8-6-7 straight flush in spades to collect from everyone.

    Skip to Hand 7:
    Henry: $96,000
    *Rick: $98,000
    Nancy: $96,000
    Kami: $103,500
    Michael: $104,000

    We're told that Michael lost $8000 on hand 6 and his lead has shrunk to only $500 ahead of second-place Kami. Behind minimum bets from Rick, Nancy and Kami, Michael pushes out $16,000. The button has just passed Henry, and we see him come off the minimum-bet bandwagon for the first time, betting $4000. While the cards are being dealt we get a shot of the $5000 Venetian chip hanging around Kami's neck as a good luck charm. Henry didn't need a good luck charm this hand, as his first non-minimum bet is rewarded with a blackjack. Rick stands with 18, Nancy and Kami both have 20 and Michael is stuck with a 14. However, their fates are all the same when Deanna draws 2-T-9.

    Matt gets a chance to tout his particular superstition: "See? See Max? When noone takes a card, it never means anything good is gonna happen."

    Hand 8: Michael is in a progression of sorts, upping his bet to $24,000. Henry bets $3000 while the others continue the waiting game. A dealer 3-card twenty pushes Michael's promising pat 20. Kami loses a doubled 11 but Henry pushes his doubled 10, and his $102,000 is now the top stack.

    Hand 9: Kami leads off with her same wager of $1000. Michael backs off a bit after his push last hand, and risks $16,000 this time. Henry bets $3000 while Rick and Nancy stay consistent with $1000 bets. Nancy picks up a blackjack against a dealer King. Kami hits her 13 with a requested 8. Michael hits 5 to 15 and then stands. Max attributes this play to him picking up a tell on Deanna who peeked under the ten card. It could be true, because she turns over a four as the hole card. However, she draws into 19 to push Rick, pay Kami, and collect from everyone else. Kami is in the lead again.

    Skip to Hand 11:
    *Henry: $100,000
    Rick: $97,500
    Nancy: $94,500
    Kami: $100,500
    Michael: $71,000

    Everyone bets $1000 until Michael. With final bet this hand and a lot of ground to make up, Max says he appears to be figuring a half-a-bankroll bet. However, Michael apparently has trouble with the math, betting $36,000 instead of $35,500. Rick blackjacks, and swings the table when Deanna draws out to 21. Michael's big-bet 14v2 didn't stand a chance, and he's down to $35,000 total.

    Hand 12: After the others make minimum bets, Michael goes all-in. Henry is last to bet, and he bets $1000 as well choosing to "put the focus on Michael." Against a dealer 6, Michael's hand is an 18. Kami doubles a soft 14, and all eyes focus on Deanna. She turns over 6-6 and draws an 8 for 20. We're down to 4 players. Kami's double-down card is a 6 for 21 and she collects $2000. Nancy pushes, Rick and Henry lose.

    In Konik's interview with Megan, he explains that he hoped to take advantage of a passive table by building up an early lead. Instead: "This is gambling. Bad things sometimes happen."

    With Konik's exit, the final hand button will be on Nancy, assuming noone else leaves the table.

    Skip to Hand 14:
    Henry: $92,000
    Rick: $93,000
    Nancy: $95,500
    *Kami: $100,500

    The ladies lead and Kami has the button this hand. Everyone makes minimum bets except Henry who bets $3000. Yet another dealer 21 draws groans from around the table.

    Hand 15: Rick Blaine comes out of his shell this hand with an $8000 bet. We hear a confusing soundbite from Rick's pre-game interview where he plans to "make the wrong move at the right time", to throw off the competition. He gets a little ribbing from Matt and Max about it, and when Rick draws a 17 against Deanna's Ace, Max describes it as the "wrong bet at the wrong time". Deanna draws to 19, pushes the ladies, pays Henry, and collects Rick's $8K.

    Hand 16:
    Henry: $90,000
    *Rick: $84,000
    Nancy: $94,500
    Kami: $99,500

    Minimum bets to Henry, who bets $7000. Max admonishes him for not betting quite enough to take the lead, but it's not that big a deal here. A double gives him the lead, and there's plenty of time left anyway. Against a dealer 3, the guys both stand with 13, while Nancy and Kami each double a soft 17. Deanna is back on track after last hand's mere 19. She draws 3-7-A for another 21. There are no survivors. Max tells us this is Deanna's fifth 21 this round.

