16
The Big Cash Game
The gamesmanship for tonight’s big cash game started well before the cards were in the air. The players – Patrik Antonius, Niki Jedlicka, Tony G, Chris Ferguson, Gus Hansen, John Juanda, and Eli Elezra – were seated at the table for a good 45 minutes before the game got going. In that time they chatted about how deep they were prepared to play. The blinds were 400/800, with a 100 ante, and most started with 100k. Patrik started deeper, with about 250k, and the game didn’t start until he loaned Ferguson, who was waiting for chips from the cage, 100k.
Patrik and Eli immediately started talking about a straddle. They were goading the other players to commit to a permanent $1,600 straddle. But not everyone was interested. “Oh,” said Antonius, “you guys want this to be a boring game. That’s not right.”
Eli asked Niki, “Why don’t you want to straddle?”
“Two reasons,” said Niki. “One, I’m the youngest. Two, I have no money.”
The game got underway, and immediately Eli pressed the action. He played nearly every one of the first half dozen pots, and was joined in most of them by Gus. But with Eli two seats to Gus’s left, it seemed that Gus opted to tighten up a bit and let Eli take control the action.
Eli started with a smile on his face—the action-happy gambler. He fired at flops and blasted when it was limped to him in the straddle.
His aggression caused some problems for others early on. In the biggest hand from the first hour, Niki raised Eli’s straddle from early position to $5600; Eli re-raised to 20.5k. Niki called. The flop was As-8s-5s, and both players checked. On the turn, the 9c, Eli bet 15k. I actually had to ask several people if I heard the bet right. I had. Niki called. The river brought the 2c and once again Eli bet 15. Niki called, and Eli turned over pocket Kings, neither a spade, which was good enough to take the pot.
“He played it well,” Niki said soon after. “He played it strange, but well. If he bet out the flop I would have moved in on him.” He said this without revealing his hand. We were left to guess he had Jacks with the Jack of spades.
I watched the game from a small lounge that was setup for players’ friends and family. I chatted about hands with Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Jeff Lisandro, who were waiting to get in the game. Phil Laak came by and commented that Patrik’s dress shirts are now unbuttoned to just above his bellybutton.
Sadly, it quickly became in impossible for any of us to follow the action on the TV they provided. There was no useful audio detailing the action and they rarely showed the board. At one point Patrik raked a massive 3-way pot and everyone was left to wonder what happened.
I complained about the lack of access to a Fox Sports guy who was part of the taping crew. I was told that they weren’t really interested in fixing it; they didn’t want the big hands blogged prior to airing.
At that point, I went and played some high stakes poker of my own—some $2-$5 in the Crown Poker room.
