Tournament Of Champions And David Chiu

I believe that the Poker Tournament of Champions (TOC) was close behind the World Series of Poker’s main event in prestige in 1999 and 2000 (it had only been in existence for two years).

What distinguishes the two for me is that when there were 45 players left in the TOC , I didn’t even know 30 of them. This would never happen in the WSOP’s main event. In the TOC, the game of cards is limit, and unfortunately there is more luck in limit poker than there is in no-limit poker.

Be that as it may, I believe the TOC requires a tremendous amount of skill. I have never been given so much time to work my chips up in any other tournament, outside of the WSOP main event. I also loved the way that Mike Sexton and Chuck Humphrey had promoted the event, I do miss the TOC.

There were six players left at the Tournament of Champions in 1999 when the following hand came up. The blinds were $10,000-$20,000 and the antes were $2,000 when Lynn Bauer limped in the first position for $20,000. Jan Boubli and Men Nguyen folded. Then David Chiu raised it up on the button, making it $75,000 to go. (David had about poker $850,000 in chips.) After only about 15 seconds, Louis Asmo literally pushed all of his chips, about $650,000, into the pot limit omaha, and with high velocity at that. Doyle Brunson, in the big blind, folded his hand, and Lynn Bauer, in the first position, folded. After about a minute of studying, David Chiu flipped up two kings and said, “I fold.”

Say what? Que pasa? Or as Ted Forrest likes to say, “What the heck is going on?” Louis then flipped up two aces, and the energy in the room erupted as the crowd realized they were watching a virtuoso performance. Yes, Louis had aces. But how did David know? This was undoubtedly the finest play made in a poker tournament in all of 1999. What happened?

What happened indeed! Louis Asmo knew that David had a hand because the tight-playing Lynn Bauer had limped into the pot in the first position. Why would David raise without a hand when a tight player limped in the first position? (A lot of players like to trap from the first position.) David knew that Louis knew that he had a hand. It was also a given that Louis had a hand, since Louis plays incredibly tight. There was no way he would have raised someone that he knew had a big hand without having a big hand himself holdem poker game. All of this is easy to figure out. It is the next step, one that most people will never be able to take their entire lives, that is difficult: laying down pocket kings for a single reraise before the flop.

Now I know that Hamid Dastmalchi had laid down pocket kings before the flop at the final table of the WSOP the year that he became World Champion. But that was different. Difficult, yes, but Hamid had reraised Johnny Chan when Mike Alsaadi (read “supertight player bluff ”) moved in over the top. According to Johnny Chan, Mike almost told Hamid what he had (“There is only one hand I’d move all-in with here”). So Hamid threw pocket kings away for the third raise (versus the second raise for David and Louis ) from Mike Alsaadi. It is very rare, maybe once every other year, that someone will pocket kings before the flop in a tournament.

Anyway, David Chiu is either Betazoid (like Counselor Troy on Star Tre: The Next Generation ) or he looked right though poker Louis and down into his soul. Don’t get all religious on me now! I just mean that sometimes we all know when we are up against the nuts. In fact, I was telling Andy Glazer the night poker before the finals that great players sometimes just know when their opponent has the nuts.

I have thrown away two kings before the flop three times in my life, and all three times my opponent showed pocket aces. All those years of playing no-limit, and I have only thrown away kings thrice! Many of us have never thrown away kings before the flop in our lives.

David Chiu was able to throw away kings before the flop because he knew that Louis had the nuts (two aces). Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Louis moved his chips in at hyper speed. Maybe David noticed that Louis was hoping for a call. Somehow David figured it all out under the most extreme conditions. Somehow David made a really great play. I have noticed that great players know when to make great plays card games. There is no doubt in my mind that David Chiu great player. David Chiu, I am proud of you. Take a bow.