My best friend "Al" lives in Reno. He's a combination VP/Poker pro. I
met him at the Stardust poker room 6 years ago. In 2002 he showed up
in Reno. I was there working some outstanding VP plays at the time
and he decided to come up and do the same. He asked me if there
were any Pot Limit or No Limit poker games in town. I told him there
was a 5/10 Pot Limit game at the El Dorado on the weekends. Over the
next nine weekends he beat the game for $150,000. He busted the
game up. Sucked all the money out of it and the game ran sporadic for
the next few years.
For a few years Reno was a hotbed for Multi-line VP overlays. Triple-
play, 5-play, 10 play, and even 50 play and 100 play at times. Al and
me got to know each other real well during that time. No matter where
either one of us is we call each other 3 or four times a week. I think we
relate so well because we're both career gamblers, love to talk shop,
know the ins and outs of gambling , the ups and downs, and what it's
like to be a career gambler.
The multi-line VP overlays have been played out for awhile now and as
one VP pro put it "having to go back to thin-edge, single line is like
offering a line of coke to a crackhead." I still play alot of VP but the
poker boom has taken Al back to the tables. His only motivation for VP
now is comp. He's taking one of his frequent trips to Las Vegas next
week for 16 days, all comped from VP action.
Al is at the top of the food chain in the Reno No Limit Holdem cash game
scene. He's a 30 year pro. He had the good fortune in life to be from
the same area of Ohio as Chip Reese, Danny Robison and Mike Sexton.
They took him under their wing and trained the boy up. But Al has more
working for him than that. He is hustler sharp with a predators instinct
and has a uncanny ability to put his opponent on the exact two cards he
is holding. When I talk poker with him I realize how much I don't know
about the game. He keeps telling me I need to put VP on hold and move
into the No Limit cash games. As he explains it "you make ten times
the money on one tenth the bankroll. There is hardly any fluctuation for
a good player."
Reno has 5 poker events a year. The Spring and Fall Classics at the
Peppermill. The World Poker Challenge at the Reno Hilton. The Hilton
also has two "Pot of Gold" events. The spring Pot of Gold started last
Thursday. Al has an excellent record of cashing in tournaments but
says "the money is not in the tournaments, it's in the side action."
So Sunday night he is sitting in a 2-3-5 No Limit game when up
walks "Drunken Dave." Al has seen Dave's act before but no one else at
the table has. Dave is a snob and a boor and always 2 quarts drunk.
He makes his usual big production of walking around the table sizing up
everybody's stack before taking his seat, setting his chips down, then
pulling out a six-inch stack of hundred dollars bills and placing them on
the table. Al had the biggest stack at the table, about $1500,
but "Drinken Dave" loves to play overkill and put $30,000 on the table
just to intimidate his competition. He also has a habit when he wants to
move somebody all-in. His opponent may have only $500 or $600 on
the table and all Dave has to do is grab a slice of hundreds and stick
them in the pot. But that's not Dave's style. He brings his arms back,
then forward out over the table announcing in a big booming voice "I'M
ALL IN." Al knows it's a bad habit.
So the game is on and while "Drunken Dave" is doing his usual making
passes at every pretty woman that walks by, bragging about his house
on the hill, his Maserati, his motor home, his jewelry, his 2 ex-wives and
three girlfriends, Al quietly leaves the table. He goes by his safe deposit
box then the cage and buys 4 cranberries ($5000 chips). He goes back
to the table and quietly sits them right on top of his stack in plain view.
After a while a hand developes. Al has Ace-seven of diamonds in
seventh position and open raises for $25. The button calls and Drunken
Dave calls from the big blind with queen-ten of diamonds. The flop
comes three rag diamonds. Dave checks, Al checks, the button bets
$50, Dave calls, Al calls. On the turn Dave checks, Al checks, the button
checks. On the river Dave checks, All bets $225, the button folds. Dave
gives Al's stack a glance, stares at Al for awhile, then pulls his arms
back and here it comes!!! Making the big sweeping motion Dave
declares "I'M ALL IN!!" "Call!!!!!" says Al.
"You must have the nuts" says Dave.
"Yep, sure do" says Al, showing dave the Ace-Seven of diamonds.
"Well, how much you got there, 13 or fourteen hundred?
"Nope, 21, three"
"WHAT?
"Twenty-One Thousand, Three Hundred dollars."
Drunken Dave shot straight up out of his chair. "FLOOR!!!!!,
FLOOR!!!!
The floorman arrives and says "What's the problem, Dave?
"This guy hustled me!!!! He had those cranberries hidden when I
declared all in!!!!!
The floorman looks at the dealer "Where were the cranberries?"
"They've been sitting right on top of his stack right there where they are
now the whole time I've been in the box."
The other players chimed in "Yep, been there the whole time."
"Did you declare all in, Dave? asked the floorman.
"Well, yeah, but....
"What do you have, Al? says the floorman.
"$21,300"
"Pay him $21,300, Dave!
"Why you dirty !$%@%#$@#!!~$%" Dave says to Al while he's shoving
the money to the center of the table. Then Dave picks up the rest of his
chips and money, looks at the floorman as he is departing and says "
you dirty @#$$!@!$%#$%#!%, I'll never play poker here again!!!!
"Sorry to hear that, Dave" says the floorman, "I'll see you tomorrow."
$21,300.00!!! That's just about what my combined VP/Poker win is so
far this year. I just might have to make that switch to No Limit, Al.