I just watched the show myself, and I guess I was a little over the top, but that’s me. I have so much emotion, and feeling for the game, I guess I just get carried away.
The story with Ralph Perry, who I really gave a hard time after I gave him a bad beat is that the guy plays 4,000/$8,000, plays the biggest games in the world, which is fair enough, but when the guy takes a beat, I want to give him a hard time. It’s not that big of a deal that he is Russian, although it is a nice feeling for a person of Lithuanian background to give a Russian a bad beat. Russia is such a big country, and we are such a small country, we have been bullied by them for so long. I’m not racist – I like everyone. But, at the poker table, they are my enemies. Ralph is a professional player, and he has to take it.
I’m sorry for anyone who thinks I went over the top, and I’m sure there will be a lot of haters, but that’s the way I am. You have to either hate me, or love me.
Off the table, I am a different person. I live my life in a good way, and I feel good about myself. But, at the poker table, I am a different guy. I am a bad boy, and I have always been that way. I enjoy the game, and I play for fun – win or lose.
I’m playing the $1,000 with Rebuys, and I made 2 rebuys, and an add on, so I am in for $4,000. I had enough chips so that I could take 2 hours off, and watch the whole show. I really wanted to see how it would go.
I am at six or seven thousand in chips, I lost quite a bit of chips when I was watching the show. The crazy thing about today is the same guy, Ralph Perry is on my right. We haven’t clashed yet today, although there was one hand where I bluffed him out of a big pot. He just bluffed off most of his chips, so he won’t be around for long. Its just amazing that in a 1,000 person tournament, we would wind up sitting next to each other on the day of the show.
I hope we do get a chance to clash. The guy is a great player, and he has probably had more success than I have at the poker table.
I am sorry to anyone that felt I was out of line on the show. One thing about the show, I saw how lucky I was. You got to see how lucky I was in this hand. 9 3 of hearts for me, against the A 3 suited of Yosh Nakano, the flop was 6 7 Q with 2 hearts, I get my heart on the turn, and Yosh is drawing dead, but he still has chips. The next hand I have 10 7, he has Q 9. he flops the best hand with the 9, and I have to have a 10, which I got. So, that was a lot of luck.
The crucial hand was when I had A 2 of spades, I was the chip leader, and Ralph Perry was 2nd in chips. I limped with the A 2 of spades, and I was talking so much, I knew I was upsetting him, and I knew he would be really aggressive against me. He raises me with K J offsuit. I talked him into raising. Then, I went all in, which may be the best move I have ever made. Any player has to pass there. But, I had the best hand. He made a mistake, and called me with K J, and didn’t get lucky.
Then I had 1.5 million chips, and with the blinds 100k/200k, and I had 80% of the chips. There is only 2 million chips in play, you should go all in every hand. I don’t care if I had J 3, and he has two tens. Just like in Paris – when the blinds get so big, I feel mathematically you can’t afford to fold any hand. I called Surinder with J 4. I might have won a WPT title if I would have played tighter. I play the way I play, and I have had good results.
I hope everyone enjoyed the show, and I hope everyone watches me in the final against Yosh Nakano, I think its two weeks away. See you soon.
