Did I Misplay this Hand?
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
