John "bubble boy" Tabatabai - Live MTTs and Monte Carlo

News / John Tabatabai / 28 April 2010 / 1 Comments

A strange feeling trickles through my fingers as I write this, not quite like arthritis but a mix therein of the former and yet, somehow, something quite fulfilling or pleasing.

You will wonder why I write or say such a strange thing, the reason is quite simple; the last year and a half I have done terribly, to say the least, in live tournaments.

Yes, I thought I was a bit unlucky and yes, I knew I wasn't playing great.

What actually happened is quite different. I was playing terrible tournament poker, my mindset was completely skewed and I wasn't approaching the game from a professional standpoint. Somewhere in the last two years or so, I lost myself. There are unfortunately lots of personal reasons why this occurred, however, for any true professional or, as I like to think, for any true champion, there is NO excuse. Composure must be at 100%. It is through these obstacles that professionals prove themselves. I, myself, slipped and fell down some slippery stairs, but before I hit the ground floor I managed to extend my arm and grab onto the railings! Not only that, I have started to pull myself back up!

I have played only a handful of EPTs but have never come close to cashing in one. This time, in Monte Carlo I came out here with a completely different mindset. Instead of coming to party and blow as much money as possible on alcohol and a table that will see me no positive return, I decided to arrive the day before the tournament, keep myself to myself as much as possible and play with the utmost positive attitude that was possible. During breaks I found a quiet area to relax and not think poker. After losing pots, I didn't beat myself up about it. Most importantly, I never let anything upset me, I kept my composure and thought how grateful I should be to have this opportunity and still be in.

I can honestly say it is the best I have played in a tournament in an incredibly long time (with the exception of the WSOPE, something about that tourney which brings out the best in me regardless of my mindset or situation).

Alas, I did my best and unfortunately it just wasn't my turn to cash, or accomplish anything financial. Merely personal achievement and satisfaction. I lost every single preflop all in, very hard to win tournaments when you have zero luck in those instances. Lost two flips, a 70-30 and eventually, got it in on the button v SB with KQ v AJ for my tournament life. No binkage for young John and boom, 135th. Top 120 got paid. Marv.

Apart from the personal achievement of actually playing well once again and coming close to my first cash (lolz), I witnessed some great sportsmanship at the tables which is only too often lost these days amongst the mass of young, immature, spoilt poker players.

There are two instances I want to talk about, both involving my newly acquainted friend, Anton Wigg (EPT Copenhagen winner). We both started Day 2 together, and half way through the day a new player is moved to our table in seat 1. He has approximately 75% of the smaller denomination chips (100 black chips) which are required for the antes. He continually persisted in using larger chips to pay his ante to collect all the black chips, and whenever the dealer required change to correct the pot he remained adamant that the other players must break up the chip even though it would take longer as they would have to break down their "structures" or had hardly any to change with. I should also point out, that this "gentleman" did not even make a "structure" of any sort. It was wasted chips. Not even a standard tower. Nothing. Arrggghh.

Anyway, after a couple of hours of this I semi-cracked and politely asked him to show some courtesy to the table and conduct himself with the correct etiquette. His retort was humorous, not to mention it came through a thick Russian accent, "my plan worked, I wanted you to eshplode, now you are eshploding".

I calmly informed him that he was massively mistaken, it doesn't take someone not giving change to explode me, I explode myself for fun and that my remark was to his lack of etiquette. He then tried to explain to me that I should play online if I wanted a faster game, he also continued his ramble talking about a hand from a while ago where a dealer made a mistake, therefore now he had to collect the black chips. It was his latest comment that young Brit, Toby Lewis asked him, "What are you even talking about? Does this have anything to do with the black chips?"

I am merely setting the mood here for the upcoming event. Our hero got all his chips in preflop with KK against AA, naturally he was somewhat disgruntled to say the least. He then started berating the dealer when she counted out his chips to pay out the other player. At this stage, Anton Wigg jumped in to the rescue and told him to calm down and stop berating the dealer. He replied some more Russian mumbo jumbo and then Anton told him not to be an "asshole"! It was beautiful. The Russian then "eshploded" as he eloquently put it and told him to never speak to him again. The selfish part of me was rooting for some more action, but before anything could happen a few floormen rushed over and quietened things down. I was later informed that this same guy exploded Greg Raymer for the first time in his poker career on Day 1 and received his first ever warning for using foul language!

The point is, the dealers are working under extremely hard and stressful circumstances, often 12 hours at a time and have to keep track of everything, whose action it is on, pot calculations etc. They are only human, if they make a mistake, so be it, they deserve some leeway. When under attack rudely and unnecessarily, it is amazing sign of unity to see others jump in and defend them. I loved that. Well done Mr Wigg.

The second scenario was something I had never seen before and really shocked me. I don't remember what the blinds were, however the antes were 400 a person. I was in the SB and threw out 4 black chips nonchalantly. The dealer instantly grabbed my chips and realigned them in front of my stack. I then (ahhh blinds were 2k-4k) placed out 2 red chips in front of myself (red chips = 1k). As the dealer was about to deal the cards I noticed I had 1600 chips in front of me, meaning that 400 ante was taken out of my 2 red chips, thus I had paid double. I immediately brought this to his attention, he was however a non believer. I made my case quite clear, that it was impossible for me to receive change when I had already placed 4 black chips. It was illogical and it was clear proof that somebody else hadn't paid (not maliciously, most likely just forgotten). I tried to jog his memory back to moments ago when he realigned those chips that I threw out in a cavalier manner. He finally remembered and said that he wasn't sure if it was mine or the BB (some plump French guy who had no interest in what was going on or in solving the situation, even though by this point it was clearly him who hadn't paid the ante). The dealer tried to tell him it was him who owed the 400, he looked as if someone had asked for his liver. He started frantically muttering in French and shaking his head. This had gone on for a few minutes and other players were clearly getting annoyed around the table. Out of the goodness in my heart, I said fine, I'm the shortest stack at the table and I will pay a double ante and duly did so. As the dealer was about to deal, Toby Lewis said that it was clearly unfair and that I had made my point. He suggested that the 4 biggest stacks each throw in 100 each. Not only did he suggest it, but they were all only too happy to do so! I couldn't believe it. I have never seen such kindness, for lack of a better word, at not only a poker table, but the Grand Final of the EPT and only a couple tables away from the money.

Ah, there is one last thing I want to mention briefly. It has to be the best call I have seen in a tournament, myself. It was on Day 1 between this pokerstars German kid and some random angry nit Russian. I don't remember the details just the look of amazement on everyone's face after the hand. The angry Russian who hadn't played a hand in a very long time, finally opened in late position, button called (Glen Chorney, 2008 Monte Carlo Champ) SB called (hero) and BB completed. Flop came 7d8d2h. Hero led, BB folded, original raiser called and button folded. Turn was a Q, check check. River blank 7. Hero checked, angry Russian bet 5,200 which was a large bet at this stage of the tournament. German Hero called in under a minute to proudly turn over J-10. Yes, that's right, J hi. How the Russian couldn't have bluffed with missed K fl dr or anything else that beat him by accident I don't know. But I thought it was very funny. Naturally, the angry Russian only got angrier after this.

Good luck and stay positive.

Comments (1)

1. Jayne | 30 May 2010

   Why not hire a mental coach? Bit of sport-specific psychology might be helpful.