My Holiday Poker Game in Madison
My Holiday Poker Game is an annual tradition in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. This year it was a $1,000 buy-in $5-$5 blind Pot Limit Hold'em event. The game got started around 4:00 PM. By 2:00 AM, over $50,000 was on the table.
With stacks so deep, you can play forty percent of the hands dealt and still make money. Playing that many hands, though, requires the right mix of guts, heart, bluffing skills, and the ability to play fast and slow.
Late in the game, I played this hand with the UltimateBet.com pro known as Poker Ho.
With the live $10 blind on, Poker Ho and Jon Green limped into the pot. I called with Js-6s on the button.
The flop came J-5-2 rainbow. Ho bet $50, Green called, and I decided to pot it - bet the size of the pot. The players in the blinds folded and Ho fired $520 into the pot, a $310 reraise. Green folded and I called Ho's reraise.
The turn card was an eight. Ho bet the pot and I quickly laid down my hand. Good thing, too. Ho told me later that he had flopped a set of fives.
Let's review the hand.
I love Ho's $50 bet into a $60 pot with three fives. His other option was to slow play his super-powerful hand and bet $20, or even check on the flop, but then he probably would have given up any chance to win a huge pot.
Checking on the flop would have been the worst option for Ho as it would have denied any of the three players in the blinds the chance to check-raise the pot, potentially costing Ho a lot of action.
If one of the blinds had attempted a check-raise with, say, J-2, J-5, 5-2, or K-J, and it then checked around, any player in the blinds might fear that his hand was no longer good, and would be less willing to put more money in on the turn. Also, a six, four, three, or an ace would limit Ho's action as he'd have to fear that an opponent had made a straight.
Ho's other reasonable option was to make a smaller bet on the flop. On the plus side, a $20 bet would have given an opponent in the blinds the chance to check-raise, or lure in another player with a pair of deuces or an ace-high hand. But a small bet also might have attracted a call from a player with an inside straight draw (6-4, 6-3, A-4, or A-3) who would be staring at a huge payday if they completed their straight.
Bottom line: I like the $50 bet more than the $20 bet. Checking would have been a bad play.
My $260 bet on the flop was reasonable. I made the pot-sized raise because I thought I probably had the best hand at the time and wanted to determine exactly where I stood in the hand.
I really love Ho's $310 reraise, especially because he did it at lightning speed - it left me a bit confused.
I hate my $310 call. I raised on the flop to see where I stood and Ho's reraise told me that I was beat -- but I called anyway! Nice playing, Phil.
I don't like Ho's pot-sized bet on the turn. Why let me out of the hand when he was so powerful?
I know why he made the pot-sized bet, though. He was making sure I didn't call with 4-3 which would have busted him with a lucky ace or six on the river. His big bet gave me the easy opportunity to get away from my marginal hand.
With stacks so deep, you can play forty percent of the hands dealt and still make money. Playing that many hands, though, requires the right mix of guts, heart, bluffing skills, and the ability to play fast and slow.
Late in the game, I played this hand with the UltimateBet.com pro known as Poker Ho.
With the live $10 blind on, Poker Ho and Jon Green limped into the pot. I called with Js-6s on the button.
The flop came J-5-2 rainbow. Ho bet $50, Green called, and I decided to pot it - bet the size of the pot. The players in the blinds folded and Ho fired $520 into the pot, a $310 reraise. Green folded and I called Ho's reraise.
The turn card was an eight. Ho bet the pot and I quickly laid down my hand. Good thing, too. Ho told me later that he had flopped a set of fives.
Let's review the hand.
I love Ho's $50 bet into a $60 pot with three fives. His other option was to slow play his super-powerful hand and bet $20, or even check on the flop, but then he probably would have given up any chance to win a huge pot.
Checking on the flop would have been the worst option for Ho as it would have denied any of the three players in the blinds the chance to check-raise the pot, potentially costing Ho a lot of action.
If one of the blinds had attempted a check-raise with, say, J-2, J-5, 5-2, or K-J, and it then checked around, any player in the blinds might fear that his hand was no longer good, and would be less willing to put more money in on the turn. Also, a six, four, three, or an ace would limit Ho's action as he'd have to fear that an opponent had made a straight.
Ho's other reasonable option was to make a smaller bet on the flop. On the plus side, a $20 bet would have given an opponent in the blinds the chance to check-raise, or lure in another player with a pair of deuces or an ace-high hand. But a small bet also might have attracted a call from a player with an inside straight draw (6-4, 6-3, A-4, or A-3) who would be staring at a huge payday if they completed their straight.
Bottom line: I like the $50 bet more than the $20 bet. Checking would have been a bad play.
My $260 bet on the flop was reasonable. I made the pot-sized raise because I thought I probably had the best hand at the time and wanted to determine exactly where I stood in the hand.
I really love Ho's $310 reraise, especially because he did it at lightning speed - it left me a bit confused.
I hate my $310 call. I raised on the flop to see where I stood and Ho's reraise told me that I was beat -- but I called anyway! Nice playing, Phil.
I don't like Ho's pot-sized bet on the turn. Why let me out of the hand when he was so powerful?
I know why he made the pot-sized bet, though. He was making sure I didn't call with 4-3 which would have busted him with a lucky ace or six on the river. His big bet gave me the easy opportunity to get away from my marginal hand.
-Phil Hellmuth
Learn more about me at PhilHellmuth.comCheck out my webstore, including the new book I just published with Phil Ivey,
"Deal Me In" at PokerBrat.com
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