The first hand of this episode of High Stakes Poker was interesting. On the one hand you get a “disciplined” laydown by Daniel Negreanu, who folded QQ when an ace hit the flop. His laydown was disciplined because you can understand his reluctance to risk his last $50,000 versus four opponents, one of who, statistically, was likely to have paired the ace. On the other hand, a player as talented as Negreanu could’ve made a little more effort to try and read the opponents. As it happened, a good bet could’ve won him the pot, with Negreanu being the overwhelming favorite against all 4 opponents. I guess it’s easy to doubt his decision when it isn’t MY $50,000 at risk 🙂
Also about Negreanu, I’ve grown to like and appreciate his “Did You Know?” segment in season 6. As opposed to vignettes like “The Nuts” that we’ve seen in past seasons of High Stakes Poker just for entertainment purposes, the Did You Know segments presents some nice explanations of more advanced poker concepts. The table situations and scenarios it deals with are perfect for the REAL poker-playing viewers, not just casual fans. It’s nice to have some more complex concepts like “variance” and “running it twice” explained by a pro. This kind of information is what you typically only get from the top poker training sites.
Elezra and Negreanu
I guess we answered that question from the last blog about if players are allowed to expose a card on purpose or not. The hand between Eli Elezra and Daniel Negreanu was pure entertainment. When all was said and done, poor Daniel… despite being the big favorite, again, AND running it twice, got scooped! Negreanu REALLY is unlucky on this show… can you say REBUY?!?
Okay, time to talk about action between some other players at the table – great hand played between Dario Minieri and Tom Dwan. What I loved about it was Dwan’s sick read; seems like he had Dario pegged from the get-go. While Minieri’s audacity to bluff was pretty impressive, clearly, dipping into the “all-in” well one too many times cost him his entire stack. Maybe the play would’ve worked online? I mean, how could anyone read that you’re risking over $150,000 with just a pair of 3s??? Guess it’s pretty awesome to have the reading abilities of Tom Dwan… Arrivederci Dario…see you next season J
Nice to see that Negreanu could double up against Gus Hansen (possibly on the way to reversing his “HSP Curse”?). Admittedly, Negreanu got lucky flopping top 2 pair against Gus, but Hansen’s slowplay mistake waiting to happen…a mistake that cost him $200,000… And all of a sudden Negreanu is even after being down for the entire session. Thnings can change REALLY quickly with that much money on the table!
At this point I want to give major kudos to Antonio Esfandiari. With players getting felted left and right, and Ivey, Dwan, and Elezra clearly dominant, “the Magician” has held his own – way to go! Weeeeeee! Possibly the most underrated player at the table. Guess his strategy of playing tight can even work against the best in the business…
The last hand between Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan will probably be talked about for a long time to come. Some hands are too incredible to try and describe in words. That being said, take a look at the hand yourselves and draw your own conclusions.
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