We all know to be a good poker player you have to have skill. You have to know when to play certain cards according to table position and who you are playing. Experts have said that poker is 70% skill and 30% luck. I concur with that estimate. To advance far in tournaments you will still need to win the races and that's where lucks plays a factor.
In the recently concluded NLH 1000 dollar buy in event at Caesars in Atlantic City, Frank Calo(pictured above ) a 21 years old university student won the event but may not have if he hadn't had the poker gods overlooking him. With 8 people still at the final table
when Al Hoffman moved all-win with pocket kings and was called by Frank Calo, holding A-J. The flop came K-5-2, all but ending Calo’s chances of scooping the 400,000 pot. But just as it seemed all hope was gone, a 4 on the turn opened the door for Calo, who suddenly had four outs to make a straight. Kaboom! A 3 fell on the river, completing an ace-to-five straight for Calo. Hoffman, who had flopped top set (kings) was stunned and eliminated. Calo went on to win the tournament and pocket 96,100 dollars. If he hadn't won that race who know what would have happened.
We have all experienced beats like that and we have also won like that. To win and advance in tournaments you do need that luck no matter how well you play.
On a sad note when I play online quite often my dog will be at my feet and my cat on my lap. Yesterday after watching my 15 year old cat's health get worse I made the difficult decision to have him put down. It just won't be the same with out him purring on my lap.
Hey, considering I am the person who won this tournament, I can tell you that you have this hand wrong. He shoved for 72,000 with blinds at 4000/8000/1000 and I called with AJ. My stack was over 500,000 at this point and this pot wouldn't have cost me much at all win or lose. In fact I'd have still been the chip leader even if I lost this pot. Good luck in the future though.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on winning the tournament Frank. Calling with AJ wasn't the wrong call, in fact considering your stack it was a good call. In my post I said at some points in a tournament you need luck to play a factor. You had lady luck smiling on you in this hand for sure. This is not to say you wouldn't have won anyways as obviously you played extremely well to get where you were. Winning this hand helped propel you on and I congratulate you on doing that . It was an impressive win.
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