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Surprise winner Sullivan: "I don't think you understand what a testicular battle this is."
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"How I Beat Ben Affleck"
...And Hank Azaria, and Paul Rudd, and Peter Facinelli, to win the first Celebrity Poker Showdown
By Nicole Sullivan
As told to Leslie Gornstein
King of Queens star Nicole Sullivan did more than raise eyebrows when she won January's Celebrity Poker Showdown on the Bravo network. She flummoxed an audience of die-hard players who had expected her to be the first to fold against super-competitive opponents like Ben Affleck.
For her efforts at Texas Hold 'Em, Sullivan won $100,000 for an animal welfare charity. In an exclusive interview with CGTV.com, Sullivan dishes, in her own words, on exactly how she did it.
"I don't consider myself a great poker player. I do have a regular Thursday poker game with my writer friend, Betsy Thomas. I've been doing that for a year and a half, but it's what real players would call girly poker--games like Anaconda and 99. I had only played tournament-style twice--my ex-boyfriend convinced me I should try it before doing the show--and I had only played Texas Hold 'Em about twice. The show's poker pro, Phil Gordon, had sent us all a book for us to read about three weeks before the taping started. I'm so glad I read it.
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• "After the flop card is dealt and you're about to call, stop and think about the maximum amount of money you would be willing to put in if someone raised you. Then just bet that whole amount. In other words, don't, say, put in $500, wait for someone to raise you that amount and then put in another $500. Just bet the $1,000. By betting higher right away, you may knock out a player by scaring him off."
• "The 'turn' card is statistically the least valuable card on the table. If someone acts all excited and bets big after a mediocre turn card is dealt, that player is usually bluffing."
• "If you have a good hand, use the raise-check-raise method. Raise after the flop and wait for the turn card to come up. Check, as if it didn't help you at all. Then confuse your opponent by raising his bet."
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When I first got to the poker room, Phil tried to give us some last-minute hints and was throwing some hands with us. Well, I happened to be really hungry and wanted a sandwich. So I wasn't really paying attention; while he was showing us what to do, I was literally saying, "Uh huh, can I get American cheese on that? And no mayonnaise." So everyone thought I was an idiot. It wasn't strategy. I just really wanted a sandwich. Phil told me later that he and the host polled the room to see who would be out first. Eighty percent said me.
I played the first round with Michael Ian Black (Spy TV), Mo Gaffney (That 70s Show), Peter Facinelli (Fastlane) and Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), who is a good friend and had asked to sit at my table. I got horrible cards. We played 73 hands, and I had one pair the entire time. I got down to $300 from $10,000 in funny money. At that point I was just tired; if you're not getting good hands, you're just bored. I thought, "I want to get out of the game and drink with Phil and hang out backstage."
So I went all in on a hand, trying to get out--and I pulled a flush. I won totally by accident. Now, Hank had gone all in, and let me tell you, he was really upset. He'll admit it. I don't think you understand what a testicular battle this is. The boys take it so seriously, but that doesn't mean they're better. It just means they're babies. For Ben Affleck it just means he's rich and has a lot of money and can bet a lot!
The game got down to three people. I started to watch everyone's tells. When you keep having to fold, that's really good. You can learn people's tells, and I started using that.
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