This blog is part 2 of a 3 part series. Click here to read the first post, entitled Zion and the Narrows.

bink: a poker term that is used to mean getting extremely lucky.

bink to bink: never used before until now it can only be defined with the details of this post.

"I was all in on the turn with KK to AA when I "binked" a K on the river to win the pot."

If you have not read Zion this is a continuation of that post but I decided to divide them into two separate posts; "Zion" featuring only the week at the national park and "Bink to Bink" reflecting my past few days in Las Vegas.

Before I go into details I want to start by saying I have had the best week of my life. I also acknowledge that I ran highly above my "expectation" for the past week. WIth that being said; you know this is going to be good.

Andrew and I arrived home shortly after midnight and headed to bet almost immediately. We were dead tired form hiking the Narrows (we estimated that we hiked 12 miles that day) and needed to catch up on sleep. I awoke around 10 am the next morning only to find that there was a $3,000 buy in tournament at the Bellagio. I had planned to play as many preliminary tournaments as possible for the Fiesta Al Lago for several reasons. Recently, I posted (at least I think I did) about my four goals that I had devised called "dreamlines" to accomplish over the next 6 months. One of them was to win a poker tournament. While this is predominately out of my control there were several steps I was prepared to take to make this dream a reality. My friend once told me something very wise that can be applied to many areas of our lives. He asked me if I knew the easiest way to double the amount of girls I went out with. After pondering for some time several things came to mind. Get better at this or that, change something superficial about myself, etc. But I was shocked at the simplicity of his answer. "Talk to twice as many." That really hit home for me. Not necessarily literally but I thought about all the areas I can apply this to better my life. Back to tournaments. I was struggling to think of the best way to increase my potential for winning. I thought and thought and while I did many worth while things I never increased my chances mathematically. If you double the number of tournaments you play; guess what? You double your chances of winning. It's as simple as that. While trivial, I feel like many of us overlook perhaps the most important thing.

After a morning at the Wynn Spa (my favorite spot for working out, steam room, reading, jacuzzi, sauna, manicure, hair, etc) I headed over to the Bellagio for registration. I arrived several hours late (Spa or Poker? Easy choice to me) which wasn't that big of a mistake because at Bellagio you can register up to 2 hours late without losing any chips. Often times I find this to be more profitable because I cannot play my A - game for longer than 10 hours straight while playing live. I feel like I minimize the times Im playing sub A game poker and do it at the least important times. By the end of the day when everyone is tired I'm still going strong and making crucial/correct decisions when they matter most. In the beginning of a tournament the decisions are small and relatively insignificant relative to those you will be making later. Ideally, I would play A game poker for the entire 12 hours. I often talk to people and they laugh at me that I'm giving up "so much edge" early on in a tournament. To them I say two things. The cost of losing chips is FAR greater than gaining because like net worth each dollar (or chip) diminishes in value as you get richer. I.E. the biggest difference in net worth is from $0 to $1 and each dollar from there has diminishing return. Arriving late (especially when you are not penalized (being blinded off) like you are in a WPT makes it that much better). Secondly, I cannot understand how someone can claim to play their A game for 12 hours straight (or perhaps 14 if they arrive on time at noon) without fading. I feel like I take way more steps to ensure I play my best relative to others and still find it to be a huge struggle. A few are as follows.
1) Eating: I often bring food from home to poker tournaments (in a cooler I pre park snacks and lunch) that have high nutritional value and help keep me focused and alert while playing (High Protein and Carbs energy; Green Tea, etc). If I am forced to order food at the casino, I call it in ahead of time so I can use the full break to eat instead of rushing and always choose a healthy meal.
2) Distractions. I turn off my cell phone while playing to stay focused and "in the zone." I also bring several books to read during the breaks to give my mind a rest and distract it from poker for as long as possible. (Similar to taking breaks in between sets while working out to let your muscles recover so you can lift harder, better and longer.)
I often see people discussing hands on the break and talking about poker constantly while playing. How can they focus if they do this? How do they give their mind a break? And surely this discussion isn't imminent. Everyone struggling to get their story in during the break and for what? Will any of this mental energy be used to improve performance during the next few hours? No. Save that for later when your are fresh and can put energy into thinking about decisions and when you don't have a tournament to play.
3) Exercise: I exercise very regularly to build up stamina and not be as tired at the poker table. My triathlon prepared me both mentally and physically in one of the best ways possible and has a direct affect on my ability to focus when I'm tired, tilted or don't feel like playing. I also stretch regularly while playing and get up to walk around to keep my blood flowing and stay alert. I also get massages if I'm tense which might not be worth the amount your paying but it still contributes to performance at the table and relaxation.
4) Goal Setting: I set regular goals for myself (winning a poker tournament) and remind myself of these at the table to stay focused and my mind on the goal while playing. Everything else is just noise.


