Hand of the Week – Phil Hellmuth
Saturday, December 6, 2008 - Phil Hellmuth
High Stakes No Limit Hold’em
OK, out of respect to those who do not want to know what’s coming on PAD (“Poker after Dark”); I will not mention what episode this hand came from, other than to say that it is a PAD high stakes cash game to be aired in 2009. Further, I will not reveal the names of the players in the episode. I will reveal that PAD cash games are now two weeks long, with a redraw (reposition of the players) after “Week one” ends. Although there is a redraw, no chips are taken off of the table, so that the second week has the potential to have some enormous pots. PAD is shown six days a week on NBC at 2:00 am, and it one of my favorite poker shows. I love PAD because of the banter, and because of the fact that they show a majority of the hands. However, if you’re into “Highlight poker,” where only the biggest and most interesting hands are shown, then you can always watch the “Directors cut” Saturday night at 1:00 am on NBC. The PAD cash game features blinds of $200 – $400, and an ante of $100 a man.
It was raised up to $1,200 to go by Player A, and called by Player B. I called $1,000 more from the small blind with 8h-7h. The flop was 6s-6d-4s, I checked, Player A checked, and Player B bet $2,200. I called, and Player A folded. I then announced, “I check” before the next card was turned up. Player B now announced, “I bet $6,400” before the last card was turned up. This was a rare sequence of events, as I have rarely seen someone check, and then have his opponent bet before the next card was even turned up! In any case, the next card was the 5d, and I now was sitting on a straight. I decided to just call the $6,400 bet, and then if the last card was innocuous, I would make a bet. The last card was the 2h (6s-6d-4s-5d-2h) and I bet out $15,000. Player B immediately said, “I’ll make it $38,400 to go.” Uh oh, I had really stepped into this time! I knew that my opponent was a great player, and that he would never raise it up on the end with a mere three in his hand (with a six high straight), or with only trip sixes. Player B had a full house, or nothing. The one exception was that he may have raised it up with a 7-3 in his hand. I studied for a minute, and by now the other players had left the table to go and make their predictions on camera about what was happening. I knew that at least a few of them were predicting that Player B had a full house. Finally, I decided that I had to make the call, and I threw $23,400 into the pot. Player B, who was by now lying on the couch of the set of PAD was told that I had called, and he shouted, “Full house.” Then he said, “Did he really call?” As Player B walked back to the table he could see that I had called, and he said, “Good call, you win.” Whew! One player then asked Player B, “Why did you lie?” Player B said, “Well, you could have been lying when you told me that Phil called, like for example when actually Phil folds his hand, and then you say he called so that you can get a free read from me.” Good point…
The second hand came down after Player B made it a habit of raising it up when I called (limped) before the flop. I limped under the gun with A-7 off suit, as did another player, and Player B made it $2,800 to go. Amazingly two other players called, and I decided that enough was enough. I decided that it was time to make my move, reraise it, and try to pick up the $10,000 already laying in the pot uncontested. So I called the $2,400 raise, and then I raised it up $15,000 more. Player B folded, but Player D called immediately. The flop was J-4-3, and I ruffled my chips, but ultimately I checked. I put Player D on a pair like pocket threes or pocket fives and I didn’t think that I could bluff him. The turn card was a six, and now I bet $7,000. Player D called, and I prayed for a five on the end to complete my straight. Alas, the last card was a nine, and I gave up on the pot. I felt like I couldn’t bluff Player D, so I checked. Player D then said, “I’ll check because I think that you’re ready to call me down.” Of course, I wasn’t ready to call one red cent! I said, “I think you win.” Player D said, “No, I think you win.” This was music to my ears, and I flipped up A-7 to claim the $60,000 pot. All of the other players at the table stared in amazement as I dragged in this $60,000 pot with A-7 high! How could either Player D or I put in so much money without having a better hand than A-7? What did Player D have anyway? He claimed to have queen high! How could he call a $15,000 reraise with queen high? You’ll just have to watch the 2009 season of PAD!
When someone makes a big bet on the end:
1. They usually have a strong hand!
2. Trust your instincts
3. Fold most of the time
4. All of the above.
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Tags: Hand of the Week, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Strategy
December 6th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
[...] dcrabb@ymail.com wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHigh Stakes No Limit Hold’em. OK, out of respect to those who do not want to know what’s coming on PAD (“Poker after Dark”); I will not mention what episode this hand came from, other than to say that it is a PAD high stakes cash game … [...]
December 6th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
How do you feel about the UltimateBet cheaters and how UltimateBet did not notify their customer base as a whole? Your name is attached to this site Phil.
http://news.cnet.com/60-minutes-report-how-online-gamblers-unmasked-cheaters/