Jim O'Dell of Keyslanding Real Estate will go to the world's most prestigious poker tournament, set for June 1 through July 17 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The vent will be televised exclusively by ESPN.
O'Dell won his seat at a poker tournament held at Colusa Casino in Colusa, which holds poker tournaments each week. On the last Saturday of every month Colusa Casino qualifies someone for the World Series of Poker, O'Dell said.
Normally, the buy-in for the poker championship is $10,000, said O'Dell.
“I won my seat last month on a $225 buy in, to a no limit tournament with 119 contestants that went from noon to midnight on Jan. 27,” he explained.
O'Dell explained the action this way:
“My heads-up opponent was a tough player who had position on me for the whole final table, and he was making a habit of coming over the top on me every time I raised the blinds. I play a lot of marginal hands, especially short-handed. So, over and over again I had to throw my hand face down in the muck, and kiss my chips goodbye. He was re-raising me so frequently, I was beginning to think I had a tell he was picking up on, or something ... something like a mirror behind me maybe, I mean almost every time I made a play, he came over the top with a big raise.
“When we got down to heads up, he had me outchipped. I had been lucky enough to take out both the fourth and fifth place finishers in almost consecutive hands. I had a small chip lead for the first time since we sat down at the final table. Then he took out the third place finisher, and once again he had me outchipped by about 30 percent. We stole each others blinds for a couple of hands, and then it happened fast.
“In our first real heads up altercation he raised, I re-raised with pocket 5s, he pushed all in, and I called. He turned over A-4, and had 3 outs after the flop. I couldn't have asked for anything more, with no flush draw, no straight draw and no 4 on the board only one of the other three Aces would help him. So when no Ace hit on the turn or the river, my pocket 5s held up, and gave me the chip lead.
“Now with the chip lead, on the very next hand, I got lucky. I looked down at pocket 8s Hearts & Clubs. I raised again, and he pushed again, this time with K-Q suited. My favorite dealer paused. He burned, and he flopped, and flop came blanks. He paused again. He looked at us both. He burned, and he turned the 8 of Diamonds, and I said, 'Thank you, God!'”
O'Dell said he's very thrilled and honored to be going to the World Series of Poker. “The competition at the Colusa Casino was tough, and I was lucky,”he said.
O'Dell said he was accompanied at the Colusa Casino tournament by Jonah Wilson of Keyslanding who had his back and brought him luck.
O'Dell also had support from his wife, Laurelee Roark. “My wife called every couple of hours to remind me, 'You can do it,'” he said.
He thanked Colusa Casino, and Poker Room Manager Beau Gonzales and his crew of dealers and staff for running a tough event very professionally.
O'Dell said he plans to do his best at the poker tournament. “Of course, I'll have to get lucky,” he said.
{mos_sb_discuss:2}