Mixing It Up With Pat Lyons At Bay 101 On My Way To $29,000

Let me start this blog by saying that I am a big Pat Lyons fan. Over the years I have encountered a lot of people who say he’s not that good of a poker player or he inherited all his money or they don’t like him for one reason or another. I’m on the other end of that spectrum.

Ever since winning the Arizona State Championship and WPT Legends of the Bike in 2017, Pat has reached a new level as a poker player. He was a well known Bay Area grinder before that and I used to play the $125 dailies with him at Bay 101 in the mid-2010s. But since winning those two major titles, his game has gone to another level. In addition to winning a WSOP online bracelet in 2020, a perusal of his Hendon Mob shows a number of other big scores and deep runs in big events over the last decade. Pat is a proven commodity at this point and those who deny it are simply haters.

What makes Pat so dangerous is his Mojo and Charisma. He’s one of a kind. While this is one reason some people don’t like him, he is always the table captain and he’s capable of making a move in any spot in any tournament at any time. As he said to me last night at the final table: “You know I’m fearless, right Greg?” “Yes I know Pat”, I replied truthfully. Most players revert to a weak tight strategy in high pressure situations. Pat does not. A player as fearless as Pat is always dangerous no matter how good you are.

More importantly, while Pat is loud he is never rude or disrespectful. He’s always having fun and he treats other players with respect. He’s always been nice to me, including consoling me when I lost a big flip (QQ < AK) late in the 2020 Bay 101 Shooting Star to Darren Elias and taking me and another player out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the mid-2010s. Last year, when I qualified for the WSOP Tournament of Champions at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles after winning my first ring, I couldn’t get a room at The Commerce and had to book at The DoubleTree down the street. When I told Pat, he called the person in charge to try and get me a room. Because he’s Pat Lyons, she called me back within a few hours and said she’d do the best she could for me. A lot of loud people are rude and obnoxious but Pat is not one of them. While he’s always the center of attention because of his personality, he’s invariably optimistic and upbeat.

That said, let’s talk about yesterday’s poker. When Pat got moved to my table, I had a commanding chip lead at the table and Pat was a short stack. But then he got hot – which was the last thing I wanted to happen. He won four consecutive All Ins: 66 > AQ, 77 > AQ, A2cc > 1010 and a fourth one that I can’t recall in which he also had just one over and spiked it. All of a sudden, Pat had a big stack and I was going to have to deal with him. I had a feeling it was going to come down to me and him.

Because we both had big stacks we mostly tiptoed around each other while the shorter stacks busted unless we had a real hand. One big hand came when I picked up AA on the button on Pat’s big blind. The blinds were 15,000/30,000/30,000. I generally raise 2x in this spot but because Pat and I both had big stacks, I raised 2.5x instead to 75,000. Pat called. The flop came down 992 and we both checked. I’m pot controlling here because I don’t want to lose a lot of chips if he has a 9 which is very much in his range. The turn was an A giving me a full house. Now I’m praying that he has a 9! Pat leads out for 75,000 into 195,000 and I just call. On the river, Pat led out for another 75,000 into 345,000 and I raised to 325,000. Pat tanked and called showing the last Ace after I tabled my hand.

At the final table of 9, a chop was discussed that would have given me ~$26,000 as the chip leader which I was happy with. 3rd was ~$20,000 so I would have had to get 1st or 2nd to do better and that was unlikely. However, Pat wasn’t happy with the ~$18,000 he was going to get and insisted on $20,000. In my experience, nobody likes it when one player wants more than ICM because he thinks he’s the best player and they almost always refuse.

To my dismay, the chop fell apart as a result. I was dismayed because the payout structure in these tournaments is extremely top heavy. 5th through 9th all paid less than $10,000 and even though I had the chip lead I could easily have taken a bad beat or lost a big hand and went out in one of those spots, potentially costing me $15,000 or $20,000. But every player has the right to do what he wants and Pat didn’t want to chop on a strictly ICM basis.

