A visit with Dr. Phil - Poker Camp, Day 2

After a bowl of oatmeal in the coffee shop, I went down to the movie theaters where they were having the morning seminars. This morning we would be entertained and educated by two recognizable faces in the poker world. The first poker pro who spoke to my group was "The Flying Dutchman, " Marcel Luske. Marcel was seen a lot during ESPN's coverage of the 2004 WSOP Main Event, he finished 10th, one spot out of the final table. That morning, as on TV, he wore his coat and tie and spoke about how to approach a tournament by examining different phases of the tournament and your table position.

He was tired from a cross-country flight but maintained his charm and wit during his presentation. He spoke about changing gears as the tournament went on and when you are playing at the final table, you have decide are you going for the tournament win or just trying to move up the standings. That can affect how you play certain hands.

The second speaker that morning was Phil Gordon. Phil Gordon is most well known as the co-host of Celebrity Poker on Bravo but he has also written books, including one that I have, Phil Gordon's Little Green Book, which Phil was kind to sign for me after his talk. He also has an entertaining DVD, Final Table Poker, which I also own. When he is not doing those things, he still plays both live and on-line poker.

Phil took on the character of "Dr. Phil" and went through his list of common poker "diseases." The first disease is called "prefloptellitis." This happens when a player looks down at the cards immediately after they are dealt. In doing that, the player may give a tell by indicating more or less interest in the hand. And, more importantly, by looking at their cards, the player would not be concentrating on what the other players are doing. Phil explained that there is no reason to look at their hand until it is their turn to act. You should also try and take the same amount time when you are deciding to bet, call or raise.

He went through several of these "diseases," many of us admitted to doing at one or another and he promised that as he walked around later that day and evening, he would be handing out "prescriptions," if he saw any players who exhibited the problems he just went through.

After Phil finished, we rushed out to have lunch, (a nice buffet they had in a ballroom) before our first tournament that would start early Friday afternoon. At lunch, I caught up with some of the "campers" and we were all trying to comprehend all of the information that had been given to us that morning. I then took a quick little stroll, grabbed some water and headed for the tournament.

I sat down at the table and immediately on the second hand, I saw a player raise the $25 blind to $200, then a player raised to $400, the next player called and the initial better raised to $1000. The raiser went all in, the other player folded and the first player called. The first player turned over pocket aces while the second player had pocket kings, when ace flipped over on the flop, it was over. I did not have such a dramatic ending, I did last for an hour or so and then as I was being blinded off, I went all in with a pair of nines and was beaten by a set of sevens.


I then played a sit and go tournament with Freddie Deeb. He was explaining how he played as we were dealing out a hand, the blinds was $25-$25, so I entered on the button Qh10h with 3 other callers. The flop came Q, 10, 6 rainbow. Freddie entered for $100 and I raised to $200 with my two pair. Freddie began to explain on why he would never do what he was about to do in a normal situation as he went all in, I immediately called, he turned over AQ and my two pair held up. I eventually went out but did have one pro notched on my gun belt.

The tournament continued until they had their final table and we broke for a dinner break. I grabbed some grilled salmon in the Mexican restaurant and changed for the evening sit and go tournaments.

I played a couple of more, again playing with Amir Vahedi. I finished third and afterwards got a shot of confidence as he told me that I was improving from the day beforre and that if I could have more confidence in my playing ability, I should become a good cash game player and start doing better in tournament play.

With another early start, I headed up to the room, between the seminars and the tournaments, I had about 10-11 hours of poker so I could use some rest. Until tomorrow...