A couple of days ago, Cake regular Clayton "claytoncomic" Fletcher called me up here at Crown's Aussie Millions Poker Championship and said, "They're having a team event tomorrow - let's play it!" The format was straightforward - you and a partner alternate levels throughout the tournament, switching every 30 minutes. No discussion at all between the two players except during the two-minute switch-over periods. I said sure and ponied up my half of the $1100 buy-in. Here we are, ready to rock:
Lee Jones and Clayton Fletcher team up
We decided that I should bat lead-off because, well, Clayton is the stronger no-limit player. The second player coming in would get an extra 3K chips on top of the initial 3K stack. That's assuming I didn't get busted in the first level, at which point he'd have to step in, use the "rebuy" chit and try to recover. So I sat down and looked around the table. Here's a view of me, with bad news in the out-of-focus foreground:
Trouble in the six seat
If you're familiar with the European poker crowd, you'll recognize that as Trond Eidsvig. Trond, a Norwegian, is one of the toughest players on the European circuit and also a stupendously nice guy. I wasn't sure whether I was more delighted to have his company or more terrified to have him coveting my chips. Here's a more traditional view of the man:
Trond Eidsvig lost his bottles of hair product
Sadly, Trond no longer rocks the standing wave hair-do for which he was famous (at least to me) when I was working the European Poker Tour. Consider the following from the old days:
Hair Product Boy (photo courtesy of Hendon Mob)
However, I note that Trond is now sporting a charming and beautiful (even by Norwegian standards) girlfriend, Vanessa. If he traded the hair-do for the girlfriend, then "good on 'im," as the Aussies would say.
Anyway, I managed to not donk off my chips and just slipped down to 2900 or so. Clayton came in, got the 3K add-on, and went to work:
For a comedian, Clayton Fletcher looks pretty serious
The people at our table must have wondered what kind of schizophrenic team they'd stumbled into. I was playing my usual totally nitted-up game. Clayton was splashing around like a 4-year-old in the lake on the 4th of July. But my ATo faded A4-suited (even after he flopped the flush draw) for all the chips, and Clayton stole anything that wasn't nailed down, so our prospects looked good after four levels.
Unfortunately, we got clobbered at the end of Level Four. I don't tell bad beat stories, but suffice it to say Clayton got the money in very very good.
I had never played a team event before and highly recommend it. It's great fun: you have a built-in cheering section, and it emphasizes the camaraderie which is really what makes poker a game worth playing. At one point while I was watching the action, Trond and Vanessa were standing next to me rooting for Trond's partner. Who was more than a little drunk. He shouted something in Norwegian in their general direction. Trond looked extremely concerned and turned to me. "He said, literally, 'Bring me a gin and tonic or I bust out right now.'" I don't think any of the three of us doubted he meant every Norwegian word of it. Trond headed for the bar - he couldn't have been 15 feet away when his buddy shoved all his chips in. It's probably best that nobody at the table understood Norwegian or he might have gotten called. "For your sake, I hope Trond gets back soon," I told Vanessa.
It's not the most serious poker I ever played, but it was far from the least serious and I enjoyed every minute of it - both in the seat and on the rail. Thanks to Clayton for inviting me to join him and I look forward to the next one.
