Saturday, September 5, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
A few years ago I was playing in the Bicycle Club’s Legends of Poker $300 buy-in (with multiple re-buys) no limit hold’em event. Things were going along just fine and I was feeling pretty confident. I had just finished second to Daniel Negreanu in the $1,000 buy-in seven-card stud event and I was starting this day with a big stack of chips. To top it off, I really liked the lineup at my table. I knew what the players were doing. There were even a couple of traditionally wild players who I thought, with patience, I good chance of busting. With the blinds at $50-$100, I made it $300 to go with A-A in first position (I hate limping with aces in early position!). Jack Fox, who I normally think of as a semi-wild player, was really toned down and playing strong poker when he called my $300 bet. (Not that I think Jack’s semi-wild style is bad, it is just a dangerous way to play the game!) After Jack called the $300 raise, one of the truly wild players decided to just call my raise with 7-7 in the small blind. This was totally unexpected and out of character for this player! I had seen him re-raise with pairs all day long. I even planned on busting him while he was making one of these moves! When it was his turn to act, I could see he was contemplating making a re-raise, but for some reason he merely called the $300 bet pre-flop. If he had re-raised me pre-flop, I would have busted him. I felt like that what was supposed to happen! Anyway, the flop came down Q-Q-J and the Wild One checked. Now I quickly checked for two reasons. First I had a bad feeling that Jack had a queen and, second, I wanted to try to trap Jack and the Wild One. So much for the best-laid plans of mice and men! Jack checked behind me and the next card off was a 10, making Jack a full house! Now Wild One and I checked and Jack bet out $900. Wild One folded and I quickly called. I was a little concerned but I had seen Jack bluff a lot in the past few years. The last card was a 2, and I checked again and watched Jack moved all-in for about $1700. Now I said to myself, “Hmmm…what could he have? He could have a busted flush draw, and now he’s trying to bluff me. He could have just overplayed a pair of jacks like J-K or J-A. It’s Jack Fox, and maybe he just has 5d-6d or something similar and he’s just trying to outplay me.” I have seen him do some pretty crazy things! I actually thought that he might have 8d-9d or some crazy straight like that! But I set this hand up for him to bluff me by checking aces to him three times, so I better carry through on my plan and call him down.” So I called and left myself with only $700 in chips.
I played my last $700 really hard, but I couldn’t overcome losing all of those chips with the aces. Right after I called Jack, he said, “What a bad call you made against me on the end!” Well, I certainly don’t mind my call against Jack in this hand, which he played perfectly. He didn’t re-raise me before the flop or bet on the flop (if he bets the flop, then I would have probably raised him and won this pot!) I guess I need to re-examine my opinion on Jack being a semi-wild player! The question I’ve asked myself since though is, “Did I misplay this hand?” Upon further reflection, I believe that the answer is yes, I did misplay this hand. Why didn’t I just bet the flop? There was $1,000 sitting out there and Jack would have folded and maybe Wild One would have moved in on me! Perhaps I would have doubled up instead of going nearly broke! Why check the flop and let a straight card come out there for free? Why risk $2650 after the 10 came off? I think that I was also a little bit unlucky that Wild One didn’t re-raise me before the flop, but perhaps I gave something away about the strength of my hand. There are times that I play hands to trap people and sometimes it pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t. Anyway, Jack Fox went on to win the tournament, and Eric Holum finished second! It must have been a nice ride home for Jack and Eric Holum, who drove down from Reno just for this one event. With about $75,000 in winnings sitting between them in the car, right next to those first and second place trophies, I’m sure they thought the trip was worth it!
Tags: Daniel Negreanu, Eric Holum, Jack Fox, Legends of Poker, Phil Hellmuth, Play Poker, Poker Tips
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Thursday, September 3, 2009 - Bryan Devonshire
So turns out Newton or Galileo or whoever way smarter than I said, “Objects at rest stay at rest, objects in motion stay in motion,” was on to something. Today is day 43 that I’ve been away from home on this Great Ride of a motorcycle trip, and for the last seventeen of them the I’ve remained in Cornelius, NC. A bit lazy I admit. But I’ve finally rustled up the motivation to get going again, I’m headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC today, then around the Florida peninsula to Key West, back along the Gulf Coast all the way to Dallas, north to Colorado, and back to Vegas.
