Lessons with Jeff Shulman - Part 2

Lessons with Jeff Shulman - Part 2

Last week I wrote that Jeff Shulman had asked me to coach him in preparation for the World Series of Poker November Nine final table.

To recap:I advised Jeff to play super-tight poker at the beginning of the final table, come in before the flop by raising about five times the big blind, and play low-risk poker because with $20 million in chips and blinds at $125,000/$250,000, there was ample time for him to sit back and let other players bust out of the tournament.

I built an advisory team comprised of Diego Cordovez, a WSOP bracelet winner in No Limit Hold'em, Barry Shulman, Jeff's father and winner of this year's WSOPE Main Event, Cy Young award-winning pitcher Orel Hershisher to sharpen Jeff's mental edge, and a few others to allow us to simulate final table action.

We played for dozens of hours.We reviewed every single hand that had been played by the other members of the November Nine.We watched every Main Event episode on ESPN, rewound and reviewed every bluff and every super-strong hand while looking for physical tells and discernable betting patterns.

All this so Jeff Shulman would have a great feel for his opponents once final table play began.

We set up chipstacks at a poker table in accordance with the seat order of the final players, including a picture of each player in front of his respective stack.We played countless hours of seven-handed, six-handed, five-handed, four-handed, and three-handed poker, with each of us assuming the identity of one of Jeff's competitors.

Whenever Jeff entered a pot, action paused while we dissected his tactics in detail.Was he playing tight enough?Was he moving his chips well?Were there alternative plays that better suited the particular situation?

I even pulled a new tactic out of my bag of tricks.I advised Jeff to make big pre-flop raises in order to keep the other players out of the pot with their small pairs and suited connectors.I wanted to deter other players from bluffing Jeff pre-flop.The plan was correctly based on the fact that it's next to impossible to bluff a guy like Jeff who's playing super-tight poker and raising big whenever he does enter a pot.

We wanted to keep Jeff in the game for as long as possible by winning small uncontested pots and keep him away from major catastrophes.

By the time Jeff sat down at the Main Event final table, with ESPN cameras rolling and thousands of spectators observing in the Rio's Penn and Teller Theatre, he was remarkably calm and confident.

Jeff stuck to the game plan.He pushed all-in only once in the first ten hours of play, with A-K against Joe Cada's A-J.When his hand held up, it appeared that the rest of the field was in real trouble.

Only fifty minutes later, however, Cada moved all-in with pocket threes and was called by Jeff with pocket jacks in a pot worth over $22 million.Win this one and Jeff would have $30 million at the start of four-handed play!

It didn't happen.Cada hit a miracle three on the flop and Jeff was left crippled with about $7 million chips and five players remaining.Then, Shulman lost a race with 7-7 against A-9 and was out in fifth place.

Would I have changed a single tactic regarding how I coached Jeff Shulman?No way.

If not for an unlikely three to hit on the flop for Cada, Jeff may very well have won the 2009 WSOP Main Event.Well played, Jeff!

-Phil Hellmuth