Bond18 - Around the World in 90 Days: Day 78

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

I first met Mike ‘Sirwatts’ Watson at the beginning of the 2007 WSOP. He and Stevepa hadn’t been able to get into their place that night and needed to crash somewhere else and wondered if I could accommodate them in my room. When I met Watts he was so quiet I didn’t even hear or realize who he was the first time we spoke. I knew of him from his 2+2 posting, tournament scores, and the fact that one day while browsing through the highest stakes games on Full Tilt I saw him sitting at 200/400 and asked Timex if it was the same Sirwatts. It turns out Timex had bought a large chunk of Watts to short stack and take shots at the soft game, which initially went quite well but due to unfortunate run ins with David Benyamine ended up being a mostly break even endeavor.

We ended up hanging out the majority of our days at the last WSOP, often grabbing a swim at his condo’s pool after our play was done. Among other things, we shared having a massively losing summer in common and spent a ton of time discussing strategy. Watts is smarter than his introverted and modest nature lets on and even though the city of Waterloo has produced an absurd amount of poker talent I’ve heard many people say they think Watts will be the best of the lot in years to come. As I’ve written before, Watts is restrained and mild tempered to the point that I think if I one day walked up to him and said “Hello Watts!” then punched him square in the face he’d stare at me in confusion and ask calmly “What’d you do that for?”

I told Watts I’d meet him at the Bellagio café around 2:30pm today. For the first time in a while I have enormous trouble getting a cab and I don’t actually arrive at the restaurant until well past 3pm, with the final table starting at 5pm. Watts is sitting with Iweargoggles and his girlfriend, who are on their way out. After that I order some pancakes and offer to flip Watts for the bill. Of course he loses.

We make our way over to the WPT final table filming area in one of the Bellagio ballrooms. A ton of 2+2’ers are there to sweat both Watts and Goggles and we find a spot in the group. It’s my first time at a WPT final table and I’m disappointed to find out just how fake it is. For example, in the opening when they have everyone applaud they have to do numerous takes in order to get it right, so the tournament director stands on the stage and says “Okay everyone, pretend your player just won a big pot and cheer!” Also, the lady ‘directing’ the filming seems really pushy and on numerous occasions asks people to move to different seats to make the audience look more full and demands the players return to their seat in a less than polite tone.

The play is very slow early, mostly the fault of John Phan who is taking his normal forever per decision. Every time he enters a pot and there’s a decision placed to him someone in the 2+2 crowd will turn to the person next to them and ask “Over/under?” The average line is set around four minutes, though in larger pots it climbs upward.

Not long into the final table Watts gets involved in a big pot with Thaler:

Watts’ stack: ~5 million, Thaler: ~2.2 million, blinds 40,000/80,000 with 10,000 ante.

Pre-flop: Watts raises to 220k UTG, folds to Thaler in the BB, Thaler calls.

Flop: 7h 5h 4c

Thaler checks, Watts fires 320k and Thaler check shoves for about 1.9 million. Watts goes into the tank for quite some time, then calls. I can’t see great from my seat and it looks like Watts has called him with AK high. When the camera finally turns on the table I see that Thaler has TT and Watts has AhJh. I’m confused as to why Watts didn’t insta call.

Turn: 3d

River: 8h

Our entire section explodes and I’m yelling my head off. Watts seperates himself from the pack and regains the chip lead. During the break I ask Watts why he didn’t instantly call. He tells me he was staring intently at Thaler looking for some form of reaction and didn’t even realize there was two hearts on the board until the tournament director announced the flop.

A bit of a while after that John Phan gets very unlucky and gets three-outed in two straight pots, one of them quite large. The field is reduced to four with fairly equal stacks, though Ralph Perry is a bit shorter than the rest. Play goes back and forth for a little until Watts and Perry get involved in a large pot:

Watts: ~6 million, Perry: ~2.2 million, blinds 60,000/120,000 with 20,000 ante.

Pre-flop: Folds to Watts in the SB, Watts raises to 360k, Perry shoves for 2.2 million, Watts instantly calls. Watts tables AsQs which leads Perry’s KsJd. I’m on my feet screaming for an ace.

Flop: 5s 4c 2h

Turn: 9h

River: Ad

Again our section explodes and Watts drags a pretty massive pot to even himself with the large stack of Benyamine. The final three has come down to the best three players starting the final table and it’s currently anyone’s game. The guy who goes out next will get over $450,000, though I don’t think that’s especially life changing money to any of the three (though I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt either.)

The play actually gets a little bit on the tight side as none of the players seem interested in making a mistake or doing something spewy against such tough competition. After watching many pots get traded back and forth a large hand between Goggles and Watts finally ensues:

Watts stack: ~8.3 million, Goggles: ~3.5 million, blinds 60,000/120,000 with 20,000 ante.

Pre-flop: Goggles raises to 360k, Benyamine folds, Watts re-raises to 1.1 million, Goggles shoves, Watts calls. Watts tables QdQh against Goggles AsKh. The entire 2+2 section is on their feet though many are a little conflicted about screamingly loudly for cards, though overall the support seems to be for Goggles.

Flop: Qc Jd 2d

The Q is the door card and suddenly Goggles chances look awful. He’s only got four outs to the ten to stay in the tournament.