After doing all this regularly I find it extremely difficult to stay focused for extended periods of time. Maybe its just me but I feel that many poker players (and perhaps I'm the biggest sinner when it comes to this) but I often over value my ability to make decisions when tired, tilted or not playing my A - game and undervaluing my opponents. Sure I'm still probably better than the average player and have an edge; but I'm not maximizing my potential for winning and not doing my job to the best of my ability. To be the best you have to work hard, both on and off the table and this is one area I feel like I'm taking big steps to improve in. Enough on that.

I got seated on the end table just in time for the big blind. The blinds were 50/100 and I started with 9,000 in chips (3x what the buy in amount is; in this case $3000). Everyone folded to the button who limped, the SB completed and I looked down at QJdd. I made it 500 to go and the button min raised to 900 total. The SB folded and I called; putting him on a big pair. The flop came KT6 rainbow. We both checked. The turn brought a 9 making me the nuts. I bet out 1400 he made it 3600 and I shoved having him on KK or AA. He called immediately with KK and I dodged 10 outs to double. up. The next few hands I flopped a set and had an overpair to work my stack up to 25,000 quickly. Welcome to Bellagio!
We played the duration of the day and I crushed. I ran highly above expectation and played my A - game nearly the whole day. I made one questionable play costing me a decent amount of chips near the end of the day but still managed to make it to the final 9 and end the day second in chips.

Day 2. 75 down; 9 to go. I had one goal in mind I reminded myself of the entire first day. The goal is to win. The goal is to win. The final table had a mixed field which included a few regulars, a few complete bananas, John Pham (talk about running at the top of the bell curve) and John Little (won WPT mirage and FT Bahamans and I think Foxwoods). I forgot what happened but suddenly we were down to 3 handed and we were all about even in chips. I was playing well and feeling good. I raised the button with 22 and got called by the big blind who defended extremely light. The flop came 842 rainbow and he check/ called. We had about 30 BB each. The turn brought me quads and we both checked. The river brought a 4 and he bet 1/4 the pot. I raised and he put me all in. He rivered a straight with 67. Easy game. It came down to John Little and I.
"You want to chop or make a deal?" he asked.
"No, sorry." I replied without much explanation. "I did that once before and I won and it tilted me. I'm playing to win, so in the event I lose the money compensation isn't going to increase my happiness level where if I win and made a deal, it will decrease it because it will be lingering in my mind in terms of lack of potential satisfaction. (you won but could have won more attitude). Maybe my logic was flawed but it made sense to me. I didn't care. We battled sometime before the following hand came up.
I raised the button with 77 and he reraised from the big blind. I had an easy decision and immediately put him all in; and he quickly called. He turned over A9ss.
"Are you good at these?" I asked.
"Pretty decent." He replied.
The board came J83.
The turn brought a 4. My heart skipped a beat. I was one card away from my first win. The gold bracelet with the word "Bellagio" embezzled in the front starting me in the face. The dealer pounded the table. Burned.

3. It blanked and I had won. The bracelet and $84,000. I shook his hand and just stood there. I can't describe the feeling. I had waited so long for this and it finally happened. I had won my bracelet. Maybe not in the World Series but I was smart enough to know the difference is irrelevant. Of course I cannot control when I run well or am fortunate enough to win a tournament. Furthermore, players that are highly famous today won tournaments with fields of the same size or smaller (even the main event was often under 100 people) however now the fields require a LOT more luck. I don't care about the TV time, fame or public approval. Like everything, I compete with myself and I did it. It seems foolish to chase a goal that is predominately luck based but my entire teen years were spent not knowing this knowledge. I was "fooled by randomness" and it was something that stuck with me. Similar to a fairy tales that are often inexplainable or childish; this was mine. Now it came true. 5 years ago, when I started playing poker I dreamed about winning a big tournament and having that bracelet. It was surreal.

That night I went out to celebrate with Andrew at Il Mulino (one of my favorite Italian restaurants in town) at Caesar's and just enjoyed some nice wine and dinner. I went to bed; not wanting the euphoria to end.