    Hand 17:
    Henry: $83,000
    Rick: $83,000
    *Nancy: $92,500
    Kami: $97,500

    Nancy leads off with $1000 while Matt points out that her longest winning streak of the night is "one in a row which technically isn't even a streak". Max: "No, technically, that sucks." Kami leads Nancy by $5000 and bets $2500. Henry bets another middle-of-the-road bet, this time $5000. Last to act, Rick takes a shot with $20,000. That's a nice bet here from Rick, who goes for the lead and even covers a possible double by Kami by $500.

    Nancy hits out to 18, Kami stands with 15. Henry doubles a nine, and has $10,000 working now. Rick has a 13, but his nice bet pays its dividends when Deanna busts. Rick has taken over the top spot.

    Hand 18:
    Henry: $93,000
    Rick: $103,000
    Nancy: $93,500
    *Kami: $100,000

    Max points out that Kami looks a little rattled now that Rick has passed her, and she goes right to work to regain the lead. She pushes out a $12,000 bet. Henry and Rick both bet $1000. Nancy sees her opportunity and for the first time risks more than a minimum bet. A lot more. She bets $30,000. An extra thousand would have been a good thing, or she could have bet as little as $19,000. Still, she takes aim at the lead unless Kami doubles. Matt inadvertently confuses the names, saying "Kami wants a lead here, she knows she'll be on the button for hand 25." He means Nancy of course. Deanna flips up an Ace. Matt: "This has been a brutal table tonight." Noone insures, though Nancy considers insuring her 13 for a while. No dealer blackjack, and Nancy is momentarily relieved.

    Kami stands with 17. Henry hits soft 14 with a 7. Rick's soft 14 doesn't improve so nicely and he busts. Nancy's request for a little card is ignored by Deanna, and Nancy busts to lose her $30K. A nine under the Ace for Deanna pays Henry's 21 as the only winner.

    Matt reveals an amazing statistic in the game so far. Hand 18 was the first time Deanna did not have to draw a card. Despite that, she's been brutal.

    --continued--
     
  3. KenSmith

    KenSmith Administrator Staff Member

    Show Recap part 2

    Hand 19:
    *Henry: $94,000
    Rick: $102,000
    Nancy: $63,500
    Kami: $88,000

    The guys make $1000 bets, Nancy bets $20,000, and Kami bets $16,000. Nancy's bet is half what she needs to take the lead, while Kami's bet gives her first high. Neither player covers a potential double by minimum-betting Rick however. Matt incorrectly comments that Rick needs to lose the hand for Kami to take the lead. A dealer six leads to a Henry double of 11. Rick stands with 13, and Nancy with 19. Kami takes a basic strategy double of 10v6. Deanna has an Ace under for 17. Both ladies win, Rick loses and Henry pushes with a 6 on his doubled 11.

    Deanna's soft 17 allows Max to note that games where the dealer stands on soft 17s are better for the player.

    Hand 20:
    Henry: $94,000
    *Rick: $101,000
    Nancy: $83,500
    Kami: $120,000

    The bets: Rick $1000, Nancy $15,000, Kami $2500, Henry $20,000. Henry's bet immediately draws the ire of Max who describes it as a terrible bet. He's right. It's a lot of risk, and yet it falls short of catching Kami. Even if she doubles and loses while Henry wins, he's still $1000 short. A bet of at least $29000 makes a lot more sense here. A Queen up for Deanna, and Rick doubles his 10. It's an aggressive play, but he only has $1000 bet anyway. Nancy hits 12, then 13, and busts. Kami and Henry both draw to 17 and lose to a pat dealer 20. Rick's double pushes.

    Hand 21:
    Henry: $74,000
    Rick: $101,000
    *Nancy: $68,500
    Kami: $117,500

    Nancy: "I'm gonna wait", and bets $1000 from the button. Kami bets most of her lead, $12,000. Matt picks up the play-by-play next: "Henry finally comes through with an aggressive bet at the right time." Henry bets half his bank, $37,000. Matt notes that if Henry swings Kami he'll have the lead. Rick bets $8000, which doesn't cover a win by either Henry or Kami.

    Deanna turns up a six, and everyone stands with a stiff hand except Nancy who doubles an 11. Although Nancy chants for a dealer 21, Deanna's eventual 17 is just as effective, clearing the table and crippling Henry.

