Andrew ‘Good2cu’ Robl gets the call for a juicy game in the legendary Bobby’s Room
You never know when you’re going to have to drop everything for a juicy poker game. That was the case a few weeks ago, when my parents were visiting from Michigan and we had just finished seeing the comedian Carrot Top at the Luxor. My buddy Alec Torelli – who plays online as Traheho – called me on my mobile. ‘Get to the Bellagio now,’ he said. ‘A great game is starting up in Bobby’s Room.’
I explained the situation to my parents and headed over. It turned out there were three businessmen wanting to play $ 100/$ 200 no-limit Hold’em. That hardly ever happens, so I was really happy to have received the call. Doyle Brunson was in the game and he sat there with a million dollars in cranberries – $ 25,000 chips that are coloured like the fruit. The rest of us had $ 60,000 stacks.
The game was good and the atmosphere was great. Sometimes you play poker with people you really enjoy hanging out with. This was one of those times. These business guys bought about $ 8,000 worth of wine and we drank the whole time. They came to town for a good time and they had it at Bobby’s Room.
When things broke up at 7am I was stuck $ 15,000. And even though I came in as a big favourite and ran into some really rotten luck, the game was so much fun that I almost didn’t mind losing. The good news is that these guys happen to have an office next to Alec’s house in LA. They like to play poker there, so hopefully we’ll be joining them soon.
Meta game
I found myself back at the Bellagio for another no-limit game a few days later. This time it was $ 25/$ 50, and my friend Brian Rast was playing. We once stayed together during a tournament in Macau and watched each other playing online, so I know his style and he knows mine. That knowledge came in handy for me while sitting in the cutoff with 5?-3?. Following a call and a raise I made it $ 700, figuring that the limper was weak and the raiser wanted to isolate him. Brian, knowing that I would raise with a wide range of hands, came in from the big blind and made it $ 2,200. Everyone folded to me, and, recognising what Brian understands about me, I made it $ 5,000. He raised it to $ 8,000.
There was $ 12,000 or $ 13,000 in the pot and I had to call $ 3,000 more – with 5-3 suited! What can you do? I knew by this point that a high percentage of the time Brian would have a big pair, making me a 4-to-1 underdog, but I was getting 4.5-to-1 on my money. So I called. The flop came 7-4-3 with two diamonds. He checked. I had nine outs against an overpair (any 3, 5 or 6) and would be committed to call even if he went all-in. I shoved, hoping he would fold. He didn’t. He had a pair of Jacks.
We ran it four times and each won twice. So I got lucky there, and the move made me look like a crazy kid that people would be afraid to play back at. As a result, I got paid off on a lot of big hands and didn’t have to worry about being re-raised by medium-strength holdings. That was a definite bonus: I won $ 11,300 that night.
Shopping spree
My friend Alec topped his trip to Vegas by finishing first in the $ 1,000 buy-in tournament at the Bellagio two days in a row, taking down around $ 200,000. That’s an accomplishment worth noting, so we celebrated by going to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace and playing ‘The Price is Right’. In our version of the game, we visit stores like Tiffany, Gucci and Diesel, find things that we both like and each guess the price. Whoever is furthest away has to buy the item for the other guy. What’s great about this is that everybody gets into the spirit of the game and gets a little blown away by it. Salespeople at Caesars were just loving us. Among other things I ‘won’ a black bracelet from Tiffany, a hoodie from Diesel and a necklace from Gucci. Alec got a few right as well, but I wound up ahead.
Next time we’ll have to hit Louis Vuitton and raise it up at Tiffany.
If you need to improve your poker game then you should try a free digital copy of PokerPlayer magazine HERE
