No rhyme or reason to this one. These are just ten televised poker hands I find quite interesting for one reason or another. I’ll write a bit about each.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fasssBgF0kw
Doyle Brunson Makes a Big Fold Against Chip Reese – 2006 WSOP 50K HORSE Final Table
This blew my mind at the time, and still kinda does actually. Stacks are unknown, but both had to be fairly deep (I think Chip was a big chip leader) for this to play out like it did. Obviously they are playing No Limit Hold’em here.
Both are in mid position. Doyle Brunson makes it $70,000 to go, which is 3.5x the big blind (huge by today’s standards) with two queens. Chip Reese smooth calls with Kings, tricky, tricky. Norman Chad here makes a comment that Doyle should know Chip has Kings here, albeit sarcastically. David Singer as the button also calls with two sixes.
Flop comes 2-3-7 rainbow. Doyle makes it $220,000 (about a pot sized bet, again big by today’s standards, but this was the norm of the old guard). Chip min-raises to $440,000. Singer folds. Facing about 4 to 1 (he has to call $220,000 to win $924,000) folds! Again it was insane to see this at the time. No one at the table believe Doyle had queens.
This hand to me showed how important it is to know your opponent. When you’ve been playing someone for thirty years, I guess you pick up on things like this. Still insane to see someone fold Queens in that spot though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzm_krm_njc
Johnny Chan Perfectly Reads Huck Seed – Poker After Dark
I’m not sure which Poker After Dark it is (although I assume it’s a WSOP Main Event Champions episode, seeing as all five players here have accomplished that feat).
It’s five handed and Johnny Chan raises three times the big blind in second position with AA. Joe Hachem calls from the small blind with KQ and Seed from the big blind with 66. All reasonable so far. Seed flops gin: Jacks Full of Sixes. It gets checked around, which isn’t too crazy I guess. Hachem has nothing, Seed is trying to trap Chan (in hopes that Chan has a big pair or a Jack, he did raise pre afterall) and Chan could be slowplaying his Aces, risky as that sounds (hard to connect with 6JJ board afterall).
Turn is a three and now the hand gets a little weird. Hachem checks and Seed checks again, but Chan checks a second time as well. The river is a deuce and Seed makes a pot sized bet…to which Chan (and Hachem obviously) fold instantly. How the heck did Chan check-check-fold AA correctly on this board? I have guesses (probably incorrect because what the heck do I know about the playing tendencies of Huck Seed and Johnny Chan?!) but it’s probably down to some kind of live tell Chan picked up on Seed.
I learned here too to never get too attached to your cards. Johnny Chan picks up the moneymaker, AA, and loses the bare minimum!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooQVTXZJWpo
‘Phil Hellmuth Makes a Great Call Against Hoyt Corkins – 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions
Not a lot of information here, but in the blinds Phil Hellmuth called the small blind with KT, and Hoyt Corkins made it $40,000 with QJ (not sure how big of a raise that is, my guess is that it was 5x, and he made it $40,000 more). It’s safe to assume about $112,000 is in the pot, based off of the pot size given on the river.
Flop comes 9-8-9 and Hellmuth checks in the dark. Hoyt checks back. I don’t think this check back is good particularly, which I’ll get into afterwards. The turn comes a 7 and Hellmuth bets $45,000 with his new straight draw. Corkins calls it and an 8 hits the river. Hellmuth checks and Corkins fires $60,000, making the pot $268,000 (according to the video). Hellmuth only has to be right a small percentage of the time here ($60,000 to win $268,000!), and he calls correctly. Hoyt says he thought he represented an ace the whole way. I don’t know if he would have checked the flop if that was the case, especially considering his aggressive nature overall.
There’s history here. Hellmuth lost to Corkins back at Foxwoods in 2003, complaining that Corkins was”Mr. Move All-In”. Corkins was similarly aggressive at this table as well, and I think that tipped Hellmuth off to what was going on here as well. Obviously not great analysis, but the best I can make given the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgti435OzUE
Gus Hansen calls all-in…with 10 high?! – WPT Season 1 Bad Boys of Poker (2003)
Even though poker may have passed Gus Hansen by (he’s been described as a very good player constantly taking on the great players), there is no doubt he provided a totally different strategy in regards to winning poker tournaments. Hansen’s success from 2002 through 2007 was ridiculous, with four major No Limit Hold’em Titles (three WPTs, the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event). It also led to him trying out different things, as this hand shows.
With four players left Antonio Esfandiari makes it $29,000 (blinds are $6,000-$12,000) in second position. Hansen makes it $100,000 to go in the small blind. The Magician (Esfandiari for anyone who doesn’t know) moves in for $434,000. So, Hansen has to call $334,000 to win $559,000. Not good odds at all.
The crazy thing is Gus did call, obviously putting Antonio on the small pair he had or some A-x (10-8 suited isn’t that bad against, say, A-6). Of course, he would have to be right about Antonio’s range 100% of the time to make this play acceptable, and even then it’s questionable. What if the A-x was A-8? What if it was A-J? My guess here is Hansen made the original raise to $100,000 because he though Antonio was on a steal (which is fine), but when he saw Antonio think and think and then shove, he figured it wasn’t a monster hand at that point. Add into this that Gus knows that Antonio knows that Gus in 2003 was a lunatic, and that $100,000 raise didn’t mean anything (for example, he has 10-8 here!). But the call is still pretty crazy.
Of course Gus flopped an 8 and ended up winning the whole thing. Never be afraid to try things out is what i learned here. If you think it’s right, then go with it. Either you’ll learn you are wrong or you’ll discover something other players are lacking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZapeVYeUFo
Cory Zeidman gets lucky against Jennifer Harman – 2005 WSOP Main Event
Once again we are missing a lot of information, but I assume here the blinds are 25-50, it’s Day 1 of the main event for sure. Harman makes it 200 with QQ. Zeidman calls with 98dd. Brady Davis calls as well with A6 off, but he’s irrelevant to the hand really.
It comes TJQ rainbow, which for the most part seems great for both Harman and Zeidman. Both hands are vulnerable though, but still. Harman bets 500 into about 600, and Zeidman quickly makes it 2,000. Harman looks pained as she makes the call. She probably has a clue at this point she could be up against a monster hand (or is acting, either one). The turn is the 10 of diamonds, giving Zeidman a gutshot straight flush draw to go along with this straight…but little does Zeidman know he’s up against Queens Full.
Jen checks and Zeidman bets a small $1,000 (a defensive bet if I ever saw one. He made it $2,000 to go last round!). Harman makes it $3,000 to go, prompting Zeidman to actually say “I think you might have Ace-King”. This right here tells Harman exactly what Zeidman has here (well almost, it’s either K-9 or 9-8). Remember, Zeidman showed a lot of strength on the flop too. He obviously wouldn’t be scared of AK if he had JJ or TT here.
The river is the 7 of diamonds, giving Zeidman the unlikely straight flush. Now perhaps it is impossible that Harman can check fold here, but is there really anything else Zeidman can have here? Just look at his demeanor change when that card hits. When Zeidman calls the all-in bet (after some unnecessary talk), Harman says she knew he had that hand. Honestly, I bet she did too.
It’s an interesting hand because if this was a deeper stack tournament, I think Harman can actually get away from this. It’s amazing that a player such as Zeidman, who would later win a WSOP Bracelet, exhibits so many tells regarding one hand.
Anyway, those are my random thoughts on some hands. I’ll perhaps do this again at some point.