    Hand 22:
    Henry: $37,000
    Rick: $93,000
    Nancy: $66,500
    *Kami: $105,500

    Max likes Kami's lead-off bet of $8000. Henry goes all-in, Rick bets $11,000, which lets him double for the high. However, with hands running out, Max thinks he should bet $21,000 instead. I agree. Remember, he'll bet ahead of Kami on the next two hands. Well, maybe just one hand depending on Henry's fate. Nancy knows she needs to make up some ground, and she knows better than to split her money. She makes a max bet of $50,000.

    Kami has a pat 18 against a dealer five. Henry has another 17, Rick a pair of 7s and Nancy's max bet gets a 4-2 to start. Rick has a chance to get a double bet working by splitting the sevens, but that's no longer enough for first high because of Nancy's max bet. This is a good example of a situation where it would have paid to consider those players that seem to be lagging far behind. With a $50,000 max bet, you can't afford to ignore anyone. Rick splits the sevens, and makes 17 on the first hand. He gets a dose of good news on the second hand, drawing a four for 11. Now he can double and he's taken back the high from even Nancy. Attention moves to Nancy's monster bet, where she immediately draws an unwelcome face card on her 6.

    With ugly cards all around, and from $33,000 up to $50,000 at risk on the first three spots of the table, Henry, Rick and Nancy start chanting "Ten, Ten, Ten, Ten" before Deanna flips up her hole card. It's an Ace instead, so the Ten-Chant starts all over again. Nope, it's an eight for 14. The Ten-Chant continues, and now the audience joins in. The chant finally pays off when Deanna busts with a King.

    Hand 23:
    *Henry: $74,000
    Rick: $126,000
    Nancy: $116,500
    Kami: $113,500

    My, how things have changed in one hand. Kami drops from first to third, and Nancy is right back in the match.

    Henry leads off with a $1000 bet that Max berates as horrible. He's on the button, so I can relate to his choice. In fact, I did exactly the same thing in my round on hand 23 and I was even further behind the leader. Max wasn't as critical of this play when I did it, though he was surprised by it. Seriously, there's an argument to be made here for not risking any of your limited chips when the other players can easily margin your effort. Hey Henry, it looks like a good play to me. :)

    Rick bets $6000 and Nancy follows with $1000. I'd like to hear some opinions about what Nancy's bet here should be. I don't much like $1000. Here are some alternatives: $2500, $4000, $10,000, $16,000, $22,000. Kami makes a surprising move here, probably based on her bad button position on the final hand. She fires up a $50,000 max bet. With the small bets around the table, her timing is great.

    Henry's $1000 bet gets a good-looking 20 against a dealer 4. Rick stands with 16, Nancy doubles a soft 16, and Kami has a hard 17. With a Deanna ten underneath the 4, Kami does a solo version of the Ten-Chant, which not surprisingly is not joined by the others. Deanna busts, and Kami has taken a huge lead over the others.

    Well Henry, that $1000 bet looks better if you lose it like I did. Somehow I think the difference in Max's opinion of our plays may be in the magic of post-production.

    Hand 24:
    Henry: $75,000
    *Rick: $132,000
    Nancy: $118,500
    Kami: $163,500

    Rick takes a page out of the Henry and Ken playbook and makes a minimum bet from the button. However, with only one hand to go, it's a much tougher sell for me. He's more than half a max bet behind Kami, and she can guard against the others with a bet as small as $5500 on this hand. Perhaps Rick figures her for another huge bet instead.

    Nancy bets $40,000, and Max correctly notes that she should bet $50,000 instead. Kami bets $15,000. Max mentions $25,000 to get a full max bet ahead of Rick, but I like a $4000 or less bet instead to insure that she remains a half-max ahead of him. That also means Nancy must double to pass her. Henry goes a little brain-dead here, and comes up with a bet of only $30,000. He needs good things to happen, and in a hurry. Max says he should bet either half his bank or a max bet. I'll narrow that choice even further and say he must bet $50,000 here. Perhaps he focused on Rick's bankroll and bet half of what he needed to pass Rick. The problem with that is twofold: Rick's not the threat, and much more importantly, if Henry loses this $30K, he's toast. When losing $30K eliminates any chance you might have, you may as well bet $50,000 instead.

