As soon as we came back from the break, they didn’t allow us to play; and instead broke up our table. I was moved into the #10 seat of a new table – a few tables over from David Skansky, Mark Gregorich, and Mike Sexton (I could see them from my table). Within 15 minutes of joining this table, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow came and sat in the #7 seat. Even before he sat down, his mouth started going – his mouth was moving as he was walking over to us. You just couldn’t shut him up.
Mike and I seemed to get along very well because we both loved joking around. When he said he saw 5 of the world’s best O8 players at our table, I immediately quipped “Thanks Mike, I’ll take that as quite a compliment.” A short time later, Scotty Nguyen came to the table and sat in seat #9 (immediately to my right). Mike and Scotty were joking and having a great time. Then after an hour, Andy Bloch came and sat in seat #6 (immediately to Mike Matusow’s right).
Table-2
I managed to hold my own at this table very well (in between joking with Mike and Scotty). Mike apparently hated this table because he came there very short stacked, and found the players very good. Mike repeatedly complained that he wanted a table change because there weren’t any fish at this table – except in seat #5. Yes, seat-5 was a fish. He was one of those guys who would bet or raise on any nasty looking board. If the board was paired, he’d bet; if a flush was there, he’d bet. Every time he bluffed, you could see it in his eyes – as they would shift back and forth. One time, I watched him bluff right into the stone-cold-nuts. I knew it was just a matter of time before he would blow up.
Sometime during play at this table, I played my first 2-3-4-x hand – but only in late position on the button. Until this time, I had only played hands that had an ace in them; and maybe only one hand that was a high-only hand; so this was the first marginal hand I had played thus far, all tournament. The action was folded to me on the button, so I limped as did the SB – when the BB decided to raise; we both call. Flop came ace high with three low cards. Bingo, I made the nut low. Action: Check, Continuation bet, Call, Call. The turn is another ace. Action: Check, Bet, call, RAISE, RE-RAISE, call, call. So I asked myself, what’s going on here? The SB check-raised the BB, and the board is paired with two aces – all while I have the nut low. The action slowed down on the river, were only one bet occurred. It turns out the SB was one of those idiots who was betting his nut low – completely oblivious that there were two other people in the hand – and that he might be raising to get quartered. And as fate would have it, that’s exactly what happened. The BB had made quad aces when the SB check-raised him. So myself and the SB got quartered on the hand. After the hand, I chastised the SB for such a stupid move – telling him: “what were you doing raising with a nut low into a guy with quads – what did you think I had? Why did you think I was in the hand?” He obviously had no response to his obvious stupidity.
During the break, I called my friend Wayne back home and told him the names of the pros at my table, and discussed the big fish in the #5 seat. Wayne gave me strong words of encouragement, and advised me to just play my game, and I’d eventually hang the guy in the #5 seat. That’s exactly what happened. I trapped him in a hand where he was bluffing into a nasty looking board. The only problem for him: I had the nuts. With that hand, I knocked him out of the tournament, just as Wayne said I would.
Summary
I made some traction at this table and gained from my starting 2000 chips up to about 5000. I did fall under 2000 for a time, getting down as low as 1500 before rallying for a come back. Scotty Nguyen just didn’t seem to have his heart into playing this tournament, as I never got the impression he was taking it seriously. Matusow always takes it seriously, as he already holds a WSOP bracelet in Omaha Hi/Lo. Regardless, Mike came to the table short stacked (only 300 chips as I recall), and he rallied for a great come back himself and left the table very healthy.
A funny incident happened at this table; an incident that I will only vaguely mention. After the player in seat #8 busted out (the player between Mike Matusow and Scotty Nguyen), he had accidentally left behind a certain personal item(s). Both Mike and Scotty were very interested in these items and inspected them very closely. Scotty eventually took one of the personal items and put it in his pocket. Mike and Scotty began joking about these items, and telling “good old” stories about their experiences together sharing such items. Of course, I just couldn’t resist joking with Mike about it, and saying: “Mike, I never see table talk like this on ESPN, do you think we should get a camera over here?” Mike knew I was joking, but that didn’t stop him from turning white as a ghost, and saying “No bro, don’t do that, I don’t…no, bro, don’t do that…” I’ll leave it to your imagination to figure out what we were talking about.