Tulsa World: Tulsan finds luck away from the poker table

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Tulsan finds luck away from the poker table

Steve Sanders, a Tulsa resident, plays poker at the 2009 World Series of Poker.COURTESY

By KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer
Published: 11/8/2009 2:25 AM
Last Modified: 11/8/2009 6:14 AM

Steve Sanders would love to have made it to the World Series of Poker's November Nine, but luck doesn't always present itself as a winning hand.

The man who spends part of his year living in his own paradise on the Pacific Northwest coastline of Ocean City, Wash., and part of it in Tulsa operating one of his three trailer parks, placed 54th in the World Series of Poker $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em tournament. He put in $10,000 and checked out with $138,568.

He also walked away with his life.

"If I had won that hand, I'd be dead now," Sanders said by phone from Ocean City.

Perspective

Saturday, the November Nine — the nine finalists — met to reconvene the 2009 World Series of Poker at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It all began in May as players began registering to play in any of the more than 50 event tournaments in the series. No Limit Hold'em alone brought in more than 6,000 players, and Sanders was one of them.

While driving his motor home to Washington, he stopped in Las Vegas with his kids. His son talked him into playing the WSOP.

Most of Sanders' memory of that tournament is concentrated on July 4.

"It was exciting. At one time I was at the ESPN featured table with Phil Ivey on my right — who everyone considers the best poker player in the world — and the last year's winner (Phil Hellmuth, an 11-time bracelet winner) was on my left.

"There's a YouTube (video) of those hands. The

hand that I went out on was featured on ESPN," he said.

And if you were to follow the link

tulsaworld.com/ youtubeSandersPoker

, it would take you to the cable sports network's Day 7 coverage of the World Series of Poker Main Event. Fast forward to the two minute mark, and you'll soon see Sanders in action after playing seven days straight for 12 hours each day. He holds two aces (spades and hearts) against the two queens (clubs and spades) in the hands of a frustrated Dennis Phillips.

It's a deceptively calm drama that unfolds as the flop (ace of clubs, six of clubs and two of clubs) fails Phillips. They bet, and the turn (four of spades) is equally as disappointing for Phillips.

"You see, I'm an 82 percent favorite to win the hand now," Sanders said excitedly.

Sanders might have been at the final table playing Monday night in Las Vegas except Phillips had luck on his side. The river, the last card, is laid down, and the jack of clubs gives Phillips the best five cards between them. Phillips went on to finish at No. 45.

"You saw me smile right there," Sanders said. "I woke up that morning with a horrible backache. I thought I'd had back problems in the past. I've been playing poker for 12 hours a day for seven days, that's what it is. Well, I lost that hand there. I took a cab to the hospital, and they operated on me immediately."

Sanders had an abdominal aortic aneurism that was about to rupture. In intensive care for four days and in the hospital for a week after, he reviewed his fortune.

At the top

"Steve Sanders. He finished in the top 1 percent which is incredibly impressive," said Seth Palansky, communications director for the World Series of Poker, in a phone interview. "It means he must know what he's doing at the poker table."

The final table with the last two players competing for $8.5 million will be Monday. ESPN, cable channel 25, is set to broadcast that play at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Tune in, and you'll see what people mean when they talk about high stakes, cool heads and a game of skill.

"People think Nascar's just a bunch of guys going around in circles, but there's actually a lot to it there's a lot of that type of thing in poker," Palansky said. "Where you're sitting at the table, who bets before you, who bets after you, what amount of money you bet into the pot — these are all things that vary, and poker players do it differently, so you have to be able to bring a game that has a lot of variance depending on who you're playing against."

In other words, some hands might be better for you to fold, and the next may be better for you to pluck all your chips in the middle.

It all comes down to convincing people that your cards are the best, whether they are or not.

"Why poker is a game of skill is because you can win without the best hand," Palansky said. "If you're playing blackjack, you better beat the dealer. If you're playing roulette, your number better hit if you're going to win. In poker, if you can bluff your opponent off his hand, you're going to win."

Which is why it's crucial to read tells — that little rub of the forehead, folding of arms, raise of the brow or something subtler.

Brooks Turk, tournament manager of the Hard Rock Poker Open, which runs through Nov. 16 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa, has also run World Series of Poker events.

"There (are) certain skills that a poker player will develop as far as being able to what they call put your opponent on a hand, meaning narrow down the possibilities of their two cards — their betting patterns, their physical tells," Turk said. "The best players can do that. They'll know what you have or a range of possibilities."

Some guys wear hoods, grow beards, don sunglasses all in effort to reduce what opponents can read.

"There's a lot of psychology involved," Turk said.

At least a few hundred pro players tour the international circuit to acclaim, but there are thousands more who make an actual livelihood from play. But a player can't assume that doing well at one tournament means it's time to switch occupations. The skills are important.

Among the November Nine, three are pros, three are amateurs, and three are semi-pros who aren't quite ready to give up their day jobs.

"There is luck involved in any given tournament, but time is what separates the pros," Palansky said.

Is there such a thing as luck?

"There is. You've seen everything if you've watched enough poker," he said.

Sanders attributes his poker karma to patience.

"I think patience. You have to have patience," Sanders said.

You have to wait through blinds, through hand after hand — each one cracking the other players' tells.

"Everybody's main goal is to make it through day one. You have to take it at that — one day at a time and one hour at a time."

As if winning more than what you paid in isn't tempting enough, knowing that nearly anyone has a shot at winning against pros makes it golden.

Take, for instance, the case of one Chris Moneymaker. Before he entered the World Series of Poker in 2003, he was an accountant from Spring Hill, Tenn., whose playing experience was mostly online. After it was over, Moneymaker (his real name by all accounts) became an overnight poker celebrity for winning what was his first table tournament.

"If you get on a run, anybody can win it, and that's what's so exciting about this," Sanders said.

Home again

Sanders plans to track coverage of Monday's final table online.

"Oh, it makes me sick of what could've been, but that's the same thing with 6,000 other people," he said. "But I was happy to get where I got. I had a wonderful time, just a lifetime experience."

He's had his 15 minutes of fame, but he won't be adopting a name like "Amarillo Slim" or "Sailor Roberts" (actual names of two past champions). Neither will he be spending any more time in a casino than he did before WSOP — which is practically none.

Sanders sees no poker profession in his future.

"Playing poker? No way ... I have a St. Bernard and two bull mastiffs that I could not leave for two or three hours. I just mean, I couldn't go to a casino and play poker."

2009 World Series of Poker Final Table

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Where: ESPN, cable channel 25

Karen Shade 581-8334
karen.shade@tulsaworld.com By KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer

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