    Against a dealer two, Rick splits sixes and makes 16 and 15. Nancy stands with 17, and Kami stands with 12v2. Matt notices the deviation from basic strategy, and Max explains that Kami's play is a good decision that insures that she stays ahead of Nancy. Henry draws a 16 against a dealer two, and under the circumstances he should double. The whole table has lousy cards, so he could end up in second place if he swings the table. He stands instead, which guarantees he'll be in last place for the final hand. To top off things, Deanna is back to her old tricks again. She draws out 2-2-A-6 for 21.

    --continued--
     
  4. KenSmith

    KenSmith Administrator Staff Member

    Show Recap part 3

    Hand 25:
    Henry: $45,000
    Rick: $130,000
    *Nancy: $78,500
    Kami: $148,500

    Nancy leads off with a max bet, but Max thinks she should have bet half her bank. At first I thought this was a bad call, but after a closer look I see that Max is right. In this case, a single bet doesn't get her much, whether it's a $50,000 win or a $39,000 win (half her bank). To have a reasonable shot, she's almost certainly going to have to double or split. Nice call Max. A $39,000 bet means she can split or double, while her actual $50,000 bet means she can only double.

    Kami does a lot of thinking before placing her bet. In fact, for the first time on the show, you can hear Deanna prompting her for a bet. Though the time limits for decisions were generous, they still were a factor occasionally. She put her time to good use, and made an excellent $36,000 bet. Max notes that she can surrender back into first low, yet she covers the high over a single-bet win by Rick. It's a superb play, and is only inferior to one bet the value of which I will leave as an exercise. Henry goes all-in with $45,000. Rick probably has forgotten about surrender, because he now makes a $1000 bet, taking the low over Kami. However, if Kami surrenders he must still win the hand. Depending on Nancy and Kami's cards, I see some interesting dilemmas developing for Kami.

    A dealer Ace up makes Rick's pseudo-low look pretty good after all. Kami's situation just got very complicated indeed. Let's setup the hands first. Henry has a 17, Rick has soft 15, Nancy has 5-5, Kami has hard 18. The insurance decision starts at the button, with Nancy. Insurance is no good for Nancy, and she knows it. Kami on the other hand has a tough decision. She loses to Rick if she does not insure and the dealer has the blackjack. She can eliminate that problem with an insurance bet, but that also takes away her possible surrender back into the low.

    Her choices:
    1) Insure, and she wins if the dealer has blackjack. If the dealer does not have blackjack, her 18 must either push or win against the dealer Ace for her to beat Rick.
    2) Don't insure, giving first place to Rick if Deanna has the blackjack. If she survives, she can consider surrendering her 18 though that turns out to be less valuable.

    The presence of a reasonable looking double hand in front of Nancy makes this choice easier. Kami needs to win this hand if Nancy wins a double. That makes the surrender choice less appealing, so insuring looks like a better play. Boy, this is tough to figure out for me even with the luxury of unlimited time and no TV lights. It's insanely difficult at the table. Kami decides to not insure, and noone else does either. Deanna does not have the blackjack, so Kami has dodged that bullet.

    Nancy shows her tournament savvy here by doubling, but not all-in. She doubles for $27,500, and holds back a single $1000 chip to move up a spot on Henry if things don't go well with the double. Kami stands on the 18, which is her best chance here. Though she retained the ability to surrender back into the low by not insuring, it just doesn't make sense with Nancy's double-down in the picture.

    Henry makes a final error, standing on his 17. He could have surrendered to move up a spot if Nancy loses, or he could have hit out to hopefully make a better hand than Nancy. The surrender is a better choice here.

    Rick's hand is now meaningless, and he doubles the soft 15 just for fun. Deanna decides their fate... She draws A-3-9-T to bust. Kami takes first, and Nancy gets second place.

    What a finish!

