On Thursday, April 7th, the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks held a Rivalry Poker Challenge at the San Manuel Bingo Hall and Casino. The event sold out and was a major success, and the evening provided me with an experience that I will never forget.

The structure of the tournament was daunting. 1000 players entered, and were split into 100 tables of 10, with each player receiving 1500 in chips. Each table would play until there was a winner, which would leave 100 players. Then, those 100 players would split into 10 tables of 10, again receiving 1500 in chips, and each of those would play until there was a winner. The 10 winners in the second round would meet at the final table.

I spent most of my time pre-tournament looking for Bailey (the LA Kings mascot) who was nowhere to be found. Wild Wing (Anaheim’s mascot) was running around all over the place. I’ve been trying to get a picture with Bailey for the last three years, but he had eluded me. The ONE time he came to my section, my father took a picture of us on my phone, but when I went to pull it up… it hadn’t saved.

I made it clear that I wasn’t leaving without a picture with Bailey, and that getting said picture was my goal for the evening. That, and hopefully winning my first table; I just thought it’d be a nice accomplishment to get into the second round. But with the structure being what it was, I wasn’t expecting anything, just figured I’d play my best and hope for the best.

Finally, Bailey came out right before the tournament began. Dad and I went over, I got a picture with him… and it came out blurry.

Oh well, at least I had something. I figured I’d try again later. For now, it was poker time. The celebrities in the room were introduced, and then they shuffled up and dealt. My table had one no-show and one guy that randomly forfeited after about five minutes, so 3000 chips were taken off the table.

I pretty much just held my own for a little while as this guy across from me cleaned up the table. He wasn’t a great player, but he was getting some amazing cards and mowing people down. As the blinds got higher, I knew I’d have to make a move sooner or later. Then I landed pocket aces in the big blind.

Much to my dismay, everyone folded except for a little old lady to my right in the small blind. She called. I raised her all in, figuring there was no benefit to slow playing and that she might make a bad call. She did, with A3. Flop came 7 A K, and I cruised to a double-up.

This gave me enough chips (around 3000) to stay afloat. Eventually, it came down to me and the guy who had been raking up chips all along; he had 10000 to my 2000. I figured I was the better player, but with blinds at 400/800, I’d need some cards.

First hand heads up I get 8 8, push all in, he folds, so now I’m at 2800. Next hand he’s the small blind, he just calls, I raise all in with K4. He folds. I get AK as the small blind, and use the fact that he’s folded the last two times to my advantage. “I’m just pushing all in with anything at this point man, you can’t just keep letting me get away with it, can you?” He bites, and calls with J 4. AK holds up, and now it’s about even in chips.

We go back and forth a few hands, blinds go up to 800/1600. He just calls on a hand I have 82 on; flop comes 10 2 9. I push all in, and am quite pleased when he folds. I now have the chip lead, and get dealt JJ.

All in, he calls. He’s got Q 6. I ask nicely for no queen please. No queen comes, and I win my first table!

So far, so good! During the intermission, I got a ton of great pictures and made small talk with some of my favorite Kings celebrities. Everyone was extremely friendly and patient with my mom and dad getting the camera ready.

I told Heidi that she was doing a great job, and that she’d also done a great job when she hosted NHL On the Fly. She thanked me for the support.

Daryl jokingly asked my mother “who’s taller?” while she was taking the picture. Told him to keep up the great work on the broadcasts, and asked him if his beginner’s luck had helped him out in the tournament; he said he only lasted about four hands.

My brother delivers flowers, and when his shift runs late he ends up listening to the game on the radio. He was telling me that one thing he loves about Nick Nickson is that he doesn’t ALWAYS bring up that the Kings give up a goal within three minutes of scoring one; unlike Bob Miller, who never fails to mention it. I relayed this message to Nick, who laughed and said “you know it’s happened 30 times this year? The other night on the plane I pulled up every score sheet and counted. 30 times. 12 times within one minute! I don’t get it.” We proceeded to complain about that stat and the awful power play for a minute or two.

Jim had a crowd around him, and was being his awesome personable self as always. I asked how he did, he said he was knocked out. I joked that at least he’d get some sleep, poor me, I’d have to stay awake for the next round. He turned to everyone else and says “now you see that folks? No one likes a bad winner.” Turns back to me and says “good luck, take down that $3500, you’ll sleep really nice.”

This was just awesome. I told Bob he was one of my idols, and that he was the main reason I took interest in broadcast journalism. He seemed really happy to hear about that, and asked about where I worked. As I was leaving, I told him the Kings were going to finally win him that cup he deserves soon: maybe this year! We then shared a sad, Kopitar-less laugh.

So at this point I’ve won a table and gotten all these awesome pictures (and at least one I could work with with Bailey). I already considered the evening a great success. Sat down at my second table with no pressure at all.

Won a few 100 chips on my first hand, going in pre-flop with KQ and flopping a K. Opponent called my bet on the flop, but folded on my bet on the turn. After a few hands, my stack took a big hit; I had QQ. Guy to my left bets 150, two callers, I raise to 600. Guy to my left calls, other two fold. Flop comes A 6 3 all hearts… and neither of my queens is a heart. Ugly. I check, guy goes all in. No choice but to lay it down. That brought me down to about 1200.

