GIVE THE MONEY TO THE STRANGERS - SEPTEMBER 2006

By: Danny S.

There are three reasons people come to Las Vegas:  the finest entertainment, the chance to have sex with a complete stranger (or two), and of course:  the World Series of Poker!  God as my witness I showed up this summer for the third reason.

I bought into a 1,000 dollar World Series tournament, and I was amazed at all the professional poker players who were playing there.  The most impressive of them all, however, was not the brooding Phil Hellmuth, nor the stoic Chris Ferguson.  Rather, the most towering presence in the room, despite his 5 feet 1 inch stature, was none other than Men “The Master� Nguyen.  As soon as the tournament started, he shouted for all to hear, “You losers go down!�

I sat down at a table of what appeared to be eight other amateurs, and just my luck—the master himself!  For the first couple hours of play Men and I seemed to alternate taking pots down from the other players at our table.  He and I were the only two playing aggressively; everyone else just seemed to fold when we showed any sign of strength.

Then came the hand I would love to have erased from my memory forever!  It started off with an omen:  the dealer accidentally dealt a 3 of spades face up.  He announced that it would be the burn card.  I quickly forgot about it, when much to my delight, I looked down to see that I had been dealt pocket K hearts, K diamonds.  Awesome!  I thought to myself.

I was on the button, so I decided to put in a healthy raise for 250 chips (the blinds were 25 and 50).  Perhaps everyone else had an ominous feeling about the hand, because they all folded until only Men and I, the two big stacks, were left to battle it out.  The flop came:  K Clubs, 3 hearts, 7 clubs.  I couldn’t believe my fortune.  I had just flopped trip kings against Men the Master.  I put in a small raise, and Men quickly called.  “You in big trouble!� he taunted.

The turn card came out:  9 of clubs.  I instantly worried.  Could he have the flush?  I asked myself.  It was a definite possibility.  But I’ve watched those deodorant promos they show for men who take risks, and I decided it was either double up time or bedtime for me.  I pushed my chips all-in.

Men thought about it for a long, long time.  I heard him mutter to himself, “Stupid guy done caught a stupid guy flush.�  I relaxed a little when I heard him say these words, because I knew there was no hand he could have at that moment that could beat mine.  After much painful deliberation, Men sighed and said, “I call you stupid guy.  Where your two pair?�

I couldn’t believe my luck!  I joyfully threw down my trip kings.  Men looked disgusted.  He was astonished that he had made the wrong read.  He stood up and put on his coat.

Then, I simply had to ask, “Hey Men.  What’d you have?�

He replied, “A set of 3’s.  I guess I the stupid guy now.�  He threw his cards haphazardly and began to walk away.  Somehow, his cards landed face up right on the table in front of where he was sitting.

Then, the unthinkable happened.  The river card came:  4 of clubs.  The dealer showed me the bad news.  One of Men’s pocket 3’s was the 3 of clubs.  There were four clubs on the board.  Men “The Master� Nguyen had just beaten my set of kings with a club flush.  The worst part?  He didn’t even know it until someone yelled the news to him across the room where he was standing.

Men came running back to the table, giddy as a schoolgirl.  “Thank you stupid guy!  You lose very nicely to Men the Master!�

I was so shocked I couldn’t even move.  I was left with only 50 chips.  On the next hand I was blinded out, losing with a 7-2 off-suit.

As I replay the horror in my mind, I can’t help but realize something:  next time I’m in Vegas, I think I’ll spend my thousand dollars on two things I find far more rewarding than getting outdrawn by Men “The Master� Nguyen.  And let’s just say they’ll both be strangers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Bad Beats, Bad Beats Winners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.