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#355 – NBC Heads-Up Championship #6 – The Worst Seat in the House
About 12:10 PM, half hour into the Hearts bracket of round 1 as I start this post. Media row is the absolute worst place to view these matches. You can neither hear nor see what’s going on. 6 matches still going. These are my notes of the rest of the Hearts-bracket first round, from a place so removed from the action that I only THINK I’m still at Caesars. And our internet connection goes out about once per minute.
Orel Hershiser, we learn, plays a lot of NLHE at the Bellagio and Red Rock. I asked Ted before the match if he missed the pairings party because the games in LA were too good. “No,” he admitted, “I got the day wrong.” Hershiser is betting Ted out of a lot of pots and, last I heard, has a big lead. 12:15 PM, Orel limps on the button. Ted moves all-in for 4400. Orel quickly calls. Ah-3h for Ted. Q-8o for Hershiser. Flop comes ace-high, giving Ted a big lead. Ted doubles up to 8,800, though Hershiser still has over 31,000. Winning ugly – it’s the only way Ted Forrest knows.
12:17 PM – Bellande shows two-pair and Grizzle mucks, saying “that’s good” to take a big pot. He has a large lead.
12:23 PM – Jamie Gold lays down QQ before the flop against Tom Kelly and shows. He wants to know if he was good and Kelly’s not saying. That’s what the in-room announcer said, but I can’t believe it. On the next hand, Jamie moves all-in. I wise-assedly say, “Must be better than QQ.” Jamie shows one ace. Tom calls and Jamie shows the other ace. Tom has A-K. Jamie Gold can afford to throw away queens preflop. He dances with the angels. If Mike Matusow has some designation greater than “spook,” it would definitely apply to Gold. He has a substantial lead in his match. I still can’t believe that thing with the queens. If you throw away queens AND show, how can you win unless you pick up aces? But then Tom Kelly doubles up with A-7, dominated by Gold until he picks up a 7 on the river.
12:35 PM – Ted has doubled up again on Orel, with 4-4 v. 2 overs. (Ted made a full house on the turn to seal the deal, though they were all in preflop.) Jamie Gold has eliminated Tom Kelly.
12:39 PM – Scott Fischman eliminates Todd Brunson.
4 down, 4 to go.
12:42 PM – Ted’s all in for 9200 on the button, Orel Hershiser calls. Ac-5c for Ted, 6s-6d for Hershiser. Orel flops a six to bust Ted. Ted’s out in just under an hour. Orel is collecting signatures of each player he beats. Ted says it’s the first baseball he’s ever signed but of course he signs. Just like he had no trouble posing for that picture with Andy Beal after he and the pros were down $5 million to Beal in December 2001. It’s just the right way to behave.
Betting with Katie Lindsay, who cleaned my clock last year, I was up 3-0 but lost with Todd and Ted.
12:50 PM – Andy Bloch has the lead over Shannon Elizabeth. (For the record, Shannon’s boyfriend kicked me out a seat on the sidelines. Clonie Gowen and Katie Lindsay both kicked me out of seats nearby. I just heard blinds were 400-800 and Andy raised to 1600. Shannon called. Andy bet 1500 on the flop and Shannon folded. To me, 332 miles away from the action, it appears Andy believes Shannon is folding too much for too little so he’s min-raising and betting less than half the pot. On the occasion of the one hand that was announced, that worked.
1:05 PM – Still 3 matches going, though there’s all-in and call at the feature table. Andy’s moved all-in and Shannon calls. Andy has the lead. Andy has K-3o. Shannon had A-Qs. Andy flops a king but there are 3 spades. But she turns a straight and doubles up. Shannon has the lead in the match.
1:12 PM – Sam Grizzle has eliminated Bobby Belande.
1:17 PM – Vanessa Rousso is all-in. Antonio has top pair, Vanessa an overpair and doubles up and Antonio is on the ropes. The cameras are clustered around the table, a death watch.
1:20 PM – Shannon moved all-in on the button. Andy thought for a long time and called. Andy Ac-Kc. Shannon has A-Qo. Maybe I had that wrong. I can’t imagine Andy Bloch taking a long time over that one. Andy flops a king to double up. They are practically tied as blinds go up to 1000-2000.
1:25 PM – Antonio, all-in on the blind, has Q-8o. Vanessa has Js-4s. Antonio flops a queen and dodges Vanessa’s straight draw to double up, though he’s still very low.
1:26 PM – Antonio’s in again, now with 9s-2s. Vanessa has K-3o. Antonio flops a 9 but Vanessa makes a runner-runner flush with her one diamond to eliminate Esfandiari.
1:28 PM – Andy’s all-in and Shannon quickly calls. Bloch shows T-8o. Kd-Qd for Shannon. Andy flops an 8 but there are two diamonds and two overcards. 6h on turn is no help. 14 outs on the river. 9s on the river and Andy Bloch wins.
For the next round, I’m going to try to get a seat so I can watch Benyamine/Harman and Greenstein/Lederer. If there’s a gap in the posts until after the round, it means I’ve succeeded. (Though frankly, I wouldn’t mind sitting on the other side and getting a glimpse of Pham/Townsend, Lindgren/Elezra, and Tilly/Gowen.