    Kami Lis :1st:
    Nancy Kubasek :2nd:
    Rick Blaine :3rd:
     
  5. Hollywood

    Hollywood New Member

    Bad Boy addendum

    Thanks for another awesome analysis, Ken. Your observations are dead on, and definately thought-provoking. Here's the result of that provocation:

    As far as Konik's early aggressive bets, surprisingly enough, i don't like them. And believe me, a table like this (full of Wong minimum-bettors) is ripe for aggresive tendancies. But Max's assertations that he is using some pseudo-form of negative progression are a little off; the fact is, Konik ISN'T doing a progression. He's just getting aggressive. Which is definately better than NOT being aggressive in this situation. But whenever i see this "unchecked aggression" i immediately think, what are you gonna do if you lose 3,4 hands in a row? With arbitrary bets of 8k, 12k, 16k there isn't much room for control. Because intrinsic in any true progression is not only the aggressive betting that will achieve the same results he is looking for, but built-in to a true progression is an automatic loss control. It not only gives you the optimal chance of being UP if you win only one of 5 bets, but allows you to LOSE several hands in a row with no net loss. His random, non-progressive amounts achieved the result of aggression, but didn't account for losing several hands in a row. Which he ended up doing.

    To be successful at a progression, look not at your total bankroll, but the max bet. in this case 50,000. So the optimal progression would have to be -- 3k, 6k, 12k, 24k, 48k. Betting any other amount just complicates the damage control when the dealer gets hot -- and man, DID SHE! What is great about playing somebody like Konik is that they are easy to profile -- you've got your Wong bettors, your voodoo bettors, your overly conservative bettors and your overly aggressive. So Rick was right when he made the comment, "I'll let you get that out of your system" -- minimum betting until Konik busted out was the right play for the rest of the table to make!

    Now on to some of the specific questions Ken raised in his posts. First, Nancy's minimum bet on hand 23 (refer to the above post if you forgot)... personally, I think it was a great bet, and i'll tell you why. If you just look at the math of the situation, it would make sense to think she should've taken advantage of the position over Rick (chip leader) by betting over 16,000 to take the high on him. But what is Kami doing right next to her? Counting her chips up to make her own big bet. Just like certain players believe they can pick up on dealer tells (when she's looking at her hole card for a potential blackjack), it is even easier to pick up on PLAYER TELLS. i won't go into much detail on this (because its part of the book i'm writing on advanced tourney strategy), but this is the perfect situation for Nancy to pick up on a player tell from Kami. We learn from playing poker that you never look at your cards or consider a pre-flop bet until you have observed all action ahead of your decision at the table. That's cuz you don't want someone who bets or acts before you to pick up on the way you look at your cards, or (more specifically), reach for your chips in a certain manner to indicate that you are going to bet, raise, fold, etc. And i'll bet dollars to doughnuts that Kami was reaching for her chips to take the high on Rick even before Nancy made her bet. Because Kami is basically tied for BR2 with Nancy, Kami is most likely only concerned with finding a bet that will give her the high over Rick's potential win. Which means that if Nancy does the 'correct' thing and bets something over 16k, Kami can still easily take the high on BOTH of them. So pretty much no matter what, Nancy will STILL be BR2 if everybody wins, loses, or pushes. So why put the chips at risk? She takes the low over Kami (acting on a player tell from her) and tries to increase her lead that way.

    The last hand. Lots to discuss here, but two things stand out. First off, Rick's bet... he may have missed an optimal bet here and there, but for the most part made some great plays. And my favorite, favorite play of all is his minimum bet on the final hand! I cheered out loud when he did it! Ken mentioned his bet as taking the low over Kami, but it also accomplishes one other thing: FREEZES OUT a single-bet win by BR3 (Nancy). Since Nancy bet more than half her bankroll, that ruins the possibility of splitting, and a blackjack still doesn't give her enough. Rick realizes that there's no way to take the high on Kami, since if Kami wins, she'll have more than a max bet lead over him. But if NANCY wins, she'll end up with exactly 1,500 less than Rick... leaving him a perfect 1,000 bet. And Kami cut her surrender trap too close -- since a win on his part after a surrender on Kami's part will make RICK the winner (whereas Kami coulda bet 2,000 less to ruin Rick's freeze-out of Nancy). Obviously, as it turned out, a lot of things had to go JUST RIGHT (or rather, JUST WRONG) for Rick to end up in third -- namely, Nancy's succesful Curt's Revenge double, Kami not surrendering, and the dealer busting with an ace up! Not as horrifying as Joe's loss in our game, but still a bad beat in my book, considering the incredible correlation of these bets.

