New poker session, some new faces, and 3 of the same faces I’m happy to see again: Ivey, Dwan and Negreanu. Now these guys know how to play Texas Hold’em! I find it interesting that Antonius, Dwan, and Ivey each bought in with $500k, as opposed to the $200k everyone else bought in for (Negreanu bought in for the $346k that he had remaining from previous session). I wonder if Dwan, Ivey, and Antonius feel more comfortable with bigger stacks, or if others feel less comfortable with smaller stacks against them.
I’m excited to see Dennis Phillips at the table – he’s living every poker player’s dream: win $4.5 million at the WSOP and have enough money to sit down and play in a cash game with the big boys. Incidentally, if a “regular guy” like Phillips can hold his own against the best players in the world, it goes one step further towards my theory that bankroll, not skill, is the biggest difference between the known good players and the rest of us (although skill plays a part too – duh!).
To the action: a simply fascinating AA vs. KK hand featuring Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius. The flop, turn, and river all mattered so much. I wonder how the hand would’ve played out if Barry Greenstein had stayed in (he would’ve flopped the straight). Anyhow, clearly, Ivey got really lucky in the end to hit the straight. Had he and Patrik gotten their money in preflop, Ivey’s luck would’ve netted him a cool half million dollars! (I guess the thought of potentially losing half a million dollars is why they DIDN’T get their money in preflop….finally, an amount that possibly makes these guys hesitate).
In the post-hand interview with Kara Scott, I found it very cool that Ivey told her his thought process on why he checked flop and turn…he KNEW he wasn’t leading (i.e., that Patrik probably had Aces or flopped something better than his KK) – an amazing read. Guess that’s what makes him Phil Ivey…
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The first hand we see Dennis Phillips get involved in is against Tom Dwan (disclaimer – I just don’t like the guy that much, so I’m gonna sound a little biased against him). Dwan got lucky on the river hitting a 2nd pair versus Phillips’ top pair with an ace kicker. Admittedly, Phillips should probably have bet the turn, to turn up the pressure, but instead he let Dwan have the free card… Then again, you never know what Dwan would have done if Phillips bet the turn… G-d I hate Tom Dwan; he always seems to get lucky at the right time…Ugh!
Later on in the episode, I like Dennis Phillips’ raise to $3,500 preflop with 2-3 of hearts. By doing this (and showing his bluff) he shows the rest of the table that he’s capable of mixing it up with a wide range – that type of loose play, if done correctly, can make him lots of money in the long term. On the other hand, I’m not sure it was such a good idea for him to show his hand… The best players in the world are sitting around the table; if it were me, I don’t know how easily I’d want to pass on any additional info they’d use against me…
Okay, back to “God Damn” Tom Dwan!
In the hand he played in against Lex Veldhuis and Negreanu he goes and hits a 2nd pair on the river AGAIN! Master of the suckout! How does he keep making so much money with play so loose? A guy’s luck can only take him so far… The poker statistics are bound to catch up with him! I hope he gets stung big time! It seems like Negreanu was disgusted with him too – like he knew Dwan got lucky with a 2nd pair, but once again fell victim to “calling anyway” despite a good read. Oh Daniel! When will you learn?!
Another bolt of Dwan lightning luck hits versus Dennis Phillips – durrr goes and hits a runner runner gutshot straight – UGH!!!! Again, Phillips probably shouldn’t have let him see a free card, but you never know what Dwan would do if he bet (got to give him credit for a sick table image!) But how the hell did he get Phillips to call $30k? Ugh! Like Gabe Kaplan said, he gets people to 2nd guess simple decisions….and it was simply a horrible call by Dennis.
Let’s switch over to Patrik Antonius for a minute. Cool to see him get lucky, flopping 3 queens on a hand he almost threw away. Talk about your $100k swings He should give 10% of the hand’s winnings to Negreanu for pointing out he was on the big blind.
The very next hand, Dwan’s at it again (you see a theme here?). Not only did Dwan suck out (AGAIN!) and hit the gutshot straight, but Negreanu was even suspicious of this and unfortunately his hand improved on the river. Like a double dose of luck – maybe it was Tom’s birthday or something?
Last hand of note to me – very cool to see Daniel Negreanu hit the King high straight flush! Wow! Didn’t get paid off…oh well… I once made $16 for hitting a royal flush….life can be a bummer sometimes…
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