I’ve played a lot of poker in the last couple of weeks. I was super disappointed in my result in LA, yet looking back I really don’t see anything I should have done differently. The rest of the last week has been much the same, I feel like I’m playing really well yet running quite poorly. Last night six of us shot a video for PokerVT. Daniel Negreanu, Jon Ettinger, Jon Turner, Josh Norris, and Jason Summerville and I played a 1-2 NLHE 6max game for 2 hours while all independently filming live while talking our way through the hands. I think that it’s going to end up coming out really well. I lost about $200, only playing one big pot where I got all the money in pre with AA v. Daniel’s QQ and he played the flop way better than I flopping a queen.
Also last night I was playing 10-20 Stud8 on Ultimate Bet for a while and busted this guy with a short stack. He had $38 to start the hand, we were five handed, a 6 brought it in, he was showing an ace and completed to $10, and I was next with (K2)K. Normally a very crappy situation in stud8, cause they either have split aces, three to a low, or are on a steal due to the weak board between him and the bring-in. Anyways, since he only had $38 it wasn’t much of a decision, get it in. I do, he actually has split aces, but I play fifth street good and made kings and deuces, he never improved. That launched the most amazing rant ever against me. I had no respect, ruined the game, ruined online poker, etc, because it was obvious that he had aces. He wanted me to apologize, still not sure what for, and the “sad part” was that I “STILL THINK [I] WON”. He said it like a zillion times. I actually gave him a logical response first, saying that it wasn’t much of a decision since he only had two big bets, then I somewhat sarcastically talked about my two pair beat his one pair, but much like a crazy emotional woman logic was lost this dude, so all I could do was encourage him. Tell me more? Yeah? How so? It was amazing, honestly the best berating I have ever been given. He never did reload sadly.
Because of so much poker this week I haven’t done anything too exciting. Got home on Thursday, lazy on Friday, Lake on Saturday, poker on Sunday, played a couple hours in a worse than expected home game Monday afternoon then played online Monday night, and then Tuesday I played tennis with Court, got beat twenty-four games in a row, but had fun lol. I was about as good as possible with that record, and even made it to advantage me once. Came home, played online, slept, laundry now, and ready to go. People wonder why I don’t like playing online. It sucks the life out of you that’s why. So I’m ready to get back on the road, but since it is the WCOOP coming up and I do still do this for a living I’ll probably be stopping a bit early along the way and playing donkaments.
Less poker, more life imo. I’m off to do just that.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Tags: Daniel Negreanu, Jason Summerville, Jon Ettinger, Jon Turner, Josh Norris, Online Poker, Play Poker, Poker Poker Poker, Poker VT, Ultimate Bet, WCOOP
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Tuesday, June 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
‘Tis the nature of split-pot games that you play a big hand, a ton of chips go in the middle…and the pot is chopped and everyone takes their bets back. And while there have been five eliminations so far in the $10,000 Omaha/8 World Championship it seems like there have been a lot of all-in’s with the at-risk player wriggling off the hook at the last second. It seems like Daniel Negreanu has been on the brink just about every hand, but a chop here and scoop there have kept him in the game.