Turn: Th

Goggles erupts in the greatest show of emotion I’ve ever seen from one of poker’s most placid players. Watts is left scratching his head and praying for the board to pair.

River: 6d

The stack of Goggles and Watts more or less trade places and for the first time in a long time Watts is forced into the position of the short stack. Again I talk to him during the break and assure him that “This shit is yours. I’m not worried. You feeling cool?”

“Yea, I’m fine. Still got plenty of chips.”

“Right, no worries. Win please, buy me a house.”

Play goes back and forth for a while and Watts gains chips back from Goggles as Benyamine’s stack stays much the same. I have to say, I’m really impressed by the play of Benyamine. Even though he plays a ton online I always figured he’d be prone to the same stack size and positional leaks most guys who spend a ton of time playing live have but there are none evident. He’s also playing really well post-flop and appears to be a complete gentleman on the table.

As the stacks of Watts and Goggles begin to approach being equal they get involved in another big pot:

Watts stack: ~4.1 million, Goggles: ~4.5 million, blinds 80,000/160,000.

Benyamine folds the button, Watts raises to 480k in the SB, Goggles shoves, Watts calls. Goggles tables AdTh and Watts turns over AsQc, leaving Goggles with three outs to prevent being crippled.

Flop: Kc Js 9h

Turn: 7h

The 2+2 crowd begs for a split pot as we await the river.

River: 7c

I’m about the only guy legitimately happy in the crowd (which feels awkward, since Goggles is a friend too) but I keep my elation to myself. With that, Goggles is crippled and is soon eliminated when he moves in as a short stack with K4o and gets called by Benyamine and Watts, both of whom end up flopping top pair.

Going into heads up play Benyamine has perhaps 11.5 million to the 8.5 million of Watts, and according to Watts “I just can’t win a pot off Benyamine.”

The director lady asks us to move to the stands behind Watts and we accommodate her. Then she decides she needs a row of people to go back and fill in just the front row on the other side of the arena where we just came from. She tells us she won’t let play continue until someone goes over there and it takes several minutes and much arguing before a few of the 2+2 guys agree to go over.

Benyamine and Watts trade small pots back and forth at the beginning of heads up with little change to either players stack. Not long after coming back from a short break the two get involved in a large pot:

Watts stack: ~8.5 million, Benyamine: ~11.5 million, blinds 100k/200k with 20,000 ante.

Pre-flop: Benyamine raises to 500k, Watts re-raises to 1.5 million, Benyamine shoves, Watts instantly calls. When the cards are turned over the cameras don’t turn onto the table and I’m forced to rely on the tournament director for the information. Benyamine looks disgusted when he sees Watts cards and Jack McClelland on the microphone announces “We have the AK of Mike Watson all-in versus the AQ of David Benyamine.”

Flop: Td 8s 2h

At this point the cameras finally turn on the table and the crowd suddenly gasps as we see that Benyamine actually holds QQ. It seems when Benyamine tabled his hand he turned both cards over but one obscured the view of the other. McClelland saw the look on Benyamines face when he saw the AK and filled in the blank, or so he thought. The entire stands begin screaming for an ace at a volume that has McClelland holding his ears as he tells the dealer to burn and turn.

Turn: 5d

I am screaming for an ace so hard I already know I’m going to ruin my voice for days. I’ve never wanted to see a card hit so bad in my life. This is literally a $40,000 river card for me.

River: Ad

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH OOOOOH MY GAAAAWWWWWD! YEEEES!”

Watts runs down from the table and Mastr and I give him huge hugs as we scream in his face. I’ve never seen a bigger smile on the face of Watts. As he returns to his seat they count down the chips and Benyamine slides over the necessary amount. He’s entirely crippled now.

Watts begins open shoving on Benyamine at every opportunity and it’s not long before Benyamine calls:

Watts stack: ~18 million, Benyamine: ~3 million, blinds 100k/200k with 20,000 ante.

Preflop: Watts shoves, Benyamine calls. Watts tables Qh9s, Benyamine Kh9h.

The dealer burns and turns the flop before anyone can react. After she does the cameras turn on it and we see it contains a queen, naturally, we all lose it.

Flop: Ad Qc 6c

“HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!!!!”

Turn: 9c

“HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!!!!!!!!”

River: 7d

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!”

Watts runs into the crowd and again I give him a massive hug. The crowd mobs him, including his sister who flew all the way of Toronto on a days notice to come watch and support her brother. Benyamine takes it all with complete dignity and shakes Watts hand after having gotten unlucky two hands in a row (sure the first hand was just a coin flip, but when you’re one card away from winning it all it sure feels awful.)

Watts is dragged away to do all the promotional photos and interviews while we stand around excitedly talking. After he’s finished we walk down to the cage for the pay out. Watts immediately hands me $80,000 of the $1.67 million and change they’ve taken out in chips for him.

We all agree what this night really needs is some Korean BBQ, so we run over to the front entrance of the Bellagio with a group of 14 and grab a stretch SUV limo over to the Korean joint next to the Wynn. All I can really say to Watts over the course of dinner is “One point six million!?”

Major congratulations to Mike ‘Sirwatts’ Watson − you rich, rich bastard. I told you so.

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