Poker Holdum

August 23, 2007

In 1995, Chris entered the $1500 Seven-Card Razz poker holdum tournament at the WSOP and finished fifth. Although Cyndy has had a great deal of success over the years, she credits her macrobiotic diet for keeping her calm and focused through the grueling hours of tournament play. If that's not impressive, you have to understand that these poker tournaments were populated by the best around, and players like Jack Keller, Jay Heimowitz, Chip Reese, Tuna Lund, Bobby Hoff and David Sklansky were fighting against them. Howard responded by sending his little sister several books on poker and a check for $2400 to be used as a bankroll.

Says Doyle Brunson, "His sense of fairness is unequaled to the point that he is almost always asked to arbitrate when there are disputes." 1977) David wrote an article on "Getting the Best of It," and that has been his mantra since leaving New Jersey. Cloutier, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer and Chip Reese, and her huge payday was dimmed only by the fact that she personally knocked her brother out of the tournament. Yankton, in South Dakota, was settled in American territory so a new trial was held in Yankton.

On the other texasholdum bonus hand, if he just calls, I probably lead all the way to the river and really bury myself if I happen to catch a third seven or a queen. Now maybe they were smarter than the rest of us, or maybe there was something in the water, but something was certainly up.

They had stayed in touch even after Ben moved to Montana, and on her birthday in 1991, she called him and said, "Hey, let's get married." He's fun at the table, but again the pushing, pounding, aggressive play can really wear you down - and it causes players to make mistakes. Well, sure, he did take 9th at the WPT $25,000 event in April, winning $132,000, and he did take 2nd in the Heads-Up tournament in March for $250,000, but you have to go all the way back to February to find a first place win. Weeks passed like kidney stones as I waited impatiently for the second coming of Barry to stop getting lucky and start giving me back some of the money he had been raking off the tables each night. You could actually make two to three times minimum wage per hour in a small game, and with all the 99-cent breakfasts around town, Reno offered a cheap ride.

I don't remember Cyndy at the tables, and I missed her smiling face after she won the Seven-Card Stud tournament and pocketed a cool $74,000 since I busted out with three bonus texasholdum tables to go and was sulking across the street with my friend, Tom Klein. Berman was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002, which speaks volumes for his ability to play well against the best in the world.