The Premier League works like this: twelve invited world class players, each playing six different six player “heats” where the points would be distributed with 8 points going to first place, 6 for second place, 3 for third place, 2 for fourth place, 1 for fifth place, and zero for sixth place. Each heat would be a one hour long television show in its own right, with a random player drawing, so that you could face the same opponent many times. For example, I drew Tony G (shall we say that he is a famously “theatrical” player?) in five matches, and I knew that that could make for a highly combustible, and super entertaining television show. The players with the highest four point totals would advance to the six player finale. The players with the middle four point totals would then play heads up matches, with two of them advancing to the six player finale—the bottom four point totals went home. In the six player finale, each player would take their point total times ten thousand to determine the size of their chip stack (for example, 28 points equals $280,000). When the week was over, we ended up with a 14 week long television series.



Heat 4 featured Eddie Scharf, Vicky Coren, Juha Helppi, Kiril Gerasimov, and David Devilfish Ulliot and me! I was the only player to play in two heats in one day. Would the fatigue catch up with me? Would I “donk off” my chips? Or, could I win three in a row? Early on, Devilfish kept raising my blinds, and I told myself that he wasn’t going to run me over, not today! With the blinds at $3,000-$6,000, Devilfish opened on the button for $18,000 with As-8s, and I moved all-in for $70,000 with 7h-5h. The Fish studied a full minute and finally called. Amazingly, the flop was 8-6-4! I had flopped a straight, and I had gone from first one out had I lost the pot—and zero points—to chip leader with $140,000!



Let’s take a closer look at this hand: the Fish made a standard raise on the button with a decent hand. His intent was to try to win the pot right then and there. I moved all-in because I didn’t want the Fish to keep on raising my big blind all day long. I moved all-in to send a message. Of course, it could be argued that I was fatigued, and that I tried to “donk off” my chips. In any case, the Fish smelled my weakness and made a great call. I was simply lucky to escape. However, I did send a strong message: don’t mess with me today.



Later on, another big pot came up between the Fish and I when we were four handed. With the blinds at $5,000-$10,000, I opened for $30,000 under the gun (first to act) with 9-9. Fish studied, chatted with me a bit, and then moved all-in from the big blind for about $150,000; I “insta-called” him. Fish showed me A-A, and I was all-in again, this time as a four-and-a-half-to-one underdog. Amazingly, the flop came down 9-7-6, and I won the pot.



What happened? I do not mind my raise of $30,000. I love the fact that Fish talked for a minute before he moved all-in. For the record, I do not think that an amateur should do that against a pro, because the pro will be able to read it (why give a pro more free information?), but Fish added a layer of deception when he chatted with me before moving all-in. My patented insta-call (check out youtube.com) was probably not the best move. I was expecting Fish to try to bluff me, as I had been bluffing him all day long, but still, I should have studied Fish awhile before I acted. Maybe I would have smelled strength and made a great play and folded. However, the fact that I kept on moving all-in on Fish earlier, and that I was bluffing him a ton throughout the match, made me think that he was trying to bluff me back.



Bottom line: after three heats, I had an amazing three wins, and 24 points. Wow, back-to-back-to-back wins. This time though, I was pretty lucky. I could have lost with the 7h-5h and been out in last place or the 9-9 and finished fourth. Next week I’ll talk about my fourth heat, where I was first out, or I won my fourth in a row, stay tuned.



I send the message “Do not mess with me today,” when I:



1.) move all-in

2.) fold

3.) call

4.) act like a Poker Brat!