Blinds got up to 100/200, and were set to go up to 200/400 on the next hand. I had K 4 of diamonds in the big blind, and two people called. I checked. Flop came A 9 3, with the ace and three of diamonds. One of the players went all in, the other folded. I didn’t mathematically have the odds to call, but factoring in the structure of the tournament and blinds, I didn’t think it made sense to fold. “Sorry for the donkey call,” I said to the guy (donkey for you non-poker players is a term for “stupid” or “newbie”) “but I have to.” Turn 6 of diamonds, and his Ace was no longer good to my flush. Gave me the breathing room I desperately needed.

David Courtney kept walking by and observing. Eventually I got up from the table (while hands were still in play) and told my mom to take a picture. I asked him if he’d played, and he said “no, but if I had, I wouldn’t be playing as well as you are.” Aww, thanks David.

Left table during action AGAIN to get another picture with Bailey. As you can clearly see, I have my priorities straight. Asked Bailey if I could get one more (having failed earlier), he gestures ONE more. Get the picture, and he whacks me with his tail before running off. He’s the man. Er, lion.

Blinds got crazy again (400/800), and with about 2000 in chips, I knew I didn’t have long to make a move. Q 5 of hearts isn’t a hand I’d often consider, but with blinds coming around to me again (and about to go up to 800/1600) and two all ins in front of me, I figured it was the kind of hand that I had to fight with. All in. Everyone flipped their cards over; my opponents had AK and A10. Perfect; no made hands, and my hearts, Q, and 5 were all live. Flop 3 8 10, only one heart. Oh well, there goes my 5, and I’d need runner-runner hearts. Turn QUEEN! Dodged everything with a blank on the river, and took over the table’s chip lead.

The guy to my left (who was a very strong player) eliminated the third remaining player, and brought our chip stacks to roughly even, with me holding the slight advantage. Blinds now at 800/1600, it would once again come down to the cards. I had AJ diamonds, and didn’t hesitate half of a second to push all in. He called, and the dealer quickly flopped A 10 8. He asked, “you hit that ace?” “I did”, I told him, flipping my cards over. “So it goes,” he said, flipping over his KK. Two non-King cards later, and I had earned my ticket to the final table!

(To be clear, I’m only highlighting big hands here. I DID play some good poker and take down some hard-earned pots in between all of these lucky all-ins :)!)

Surreal. One of the guys on the Kings Crew came over and shook my hand, and told me he and some of the others in the crew had been watching me and really liked the way I played, and were pulling for me at the final table. I thanked him, and got my bracelet for the final table from the tournament director. He told me that every final table participant won a team-autographed jersey (!!!), and at least $200 in cash. The prize breakdown was as follows:

1st. $3500, 2nd. $2000, 3rd. $1000, 4th. $800, 5th. $700, 6th. $600, 7th. $500, 8th. $400, 9th. $300, 10th. $200.

I told my parents that I was playing to win, not playing to move up the board and make more money. After all, with all of my great experiences so far PLUS a team-signed jersey and $200? What did I have to lose?

David Courtney announced our names as we came to the final table, which was awesome. A pretty good crowd surrounded the table. I had a pretty good cheering section, and was one of the only ones at the table interacting with the crowd. I felt ready to win it all.

But alas, I had used every ounce of luck in me just to get to that point, it seems. I went completely card dead at the final table; completely. On top of never getting a hand to play, there were two very aggressive players at the final table that raised big on every single hand pre-flop. I love having guys like this at the table when I get cards to trap them with; but when the cards aren’t coming, all you can do is fold. The only chance I took was on 89 diamonds, with three callers it was worth it to call the 250 and hope for a nice flop, but A K J no diamonds wasn’t quite it.

Fold fold fold fold fold. Blinds got all the way up to 200/400, and I was down to just 600 in chips. KQ was by far the best hand I’d seen all table, and I was happy to go all in with it. Flop 8 5 5. Turn K, feeling pretty good. River 10. One of the guys still in the hand had Q5, so I was done in 6th place.

Sure, I would have loved to have taken down the $3500 grand prize. But just making the final table was a great accomplishment, and outlasting four other players to earn a $600 cash prize didn’t hurt, either. And of course, my beautiful team signed jersey.

So that’s my story. Many thanks to the LA Kings organization for sponsoring this fantastic event. Was a very cool and creative way to help raise money for the Kings Care Foundation. In the end, my $25 buy-in earned me the chance to collect these awesome pictures, win $600 and a team-signed jersey, and an experience I’ll never forget.

Needless to say, I’ll be back next year! See you there!

2 Responses to “My 2011 Los Angeles Kings Charity Poker Event Experience”

1. Don says:

   April 12, 2011 at

   Great time lots of fun and very proud of what you did that night.

2. sportsfan says:

   April 16, 2011 at

   Great story! Fun times! Great accomplishment!