Johnny Poker Returns to Vegas, Part 6: Badluck Jonathan

For the past few days, I’d been thrilled to see that “Goodluck Jonathan” had been trending all over the world.  Of course, I assumed that the global poker fan base had been united in supporting my entry in the World Series of Poker’s “Little One for One Drop” tournament.

Well, it turns out instead that the international community had been appealing to Nigerian ruler Goodluck Jonathan to cancel his planned executions of death row prisoners.

Oh, well.

I really could have used that good luck.  Because as I explained in my last post, I was in real big trouble entering Day 2 of the tournament.  While I was thrilled to have made it so far, due to an unlucky experience with three Jacks, I was left with only 950 chips.  With blinds rising to 300/600., that would mean I would have to go all-in almost immediately.

It turned out that my chance came on the very first hand.  Sitting on the button, the table folded around to me.  I looked down at a 9 and a 8.  Pretty lousy hand, but with only two players left to call me, I had a decent chance of tripling up.

I got one caller.  Perfect.

He turned over an 8 and a 5.  Excellent.  I had a 70% chance of winning.

The dealer turned over the flop and then the turn (the 4th card).  I was still ahead, and had a 90% chance of winning.

Then the dealer turned over the river.  A 5.  Ugh.

I lost, and was busted out of the tournament.

In all, however, it was a terrific ride.  And being knocked out, I had the free time to do some interviews of poker pros for my second WSOP-related piece for Newsweek/The Daily Beast.  When I got to sit down with both Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari — one of the hottest players in the game — and T. J. Cloutier — a legend, whose book, Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold ’em, taught me how to play tournament poker — I felt like I had won a bracelet.

Of course, I didn’t cash in either tournament I played.  But in both, I finished in the top 15%.  I’m not among the poker elite.  But those finishes, combined with my final table last year, will keep me coming back for more.

So, back to the real world.  Stay tuned for my series of pieces on the WSOP in Newsweek/The Daily Beast.  And be ready for my next poker adventure, wherever it should take me.