The Red Giant

Today I played in the Shooting Star main event. I had my typical day one and finished with 29,400, a little more than half the average, without ever being all-in and called.

The Shooting Star at my table was T.J. Cloutier. I tend to believe that the Cloutiers and Chans of the world, while still solid players, are no longer the best. To some degree, the game has passed them by. I thought T.J. played pretty well, but I think I see stronger players at every main event I play (today the example being Ralph Perry).

T.J. has made a comeback on the circuit recently after some health issues had him sidetracked for a year or two. I liken him to a red giant, described by wikipedia as "a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass that is in a late phase of its evolution, with nuclear fusion going on in a shell outside the core but not in the core itself. The core matter is electron degenerate and extremely compressed, so the outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius immense and the surface temperature low."

T.J. may no longer be in his main sequence, but he can still play the game. There was a classic moment today where T.J. raised before the flop and got called by the small blind. The flop came ace high with the five and four of clubs. The small blind checked and called T.J.'s continuation bet. On the turn, the six of clubs, the small blind bet out 4,000 and T.J. quickly raised to 12,000. The small blind folded quickly and T.J. showed "the hammer", the worst starting hand in hold-em, seven-deuce offsuit (with no club). It was a great moment. He was proud to be playing poker.