Scott lasts 83 minutes in Vinny charity tournament

It's all Chris' fault.

Well, it's almost always Chris' fault, so let me narrow it down for you.

I'm in what proves to be the pivotal hand for me in Monday's Vincent Lecavalier Texas Hold'em Celebrity Poker Tournament for charity at the Hard Rock (that's me with Vinny here. OK, OK, go ahead and be hatin' on the quality. Like you could do better with a 1-megapixel cellphone camera in suboptimal lighting, Ansel Adams). Blinds are ridiculous now (it's a 3-hour tournament, so they juice the blinds to get people out as quickly as possible). For most of us, the only decision is all-in or fold. It's folded to the button, who's a good player (you can tell because he was wearing a baseball cap and baggy clothes), who raises it enough to put me all-in. The small blind insta calls. I look down at my cards in the big blind and see:

A-10.

OK, normally this is a race to the pot for me. Short-stacked, what more do you want than an Ace with an average kicker? (Yes, Chris, 10 is average). But I folded. Why? First, the insta call from the small blind scared me a whole lot more than that the raise from Mr. Baggy Pants. But ultimately, it came down to this: I've (We've!) been railing Chris for holding up this hand as the Holy Grail of Poker. If I called and won, I would have had to admit it, and Chris wouldn't have shut up for years. Decades maybe.

So I folded. The button flips over A-5, the small blind Q-J (c'mon man, what's the deal?!?!). My A-10 would have held up, I would have tripled up and had enough chips to last until, well, the next ridiculous blind level. Instead, I call all-in on the next hand with A-2 sooted in the small blind. I pair my deuce to take the lead on the turn, but the big blind's K-4 catches up with a river King, and I slink back to the VIP room and drown my disappointment at the open bar (ah, if only every tournament offered this amenity). My solace is that I went out on the same hand as my table's celebrity (he had A-3 and never improved). Oh, and who was that celebrity? Well, last year I had Daniel Negreanu. Maybe you've heard of him. This year, the guy who sits down in Seat 5 looks like he's 12. Chris would call him a "kid," but then again, Chris calls everyone "Kid." It's probably not a great thing when the dealer asks the celebrity who he is, so the entire table doesn't have to. He smiled and said, "Anthony Furlong. I'm a pro skateboarder."

But let me tell you this. I had a blast playing with Anthony. He knows poker, and he was hilarious. My favorite line, which came after he inquired why drinks weren't comped at the table and some girl came over and gave him a Red Bull, and felt it important to tell him "And I don't even work for Red Bull!": "Well, neither do I," he says, tipping his ROCKSTAR cap to her.

He was one cool dude, and my wife even got him to sign a coaster for me.

All in all, another fun night. My strategy of protecting my 1,000 in starting chips like they were encased in a chastity belt served me well, though I never really got any hands anyhow. I made it to Level 5, past the crazy rebuy period, which is much better than Chris and I did last year. I was all-in three times, and one other hand when it folded around to me as the single blind. Ha.

I also awkwardly acknowledged Mike Alstott in the line at the bar. Me (in my head): "Hey, that's Mike Alstott." Mike (in his head): "Hey, Creepy Dude, quit checking me out."

The Wife, the world's biggest music fan, had an awesome time, too, even though she was outbid for a piece of Beatles art in the silent auction and didn't get a chance to flirt with Robin Zander, who was booted way before me. (Robin, if you're reading this, do me a solid and walk down to our house and sign a coaster for Laura. Just hang a Louie on North Bay Hills and another one on Hillside.)

I'm already looking forward to next year, my one night of the year that I can pretend I'm rich. Next year, I'm playing A-10. Promise.

- SCOTT

Comments

[Blazman]

Your a pretty entertaining writer, you should have your own column or something.

-blaz

[st]

What is that thing on your head?

[Chris Cosenza]

Scott was the stunt double for E.T. when he was a kid.

[Short-Stacked Shamus]

Robin Zander! All right!

It's okay to have folded A-10, but it's not okay to tell us all about it. Remember -- surrender, but don't give yourself away.

[Gambit]

"surrender, but don't give yourself away"
Well played, sir.

[Clever Moniker]

Yeah, we're all all right.

[Michelle from Tampa]

Ahhh, well even though the A-10 got folded, good on you for doing the charity event. It's for a good cause, so no matter where you ended up on the stats, people will benefit from everyone who contributed to the game.

Thanks for the update--glad your wife was able to get you an autographed coaster! :)

[bajas64]

My dad taught me a very tough lesson that I still don't follow well to this day. "When you fold a hand forget it."

I can't say that it is easy to do and I can't blame your exsasberation there.

Oh well, get'em next time eh??!!

[John Grillo]

Were there any poker pros guest staring at the tournament?

[Erik]

Did your wife want him to want her...ok that was terrible.

[Michelle from Tampa]

LOL Erik :p

[Blazman]

Was Dave Andrechuck there? Did you meet him?

[Erik]

Thank you thank you Michelle, I'll be here all week.

[ScottD]

Quick Scott and Chris - what does the announced compact with the Seminoles do for poker?

Looks like it will be 21+ age for playing at the Seminole casinos. Think that will have a significant impact on the pari-mutuel card rooms?

Is the 24 hour card room gone from the Seminole casinos?

[Chris Cosenza]

Scott's post is up regarding this.