After refusing the ICM chop, Pat went on the offensive. Even though he had a big stack, he opened shoved on one of the first hands and got it through. While you could tell that everybody else was tightening up because of the money, Pat went the other way. He was going to be the table captain. A few hands later he opened shoved again on the button but this time he got called by the small blind. Pat flipped over 1010 while the small blind had AA – and the Aces held up. This took a good chunk out of Pat’s stack.

Not too long after came the toughest hand of the tournament for me. With 8 players left, Pat limped under the gun at 20,000/40,000/40,000, I called in the small blind with As6d and the big blind checked. The flop came down AJ8 with two diamonds and I led out for 65,000 into 160,000. The big blind folded and Pat called.

The turn card appeared to be a blank. I would generally bet again in this spot – ~100,000 – with the chip lead against a stack of Pat’s size. If he had AJ or 88 he would probably raise and I could get away from my hand. If he had a flush draw or one pair, he would just call. Betting again would let me further define my opponent’s hand.

But because it was Pat I checked. I wanted to keep the pot small and I also hadn’t seen him limp under the gun before so I didn’t know his limping range from that spot. Pat bet 175,000 into 290,000. I reluctantly called. Now the pot had ballooned to 640,000 and I had A6 against Pat Lyons out of position. Not a good spot!

The flush didn’t get there on the river, I checked and Pat – who had a pot sized stack – bet 250,000 into 640,000. The bet size made it look like a value bet and my first thought was to fold. I don’t like to call in marginal spots where the other player is controlling the action. You’re usually donking off your chips when you’re doing so and when you’re one of the better players the best course of action is generally to fold and look for better spots to put chips in the middle.

But then I had some second thoughts. One, Pat could have missed a flush draw and I would be good. Mitigating against this was the size of his bet. With a pot size stack, an All In bluff would have pushed me off a weak Ace. Another consideration was that a correct call would have crippled Pat, leaving him with ~10 big blinds. Since I regarded Pat as my biggest threat at the table, this was a welcome possibility. If I was wrong, of course, he would scoop a big pot and once again be a major problem.

The truth is that I didn’t know what to do. As an experienced poker player, you can usually figure out the right move after a little deliberation. In this case, I was at a loss. I didn’t feel good about calling or folding.

But then I had the thought that swung the deliberation in favor of calling. I realized that Pat had really been pushing the action since the start of the final table. He was playing a lot of hands, trying to make something happen. After a long time, I flipped in a chip for a call and Pat flipped over KdQx for a missed straight draw. My Ace was good and Pat was crippled. He was out shortly thereafter to everyone’s great relief because now we thought we could chop. (Unfortunately, a fearless young man with a short stack refused to chop unless he got 10% more than ICM and therefore scuttled a chop once again to everyone’s frustration. When he went out 4th, the last three of us could finally chop!).

Did I make the right call with A6?

There was a hand in the late stages of the 2007 WSOP Main Event between two great Los Angeles cash game pros, Ray Henson and Kenny Tran. Tran raised UTG to 300,000 at 50,000/100,000/10,000 (everybody paid an ante each hand at that time) with A7off, the small blind called with KQ and Henson called in the big blind with 77.

The flop came down 944 rainbow, the blinds checked and Tran bet 500,000 into 970,000. The small blind folded and Henson called creating a pot of 1,970,000. The turn was a 10. Henson checked, Tran bet 1,000,000 and Henson called creating a pot of 3,970,000. The river was a K, Henson checked and Tran bet 2,000,000. Now Henson was in the blender. He said: “If I call, you show me Kings full. If I fold, you show me AJ.” Henson folded and Tran flipped over the bluff. (You can watch the hand in the YouTube below. It starts at 42:23).

I was in the same spot. I thought Pat might have a missed flush draw but I also thought he might have a set or AJ or suited A8 or a suited A that made two pair on the turn or even AQ or AK. In other words, I had no idea where I was. It crossed my mind that I should ask someone for a quarter and flip it: heads I call, tails I fold. Obviously I’m glad I called from a results oriented perspective but I still don’t know if it was a good call or not.