Annie Duke has done a fair bit of chopping herself, but she’s also chipped up to around 170,000 from her starting stack of 133,000. If you want to know what it looks like when the river denies you the scoop of a big pot, here you go:
Ah, if only there was a throat to throttle at hand. The players are just returning from break, the limits are rising to 20,000-40,000, so any pot Annie plays figures to put her tournament life at risk. But she’s not the shortest stack and one double-up would put her back in the thick of it. One hand, one pot, one scoop.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, omaha/8 world championship, world series of poker, WSOP
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Monday, June 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
They say you need at least a little bit of luck to win a poker tournament, and sometimes the good fortune comes not in the cards you’re dealt but in the seat you’re assigned. If you sit down, don’t recognize a soul, and find that the most of the table talk revolves around subjects such as “Boy, I hope I make to the dinner break this time!”, chances are you’ve landed an advantageous draw. If, on the other hand, you sit down and every face staring back at you is familiar from TV and magazine covers, and there’s a crowd of railbirds and photographers and camera operators pressing close and you overhear a reporter describe your new home as the “Table of DEATH”, well, maybe you’ve just had a spot of bad luck.
In events such as today’s $10,000 Omaha/8 World Championship there aren’t any “easy” tables. Some are more murderous than others, but walking around the floor I didn’t see a single table where I didn’t think, “Yipe!” Still, the table Phil Hellmuth currently sits at is sicker than most, and his seat is in an especially difficult spot. Take a look at the lineup and imagine tossing out a raise from early position:
To Phil’s right is James Van Alstyne, who’s currently 2nd in chips. To Phil’s left are, in order, John Hennigan (who I still say should’ve gotten an Oscar nomination for Lucky You), Alex Kravchenko, Barry Greenstein, and Daniel Negreanu. This is the stuff of poker nightmares. Sailors from the 17th century would’ve had an easier time rounding Cape Horn than Phil will have navigating that fearsome lineup.
It doesn’t help that Negreanu is at his antic best, playing every pot, bouncing around in his seat, chattering away non-stop, and wolfing down some vegetarian snack. Daniel does have some excuse for acting punchy–according to a recent Tweet he’s played for at least 15 hours the last seven days, including yesterday where he just missed winning his 5th bracelet (before racing over to his stack in this tournament). And he might not get to turn in early tonight, either, as he quadrupled up to nearly 80,000 just before the break. That’s a bit less than Phil, who sits with 99,000, and Annie Duke, who has 105,000 at the break.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, world series of poker, WSOP
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Saturday, February 14, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
At World Poker Tour championship in Tunica, Miss.a few years ago, 100 players were remaining (out of 540 who had bought in), when I witnessed a showdown between 2004 “Champion of the Year” Daniel Negreanu and 2003 “Champion of the Year” Chip Jett. With the blinds at $500-$1,000, the antes at $200 a man, Jett opened for $3,100 with Ah-8h, and Negreanu called with Kc-Qc. Then the deal got very interesting.
After a flop of Jd-5c-3c, Negreanu had a king-high flush draw and two overcards (cards that are higher than the ones on the board, in this case the king and queen). Jett studied the situation and counted his chips — he had $22,000 total. After a few moments, Jett moved all-in, and Negreanu replied: “I have to call you.” When the hands were flipped up, I thought, “Ugh, I hate Chip’s tactics here, what was he thinking?”
Knowing how a player typically reasons, Jett was probably thinking two things:
- Negreanu’s hand was weak enough that a $14,000 raise would get him to fold.
- Negreanu might have a “drawing hand” (cards that have the potential of becoming a strong hand, in this case a flush), but Jett’s ace-high hole cards carried more favorable odds.
What Jett didn’t fully consider is that when Negreanu bet out $8,000 (he had almost $90,000 in chips), he was sending a message: “I’m committed to playing this hand, and I’m certainly calling a $14,000 raise. So this is not a good spot to be moving all-in bluffing!”
As it turns out, of course, Negreanu was drawing, and the second part of Jett’s plan was still theoretically in play. Even though Negreanu was drawing, Jett was not the favorite to win the pot. In fact, even though his ace-high was currently the best hand, he was a 3-to-2 underdog to win the pot.
Why not just respect Negreanu’s $8,000 bet and throw your hand away, thus saving $22,000 in chips to fight on with? After all, there was only $7,000 in the pot when Daniel bet out $8,000. Is it really worth it to get involved in a pot that small with no pair and no draw?
Winning no-limit Hold’em tournaments is all about choosing the right place and the right time to put your chips into the pot. This wasn’t it.
