it's 5am and I feel like a poker story post - I haven't told this on here before...

in late 2001 - I played the first Poker tourney at Canterbury's inagural Fall Classic - a $100 Limit tourney that had real limits and blinds for once - and rounds - had to pace myself for 2 hr. piss breaks instead of one hr. - LOL. Since Limit was all I had played, and since I did it well, I was excited to get into it.

Along the way, I notice a slightly familiar guy - don't know/recognize him, but I've seen him before in Cardplayer I think. Well, we get down to 4 or 5 tables (only one or 2 are paying) and I get moved to his left - (dealer between us) -

he introduces himself when I ask - He's Mike Sexton - you know...the fucking Mike Sexton of the world famous world fucking poker tour? - except then he was just a pro who ran the TOC and wasn't the face of televised poker that we know now. - Nowadays he'd get mobbed, but 3 yrs. ago, he was just the guy on my right. (he later wrote about his travels at http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/?a_id=12192)

Anyways, we get to the point where we each have 4-5 times the BB left - I'm BB with pocket 9's and he raises me heads up from the SB - I decide to call and muck if an A hits the flop - though now I'd have reraised and tried to get it all in - (being new, I was used to Canterbury limit, which meant they always raised with an A) -

flop comes QTx - he bets...I call

turn J - I now have an open ended, so I raise his bet and we get all in -

He has AK and I am deader then a doornail - we shake hands, and both agree it couldn't have gone down any differently -

now I tell everyone that I got busted out of my first major tourney by the pro who arguably has the most face time of any poker player around. (Let's face it, a lot more people know who Mike S. is then gus hansen) -

so that's my poker story for today.

RB