Saturday, December 27, 2008 - Phil Hellmuth
I have received a number of complaints recently through newspapers and Card Player magazine along the lines of “Phil, please don’t tell us the results of a ‘Poker After Dark’ episode before it airs.” Furthermore, it is now in my contract with NBC and “Poker After Dark” that I cannot reveal the results. OK, I can still talk about the lineup and a hand that I played during an episode. As many of you know, “PAD” appears on NBC six nights a week, 52 weeks per year at 2 a.m. A hit show, it gets better ratings than most other late-night programs.
“PAD” reminds me of the old days when I competed with mostly great players, many of whom have something interesting to say because they are clever, witty and sharp as a tack. And some are just plain characters! I love the fact that “PAD” shows every hand — or the vast majority of them — instead of “highlight-hand poker” that appears everywhere else. The hand that I’m going to talk about in this column occurred during a show with Clonie Gowen, Phil Laak, Gavin Smith, Mike Matusow, David Williams and me.
I was three handed with $48,000 in chips. The blinds were $600 to $1,200, and I opened for $3,600 on the button. Player A, in the small blind with around $38,000, announced, “I raise,” and threw in $10,000 or so. When the action came back to me, I began to think about my scouting report. I rarely, if ever, scout players, but the week before I happened to watch Player A on “PAD” reraise quite a bit with ace-rag hands (A-8, A-6, A-4, etc.), especially in the blinds. I also witnessed Player A move all-in with Jh-9h when the heat was still four handed.
For some reason, I remembered Player A’s tactics, and I’m referring to this prior knowledge as my “scouting report.” Knowing that Player A was capable of reraising me with a weak ace, I decided to move all-in. Player A called me immediately with A-K. I cannot reveal the rest of the hand; either I won the pot as a two-and-a-half-to-one underdog with my A-J versus Player A’s A-K or I lost the pot. But win or lose, we can talk about my tactics here.
First of all, maybe there’s a good reason that I do not scout players, and that I simply trust my instincts. If I am going to watch “PAD,” the natural scouting benefits should concern my opponent’s facial expressions, not his or her strategy moves. Back to the hand: My pre-flop raise of $3,600 was standard — three times the big blind. Player A’s $6,400 reraise was also pretty standard with A-K. You do not want to raise it up too much with A-K, like more than the size of the pot, because you risk losing someone with A-J or A-Q. To raise it up more than the size of the pot usually indicates strength, and by showing too much strength, you give opponents a chance to lay down a hand with which you want them to move all-in.
Conversely, you do want to raise it up a little and tempt someone with Q-J or a small pair to call you pre-flop. My all-in reraise of $28,000 was definitely weak. Why risk the chip lead with A-J off suit when the blinds were only $600 to $1,200? I mean, if I’m wrong (and lose), I’m the short stack. I should have waited for a better spot, like when I have A-K, or J-J, or something really strong. With the blinds this small, there was a lot of time to wait for a better spot — and plenty of poker left to be played.
But the thing that bothered me the most about my all-in move: I didn’t give myself a chance to read Player A. I should have studied Player A, and then decided what to do. If I decided that Player A was weak, and I was wrong, so be it. At least I would have felt that I did everything I could with the hand. If I somehow could read that Player A was strong (and this is what I do for a living), I could have folded my hand and been a hero. Instead, I trusted a darn scouting report. Of course, even if I got lucky and won the pot, it was still the wrong move.
At the highest levels of poker, it is all about reading your opponent. Is your opponent weak, or is he strong? If you can figure that out, then I’ll see you at a final table soon.
Tags: Hand of the Week, Hellmuth's Hold Em, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Pros, Poker Strategy, WSOP Champion
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Saturday, December 20, 2008 - Phil Hellmuth
More Hold ‘em in Madison
In a recent column, I dissected a hand that I played in the annual Christmas poker game in held in Madison, Wis. This game, held once a year, had a $1,000 buy-in pot limit Hold ‘em game with $500 rebuys. The game was held in “Big Jon” Green’s beautiful poker room overlooking Lake Ripley. After a lively game — and a relatively small $1,450 win for me — another game was held in late December. This time we had a $500 buy-in with $500 re-buys, and again we had some top Wisconsin poker players sitting at the table; Dewey Weum, “Concrete Larry” Beilfus, Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon, “Big Jon” Green, and “Timmy Boy” Belstner to name a few.