I woke the next morning around 8 am. I was getting up at an early hour after my week in Zion and my previous training for the triathlon. I headed back to the Wynn Spa. Deciding there wasn't much else to do, I ventured over to Bellagio just in time to register for the day's $5,000 Bellagio Event. Almost immediately after I got there; we were on our first break. Playing throughout the day, I busted several players including Layne Flack. I won a few crucial flips (and lost a few) and battled it out until the final table was approaching. Before I knew it we were down to 15 and I was a commanding chip leader. After several more people busted we had our 9 and I was chip leader going into the final table. I got home that night a little after 1:30 am and immediately passed out. I dreamt of poker. I had played so much in the past few days I couldn't really tell if I was sleeping or not. That's when you know its bad. I woke up the next day feeling good and ready to play. I didn't get short sighted and kept my eye on the prize. When the final table started I realized this presented a huge opportunity for me. Nobody had won back to back events at Bellagio or for any major tournament for that matter since Layne Flack (known as back to back Flack) did it many years ago. Due to the increase in field size this feat became nearly impossible. I had a real shot. I played my heart out and battled down to the top two to find one of the biggest ironies I have ever experienced. I sat across from none other than John Little. Two days in a row we both found ourselves heads up against each other. If I beat him again, it would make for one of the sickest stories in poker history. (See the end of this post for a detailed explanation of just how unlikely the nature of this event is). I wasn't going to let the pressure get to me. Included in the $120,000 first place was was a $25,000 seat into the WPT Championships in April held at Bellagio as well as a seat in the Celebrity Invitational event in February which you cannot buy into. One must win a seat or be invited and it provided a $200,000 freeroll in prize money. I was determined. I knew John fairly well and knew he wasn't going to give up easy. He didn't want to lose twice (especially to the same person) and had a lot of experience heads up in tournaments. After a lot of battling the following hand came up. We each had about 450,000 in chips and the blinds were 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante. John raised the button (which he had done nearly every hand) to 25,000 and I called from the blind with 85dd. The flop came J94 with 2 diamonds. I checked and he bet 30,000 (which he always did). I had been check/raising a lot of flops and didn't want to be forced to get all my chips in as a big underdog so I decided to just call. The turn brought a 5 giving me a pair and I checked again. He quickly checked behind. The turn brought an offsuit King (not completing the flush). I checked again and he bet 55,000. I ran though the hand in my head. I remembered a hand we played earlier in the match in which I called him down on the flop with A4 on J54 board and it was checked to the river and I won with a pair of 4's. I knew he was smart enough to realize that I probably didn't have a strong hand and wasn't going to let me go to showdown every hand. A lot more complex thought went into this hand that I won't delve into but I ended up calling and he showed AT for a bluff. I won the pot and gave myself a decent chip lead and momentum in the match. I raised several future pots and he reraised all in nearly every time. I raised the button three times with KK, AJ and 99 and he folded every time but somehow seemed to shove when I didn't have the goods. I was dwindling him down however and nearly had a 2:1 chiplead when I looked down at AT on the button. I raised, he shoved and I snapped him off. He showed K9ss and I was 60/40 for the title. The flop came A82 and he was all but dead. The turn brought another Ace and I won; again. Two in a row! (I want to note that it is impossible to win two events in a row because the final table is the second day on which another tournament is played and one cannot play both due to different starting times. However I won both events that I played back to back which is the same thing and the most one can do given the circumstances.) I was totally shocked. Having my parents and Andrew there made it that much sweeter, not to mention beating the same person twice (nothing against John). I received all the congrats and really felt content with poker. If I do nothing else in poker in my life I think I'd be happy. That's not to say I'm going to quit tomorrow; it's just comforting to view my overall experience as a success and makes playing less important from a competitive standpoint. Feats that made Johnny Chan and Layne Flack famous; I had just done. Of course, I don't measure myself by them (and have learned that they are far behind the curve in terms of skill in poker) and understand that I will never receive their fame for the tournament. It probably won't even be a CardPlayer cover story. I'm fine with that. I did it for myself. I know the difference. I had accomplished all I wanted with the game of poker and did everything imaginable from traveling the world for tournaments, to beating the highest cash games online I did it all; or so I thought.

The math behind the tournaments. I couldn't help but wonder just how unlikely these events were. I began the process of getting a true estimation of me beating the same person heads up two times in a row (rather any one person beating any other person twice in a row).

A few facts are needed:
1) the amount of people in the first tournament was 84.
2) the amount of people in the second tournament was 64.

We will first start with the odds of any one specific other person (in this case John) and I getting heads up. For either one of us to make it to the top 84 its 42:1 then for the other its 83:1. So 42 x 83 = 3,486:1 (for the purposes of this we will assume everyone's skill level is the same making everyone having the same chance. Of course this is not the case, as John and I were among the best players in the field so the "true" odds would be reduced. However, to put an exact estimate on those is much harder and this makes it "sound" more impressive lol)

Now for the second tournament. Again, we do the same math but change the number. 32:1 x 63:1 = 2,016:1
To get the odds of this happening twice in a row we must multiply the two products (3,486 x 2,016) to get the estimate of 7,027,776 or just over 7 million. Now if you want to see the odds of me winning both of those (again assuming equal skill level) we have to assume 50% for each or 1/4 times I win both. Multiply that number by 4 and you get..... hold your breath.......

28,111,104 : 1

Some like to say it's slightly above expectation. People say of Johnny Chan, "Oh he went back to back main events." You can now understand why I better refer to it as "bink to bink."

For the third and final part to this post, please see "Bobby's Room and the Epiphany."