Copyright 2006 Full
Tilt Poker
July 10, 2006
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Poker Lessons)
Poker Lesson: Red for a Day
Author: Brian Koppelman
Have you ever wondered what it's like to play as
a red pro on Full
Tilt Poker? "Rounders" co-writer Brian Koppelman
did, so we gave him the opportunity to experience life as a Full
Tilt Poker pro for one day. This is his story.
A couple of weeks ago, Full Tilt Poker made me red
for a day. That's right - for 24 hours, I got to be a Full Tilt
Poker pro. My new status gave me a slight edge on the virtual
felt, but it also put a giant target on my back. I saw first-hand
how fast any table I sat at filled up, how intent my opponents
could be about breaking me, and how differently the other players
reacted to the way I bet my hands.
My brief time as a Full Tilt Poker pro began during
an email correspondence with my friend Erik Seidel. Erik and I
met after he was featured in "Rounders," a film I wrote
with David Levien. In the movie, Matt Damon's character watches
and re-watches a clip of Erik getting trapped by Johnny Chan at
the final table of the 1988 World Series of Poker. As a close-up
of Erik appears on screen, Damon's character describes what it
feels like when you are gutted. The implication being, "I
am a loser, like Seidel is a loser." There is no mention
of the fact that Erik took home second place money in the WSOP,
that he's one of the leading money winners ever at the WSOP, and
that he's better at poker than 99% of the world. Nope. All you
see is Erik, his goofy hat, and his loser's hangdog expression.
Some guys would have reacted poorly to such a portrayal
in a feature film. Not Erik. He's always been good-humored about
it and, I think, glad that in raising poker's
profile, the film helped to raise his profile too. In fact, in
the years since "Rounders'" release, Erik and I have
been frequent email correspondents, and he has been kind enough
to serve as technical advisor on any other poker project I have
done.
So, it makes sense that when I play online poker,
I play at Erik's site. Recently, the two of us were talking about
Full
Tilt Poker and about how much I enjoyed playing there. Soon,
the idea came up that we should both enter a Bust-Out Bounty tournament
so that he could show me first hand what it feels like to be gutted
in public. Let's save the fact that I outlasted him by hours and
finished a hundred places ahead of him for another article. Instead,
I'd like to take a moment to tell you how the game plays when
your screen name appears in Full Tilt Poker Red.
The first thing I should say is thanks to all the
Full Tilt Poker players who took the time to check in with me
in the chat box. It's great to know that "Rounders"
has inspired so many of you and brought you to the game. It's
really rewarding that so many of you can quote the film line by
line. However, it somehow feels less rewarding when those same
lines get thrown back in my face as you are raking in my chips.
One player, who hadn't let on that he knew who I was, trapped
me with top-two against bottom two. He took half my stack and,
as I was trying to collect myself, he was kind enough to tell
me that the only thing he was missing was the rack of Oreos.
What was also new for me is the amount of observers
drawn to any game I was playing
in. This gave me a true appreciation for how hard it must be for
the pros on television to ignore the cameras and just play their
cards. I felt like every raise, weak call or foolish bluff I made
was magnified. Each time I won or lost a hand, the railbirds would
comment, letting me know how lucky/unlucky or good/bad at poker
I am. It's difficult enough to make the right decisions at the
table without wondering how onlookers will receive those decisions.
More than once, I made a bigger bet than I might have on the river,
hoping my opponent would fold and I would be saved from the embarrassment
of having to reveal the horrible cards I had played.
On the flip side, those opponents did fold more
often than they would have if I weren't in red. Not in the Bust-Out
Bounty tourney (where I figured out that I should almost never
bluff), but in the ring games and Sit and Gos where my hands got
much more respect than they normally would have. Players assumed
that I knew what I was doing and they were wary. I understand
it. The day before I was in red, I found myself head to head with
Huckleberry Seed at an Omaha
table. For the first 15 minutes, I was totally off my game. I
couldn't play back at him for fear that he would jam me, read
me, and crush me.
After a while though, I found my footing and remembered
that in the short term, if I had the cards, I had just as good
a chance as anyone.
In the end, that's the thing, I guess. Being in
red does change the way other players react to you. For a time.
And it changes you too. For a time. But, if enough hands go by
and enough time passes, the distinction passes too. And everyone
goes back to being what they've always been. What I've always
been proud to be. Just another poker
player.
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