I had just won a $2,000 pot the hand before (finally!), when I looked down at the Ah-Qh and decided to raise it up the maximum before the flop. Thus, after three others called $5 apiece, I called the $5 bet and raised it up $35 more (making it $40 to go); I had to smile at the craziness of the game as seven of us took the flop. The flop was 10h-7h-4s, four players checked to me, I bet out $100, and a total of four players called the $100 bet. The next card off was the Jd, and now Brian Hetzel bet out $450. Two players folded, I called, and the remaining player folded. The last card was the 4h (10h-7h-4s-Jd-4h) Hetzel checked, and I studied for about 30 seconds before I bet out $850. Hetzel called, I showed him my ace high flush, and then he said, “Nice hand,” and I collected the hefty $3,380 pot.
Let’s take a closer look at the play of this hand. Before the flop, it is a natural and easy tactic to raise up the size of the pot as the first raiser. Of course, the fact that I had just won a big pot the hand before makes it an even easier play, as I was feeling good about risking chips at that moment: due to some extra confidence and a recent surge in the chip stack. On the flop, my $100 bet was about perfect. I definitely think that it is important to bet out here; both to build a pot, and to put myself in position to continue to draw in the hand later on. I mean my hand — an ace-high flush draw and two over-cards — was now a favorite over anyone that had a pair on the board, or even over pocket jacks. Also, by betting merely $100 on the flop, I am pricing players into the pot. I mean, with $280 in the pot my $100 bet was modest, and it did in fact lure four players into playing along with me. One more reason I like the $100 bet is that I was limiting the amount that someone could reraise me on the flop, thus I was controlling the size of the pot. Check this out; by betting $100, I could only get raised $480 more (a $100 call, plus my $100 bet, plus the $280 in the pot) vs. an $840 raise ($280 plus $280 plus $280) if I bet $280.
On the turn, Hetzel’s $450 bet — with what turned out to be a made straight (9-8) — was perfect. Should Hetzel bet more here? Many top pros would say that he should. They would tell you that Hetzel needs to protect his hand with a huge pot-sized bet that would drive all of his opponents out of the pot. But why drive someone out of the pot that has one big pair, and is thus drawing dead? Why drive someone out of the pot that has a weaker straight draw than the made straight you already have completed? Deciding on the perfect amount to bet depends on a complicated risk/reward scenario and the strength of your hand. In this case, I agree that Hetzel should make a bet of at least 30 percent the size of the pot. Keep this in mind, it is hard to complete a straight, and I like to get paid off when I do finally make it! As to my $450 call on the turn, I do not think it a hard call at all. After all, I did have a heart draw and I needed a king to complete the best possible straight.
On the end, after Hetzel checked, I felt great about my flush, and now I began to think about being a salesman: how much could I get Hetzel to call? I knew that I should wait at least 30 seconds before I bet, as an instantaneous bet oftentimes gives off a powerful scent, and I wanted a weak scent as I had a powerful hand. I thought, “If I bet the whole size of the pot or too much money, then Brian will fold his hand.” Finally, I just sort of felt like I should bet $850, which was about one-half of the size of the pot.
Pot limit Hold ‘em with my old “Homeys” in Mad-town is always a great time. Two years ago I lost $14,000 in the game; last year I won $8,000; this year I won $6,000 for my two sessions. I’ll be back, and win or lose I’m guaranteed a great time!
Choosing the right-sized bet with your hand:
A) Is a risk/reward scenario
B) depends on the strength of your hand
C) not an easy thing to master
D) all of the above
Tags: Hand of the Week, Phil Hellmuth
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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.
Tags: Hand of the Week, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Strategy
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