First, my table was great. I mean, a total victory from the beginning because of actor/comedian Brad Garrett being there. Of course he was hamming it up (some of his material is funny I guess….), but it really lightened the table up from the start and he was super cool. With him being to my directly to my right, it was a lot of fun and w/ his infinite comic genius he labeled me Indiana Jones. We had the Jewish thing going and his kid is also named Maxwell, so we got off on the right foot.
The TV cameras were on us for a good portion of the day as we were a regular stop in their going around the playing floor. And Brad was having a very good game and was even chip leader at one point so there was lots of media attention. Even when they tried to take pics of just him, the brim of my hat would often still be in the shot.
I had my moment in the sun (kinda) when I got beat by his quad kings. I got a slightly patronizing gold star and I even got quoted!! Haha yeahhhh boyyyyy! http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2011-world-series-of-poker/event-58-no-limit-hold-em-championship/day1c/?tag=Max%20Cohn
Ok, I’ll cut to the chase. So, what happened? Well, I got some hands early on (AQ suited first hand for example) and won a few small ones and lost a few small one. (Starting stack was 30,000). So I’d be 29,000, 31,000, 29000, 27000, 29000, etc…for a while.
I dwindled a little from there to maybe 25,000. Then I lost a good 5+ to Brad Garrett’s quad kings (and thankfully that is all I lost in that hand). So then I was down to 19000 or something. 17000, 18000, 17000, 19000, 18000, 17000, 16000, etc.. Then I knocked out a smaller stack w/ KK to get me back to 22000-ish…phew….
And then more of the same w/ 21000, 20000, 17000, 15000, 19000, 18000, 17000, etc.. Mostly losing chips to calling some reasonable raises w/ decent hands and then not hitting (and not playing back at the other guy either), and me gaining chips w/ pre-flop re-raises to the bullies when I did have hands.
The beginning of the end came in the last blind round (10.5 hours of poker at this point) when the blinds were 200/400 w/ 50 ante. I had about 17000. 4 people called and it was to me on the small blind I had AK off suit. I raised to 1650. The big blind dentist was small stack w/ about 9000 or less. He pushed all in. Everyone folded and I called and he had JJ which held up. So then I was down to 6500 or less.
Couple hands later, I was one before the button. Everyone folded, I had pocket 2’s. W/ only the button, sb, and bb ahead of me, I pushed in hopes of grabbing the 1000 out there or winning a race. The big blind had pocket 10’s. I was out; ejected; adios amigo; don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out, don’t forget to write J
Ya know something? It was the least upset I’ve ever been losing a tournament. I shook the hands of the dentist from Sacramento to my left, the pro gambler from Vermont two to my right and to the Ray Romano sidekick (Brad Garrett) to my right and genuinely thanked them all for a wonderful experience.
I then went and got a $13 glass of cabernet (Vegas baby), had a few moments of reflection and hit the sack.
I extend my most sincere gratitude to everyone who helped me on my journey with support, encouragement and enthusiasm. This experience would have been meaningless without all of you.
I don’t care what the official WSOP report says;
I am the 2011 WSOP Main Event Champion.