In defense of Jett’s move, he made his play because he thought Negreanu was bluffing. Perhaps he sensed weakness in Daniel, and thought he acted accordingly. In fact, Negreanu was semi-bluffing with his flush draw — but plenty capable of betting $8,000 on a bluff in this situation. Jett simply made a bad read: He thought Negreanu was weaker than he really was.
The rest of the story is that the 7c hit on the next card, to give Negreanu his flush, and Jett was eliminated in 100th place. Negreanu went on to make the final six players, hit the World Poker Tour television coverage, and eventually finish the tour in third place.
Playing too aggressively could entail:
a) Betting big with a strong hand
b) Calling all of your chips with a strong hand
c) Moving all-in every hand
d) Betting small amounts relative to the pot size
Answer: C
Tags: Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Strategy
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - Tiffany M
I just got back from Vancouver for the B.C. Poker Champs where I had one of
the best times at a poker tournament. Lacey Jones, Maria Ho, Liz Lieu and I
were given the Penthouse Suite at the River Rock Casino and were treated
like stars during our stay! I’m used to the glitz, glamour and
pretentiousness of Vegas casinos so it was a breath of fresh air being at
the River Rock where the theme and vibe is very chill, lodgey and rustic.
My favorite part was the ceiling of the casino which looked like you’re
staring up at the midnight sky, filled with twinkling stars.
The main event was a $2700 buy-in, with over 600 players and a great
structure but somehow Liz, Lacey, Maria and I were all out on Day 1, lol. I
have to admit, even though you feel like a total loser busting out so early
I much prefer that compared to grinding it out for a few days, going deep
and THEN busting or bubbling. With the spare time on our hands we drank,
dined, threw a few parties in the penthouse, had a jam session around the
fireplace (thanks to Devo bringing his guitar) and spent lots of time
sweating Daniel Negreanu who eventually went on to win the whole event.
Lacey, Maria and I also did some fun PR stuff – signing autographs and
shooting a piece for ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ with Shaun Majumder (a
popular Canadian comedian) which will air on CBC TV in Canada Dec 2nd at
8:30pm.
Possibly the highlight of the trip was the night we went to club Caprice in
downtown Vancouver. The previous night David Williams and some of his guys
went to a club where they had a table reserved and almost couldn’t get in
because they were wearing Ed Hardy and Affliction clothes… which we came
to find out is considered gang wear in Canada! Ha Ha. They were only
admitted once they turned their shirts inside out. We had our own ‘gang’
experience at Caprice. A group of us were sitting at our VIP table and the
next this we know the freakin’ Gang Special Force Task is confiscating all
of our guy’s ID’s which is Brad Booth, Gavin Smith, Steve Sung and a few
others. At first we think they’re just checking to see if anyone is under
age, which is weird anyway because in Canada ‘19′ is considered legal and it
was obvious all our men were over age. The cops completely disappear for
like 20 minutes with the ID’s and passports while we wonder what is going
on and if they’re even coming back. When they return Brad Booth goes up to
this little officer to figure out what’s going on and is told that we had a
gang member sitting at our table, which is ridiculous. Brad assures him
that nobody in our group is a gang member and then the cop gets an attitude
and says, “I’M NOT ASKING YOU, I’M TELLING YOU!” Brad’s response, “I’m just
saying I don’t believe you.” I literally started busting up laughing… who
tells a cop who’s having a power trip, “I don’t believe you”?! Brad Booth
apparently, lol. Well the ‘gang’ member who was supposedly in our group
must not have a bad enough rap because nobody got arrested and the cops just
left. I love Canada but they’ve got some weird procedures when it relates
to gang stuff.
Hope everyone has a FINGER-LICKIN’ TASTY THANKSGIVING! My mom and brother
are chefs so I have to admit T-Day at my house is almost better than
Christmas! Until next time…
Much Love xx
Tags: BCPC, Daniel Negreanu, Tiffany "Tiffany M" Michelle
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