    As far as the question Ken asked about Kami's optimal bet (although the one she put out was pretty damn good), i'll give it two guesses: first, 34,000. This achieves the same result as her current bet -- allowing her to surrender into first low while still retaining the ability to beat a potential max-bet win by Rick -- but also adds in the ability to surrender into just far enough above Rick that he can't win a minimum-bet and beat her while she surrenders. And since Rick can't overbet his narrow 1,500 lead over Nancy's single-bet win, it forces him to not only max bet, but Curt's Revenge himself. Risky! The other thought i had for a more optimal Kami bet is 9,000... its much simpler than all the other multi-factor bets out there. That way, even if Nancy doubles any two cards and wins, she can do no better than end up with 157,000. And if Kami wins the 9,000, she'll clear that by 500. And by the way... it STILL gives her the low to Rick. Especially since Rick has to take the high whether Kami bets 9,000 or the 34,000 i discussed above. Bingo! Forces him to take the high, and we get a classic high vs. low scenario -- she's virtually guarenteed to advance.

    Right, i'm beat. 'Night, all --

    -hollywood dave.

    ps: bonus points go to whoever can guess who Kami shot a worried glance at in the audience after she turned down insurance on the last hand... ;)
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2005
  6. anthony curtis

    anthony curtis New Member

    I really liked Kami's bet, but I think the $9K is superior. Nice work.
     
  7. KenSmith

    KenSmith Administrator Staff Member

    Rick's $1000

    Good point about Rick's final bet, Hollywood. I overlooked the impact of Rick's $1000 bet on Nancy. Particularly if Kami has a strong hand, Nancy's focus will shift to second place. Since she can't swing Rick, she must double anything to even have a shot at second place.

    Nice bet, Rick.
     
  8. pokernut

    pokernut New Member

    Dr Henry Tamburin's showing does not help his promotion of his speed count system.
     
  9. NightTrain

    NightTrain New Member

    What a Final Hand !

    Thanks for the great analysis by Ken and Hollywood.

    Even though I was in the best betting position on the final hand, the bets by both Nancy and Kami left me with a tough decision. I was aware that with going for the low and betting $1000, Kami could surrender and have me by $500, but knew if I bet more than $1000, and Nancy won her bet she would pull ahead of me if I lost. Man, did I have to think fast! Decided to go the $1000, since a double down might present a helpful solution, if Kami surrendered. It's not often you jump for joy when a dealer shows an Ace up, but I was pumped for that short moment. Nancy cleverly doubled and you folks know the rest :(

    At least I dressed well for the occasion ;)

    It was a privilege to sit at a table with such strong tournament players :)

    Regards,
    Rick
     
  10. Joep

    Joep Active Member

    Well Dressed

    You call that well dressed.When you come to Las Vegas call me I will take you shopping for some clothes.And whats with the Phil Spector glasses? :laugh:
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2005
  11. TXtourplayer

    TXtourplayer Executive Member

    Taxi man!

    Rick you don't have to take that from a guy that was mistaken as the taxi man at the Golden Nugget after his show on GSN...LOL.

    Joep, thanks again for having the gang over Friday night to watch WSOB II. It was another fun evening. I guess I'll see you next month (or at the Grand in Tunica) if you get to come down.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2005
  12. NightTrain

    NightTrain New Member

    Fashion Police

    Thanks for the offer Joe, but I only go to KMart for socks and underwear :laugh:

    I brought three different pairs of shades with me, and this pair worked best to alter my appearance. Never thought of the Phil Spector aspect. Let's not even get into Phil's present status these days.

    Regards,
    Rick
     
  13. TXtourplayer

    TXtourplayer Executive Member

    Okay Rainman, I get it. Watch out joep. Remember what happens after the new clothes, he may want dance next....LOL

    Night train when are you going to be out in Vegas next? Are you coming to the Grand in Tunica this month (Feb. 25th - 27th)?
     
  14. Walt

    Walt New Member

    Nice job Ken. For my part, you can consider Dave the winner of your "teaser" question and leave it at that. :flame:
     
  15. NightTrain

    NightTrain New Member

    Grand

    Speaking of sharp dressers .... Hey there Cowboy! Unfortunately won't be able to make Tunica, but I do hope to get some free time and catch up with y'all in one of the upcoming tournaments.

    Regards,
    Rick
     
  16. Joep

    Joep Active Member

    K-Mart

    I was going to take you to TARGET.That where i buy all my clothes at :laugh:
     
  17. KenSmith

    KenSmith Administrator Staff Member

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