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#098 – The Greatest Poker Game, Part V (Forrest builds a pyramid)
FORREST BUILDS A PYRAMID
PAGE 637
Dealer change 12:02
Ted had a couple bagels @ 11 – 12:06, ordering lunch
Ted +$600k or so.
On Ted’s button, Andy x3
Kh-Tc-Js
Check-check
Ts
Andy bets, fold
Andy $300k
Next – Andy bets, raise
Tc-8c-7h
Ted bets, call
Ac
Ted bets, Andy raises, call
9d
Ted bet, call
Ted shows T-J
Rivered the straight?
Well he started with top pair.
Ted $900k
Ted’s ahead $800-900k 12:15 PM
12:16 PM – Ted +$1M
12:17 PM – Ted is up to $5M total. $5,050,000 it appears.
Now we have a game. It’s actually a credit to Andy that Ted has to win over a million dollars for it to seem like he’s in command.
12:20 – Andy’s won a couple of medium pots, now about $1M. It was $1.3M a few minutes ago.
12:24 PM – It’s back to $1.3M
12:26 PM – Andy’s straight flush
8c-9c-6d-Qc-Kc
Ted = 6-6 and made a flush on the river
$900k pot – Andy straight flush
Ted gets away pretty cheap – trips and flush.
That and the next hand help Andy a lot
-$800k now 12:27 PM
6-4-Q-2-2
No raise preflop
Checked down
Ted bets at end A-T
Andy calls with K-4 and takes it
$300k Andy
Ted wins $400k by calling river bet and Andy folds, not showing bluff.
Ted +$1.25M 12:31 PM
12:35 PM
I stepped away to check with Matt – everyone in the office is loving the piece. [I had sent the first half of the April article about Beal’s games the week before with Harman, Todd Brunson, and Forrest while I was writing the second half … and as it was happening.]
9d-2h-5d-2d-Ks
$700k pot
Ted bet, Andy raised
Ted reraised, call
Ted 6d-Jd
Andy, ten-high straight
Ted $1.1M
Ted’s back about +$1.5M
7d-2s-9s
Andy chek-raises, is reraised
Ad
Andy bets, Ted raises, call
900K in pot
5c
Check-bet-call
As-Ts for Ted
Andy looks for a long time and folds
Ted $1.1M
Back to back hands, Ted wins $1.1M ($2.2M in pots)
BIG BIG swing there
Ted +$2.2M 12:39 PM
2 hands later $500k in
6s
6d
3d
Check river
No pair – Ted A-T, Andy K-7
Ted $500k
Ted +$2.4M
7c-Tc-9d
2d
Jh
Ted bets and called
Ted 9-X
Wins – Ted $700k
Ted’s up to $6.5M
Ted say yes for Pete Fornatale – call him. [Pete had asked me to put him in touch with Forrest for a book. I wasn’t going to ask Ted unless things were going well in the game. The book, released in July, contains an interview with Forrest.]
Lunch is here.
Andy I think usually does pretty well during meals.
12:50 PM Ted +$2.5M
Ted has just built a base for a tall series of chip towers.
[I drew a picture here, that looks like a billiard rack but with 10 rather than 15 places.]
10 stacks x 5
He is planning on accelerating – He’s got Andy down about $2.8M. Can Andy handle the pressure?
Ted is accelerating. In Deborah’s [Giardina, Wynn Director of Poker Operations] office, I saw him on video raking in pot after pot. She looks at the decks very carefully after they are taken out of play.
Ted wins two big showdowns.
Andy -$3.5M
Ted is building the pyramid. Each tower has just a few chips and with each pot he wins, he adds a chip to each tower so they all grow in unison.
1:05 PM deck change.
If Ted turns this around, wins huge, and ends it, I have to capture that –
This is so little to read on Andy. Is he angry, disgusted, confused, tired?
It seems whoever bets wins a small pot. But Andy is shut out of the big pots.
Ted is on the phone. “Close to four.”
Ted raised preflop, bet with A-J-6 flop. Andy raised. Ted folded.
Andy’s down $3.5M.
Ted’s mood still seems a little subdued compared with last week.
Ted raised his button
9s-2d-Ts
Ted bet – Andy raised.
Ted reraised.
Andy folded. Ted $400k.
1:14 PM Ted +$3.6M
T button call. Andy raise
6h-9s-Jd
Check-raise by Andy
7s
Another check-raise by Andy
$800k in
2s
Andy bets – call
Andy 7-7 – Andy $1M
1:15 PM – first big showdown for Andy in a long time
Andy raises out of position, picks it up on the flop. He’s “cut” the lead to $3M.
Next hand, he raises his button, Ted 3 bets.
5s-8d-Jh
Ted bets, call
9c
Ted bets, Andy raises
Ted reraises
Call
2d
Ted bets – call
Ted wins with Q-Q
I think Andy had J-K
Ted $1.2M
1:20 PM Ted’s lead is back around $3.5M
I wonder if Andy should be so quick to go to [I never finished this sentence and have no idea what I was writing]
Qh-9h-Qs-4d-5c
Ted 9-9 boat
Ted about $900k
Now the margin is up to $4M
1:22 PM
To Andy’s credit he has no give-up in him. He keeps trying to fight back. His face is a mask so there is no telling what his inner emotions are but it FEELS like he thinks he can turn the match around.
