High Stakes Snapshot: Hero Plays A Plenty
May 11, 2010 by admin
Filed under poker news
It all started when Tom “durrrr” Dwan made an incorrect hero call with nine-high vs Daniel Negreanu.
The hand was a rare unstraddled pot where Lex Veldhuis raised to $4,000 in late position with the A♥ 9♣.
Daniel Negreanu made the call in the small blind with the K♠ T♠ and durrrr called in the big blind with 9♥ 5♥.
The flop came 3♣ 7♠ 7♥. Negreanu checked and durrrr led for $10,700.
Veldhuis insta-folded and Negreanu made the call. When the turn came K♦ both players checked.
The river came Q♦ and Negreanu bet $28,200. durrrr tanked before wrongly calling with his nine high.
Unfortunately his nine was nowhere near good and rather than looking like a genius he looked just a little bit silly.
Phil Galfond was next on the hero bandwagon making a sick fold to save himself in a hand he never should have been in.
Galfond three-bet K♥ 5♦ vs an early position raise only to get cold fourbet out of the blinds by Eli Elezra’s K♦ K♣.
For some reason Galfond makes the call and the flop comes K♠ 9♣ 9♦. Galfond calls a bet on the flop and somehow checks the turn through in position when the 9♠ falls.
The river comes Q♠ and Elezra leads for $110,000 into $154,600. Galfond manages to find a fold with his nines full of kings.
Sick? Yes! But perhaps the sickest of the night was Lex Veldhuis’ river call on Doyle Brunson.
Doyle limped the big blind on Veldhuis’ straddle with Q♠ 7♠ and Veldhuis made it $11,000 with 9♠ 2♠.
Doyle called $9k more and to see a 6♠ 2♦ 3♥ flop.
Both players checked to a J♣ where Doyle led for $20,500.
Veldhuis made the call and the river dropped 4♣.
It didn’t end there, however. Elky joined the failed hero call camp after getting in far too deep with A♦ 6♦ by calling a three-bet in position only to stack off on a 4♣ 6♠ 8♠ Q♦ board vs durrrr’s A♠ A♣.
And last but not least Phil Galfond decided he’d fold another full house.
With Galfond in the straddle Negreanu raised in early position to $8,000 with the K♠ 5♠.
Veldhuis called on the button with the 9♦ 7♦ and Galfond defended his straddle with the 8♦ 7♠.
The flop came K♥ 8♣ 3♠ and Galfond checked and called. The turn brought the 8♥ and Galfond players checked.
The river brought the K♣ and Galfond checked and eventually folded to a full pot, $75,000, bet from Daniel Negreanu, successfully dodging another cooler.
And just like that the latest season of HSP comes to an end, a fitting conclusion to an eventful season.
It had everything we love about High Stakes Poker. The best players in the world doing their best to outplay each other, millions of dollars in cold hard cash trading hands and, of course, Gabe Kaplan.
We’ll be back with our strategy snapshots next season but for now you can relive all the Season 6 action using the links below.
More Strategy Snapshots from High Stakes Poker Season 6:
Episode 12: Galfond’s Gaffe
Episode 11: Negreanu Runs Bad, Plays Worse
Episode 10: The Old Triple Straddle
Episode 9: Big Mistakes Benifet Benyamine
Episode 8: Ivey Fivebets Light
Episode 7: Negreanu Bluffs Into The Nuts
Episode 6: Good2cRaSZi Bluffing
Episode 5: Welcome to Ivey World
Episode 4: Ivey Goes Vegetarian
Episode 3: Negreanu Bailed Out by River
Episode 2: Hoivold Sent Packing
Episode 1: Hellmuth Felted
Visit PokerListings.com
High Stakes Poker Snapshot: Galfond’s Gaffe
May 5, 2010 by admin
Filed under poker news
The Setup:
With the blinds $400/$800 and a $200 ante Daniel Negreanu puts the $1,600 straddle on. It’s folded to Doyle Brunson who raises to $4,600.
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier makes the call in the small blind, Phil Galfond calls in the big and Daniel Negreanu makes the call from the straddle.
The flop comes 7♥ T♥ T♠ and the action is checked through.
The turn comes the 6♣ and Elky leads for $11,000. Galfond makes the call. Negreanu thinks for a moment before making it $41,000.
Doyle folds and Elky gets out of the way but Galfond eventually makes the call. The river comes K♠. Galfond checks and Negreanu fires $80,200.
Galfond tanks and eventually makes the call. Negreanu shows T♣ 7♠ for the flopped full house which is good for the $192,600 pot.
The Breakdown:
When it’s folded to Doyle he raises to $4,600 after looking at just the A♣. With the blinds, antes and the straddle there’s a ton of dead money in the pot. Doyle’s raising as a steal regardless of his other card.
By not looking at the second card he gives himself a sweat once he knows whether he’ll be playing a pot or not. It’s just a way to keep the game fun.
Elky makes the call in the small blind with the A♥ 3♥ because he knows Doyle is going to be raising a wide range with all of the dead money in the middle.
Galfond makes the call with the 9♦ 7♦ in the big blind. With a decent one-gap he knows he can win a big pot with the right flop.
Negreanu is next to climb aboard the calling train with his T♣ 7♠. He calls because he was the straddle and there’s a decent pot already building with two callers in front of him.
The flop comes 7♥ T♥ T♠. Elky checks and everyone else checks through.
Everyone checks to the preflop raiser and Doyle declines the c-bet into three players. The more players in the flop the more likely someone (or everyone) has a piece of it so he checks.
The turn comes the 6♣.
Once the flop is checked through Elky figures with the nut flush draw he may as well semi-bluff at the pot and bets $11,000.
Galfond makes the call with his second pair on a paired board. He realizes that since nobody took a stab on the flop theres a very real chance that his sevens are good.
Negreanu all of a sudden comes alive and makes it $41,000 with his flopped full house. He has the stone-cold nuts and raises because he knows his image isn’t great this season. Also he knows this line isn’t the most believable.
Furthermore he wants to build the pot in case someone else has a worse ten. If he just calls it will be hard to get stacks in on the river.
Doyle now realizes he has ace-deuce and folds.
Elky mucks the nut-flush draw as well. He correctly recognizes he could be drawing dead even with the nut-flush draw.
Galfond thinks and makes the call with his sevens. He thinks that because the flop was checked through Negreanu can pick up on the fact that Elky could lead any two cards and thus Galfond could call with a wider range.
Because of that Galfond thinks Negreanu could be post-flop squeezing the bettor and the caller and thus he chooses to call with his pair of sevens.
The river comes K♠ and Galfond immediately checks. Negreanu fires $80,200 with the now-second nuts.
Galfond eventually levels himself into a call based on his read on the turn. He feels the K♠ doesn’t change anything and that if he had the best hand on the turn he probably still has the best hand.
A decent thought, but the problem is that though Negreanu is definitely capable of making moves he often pulls the trigger on one street only to shut down on the next.
You saw it with the hand earlier in the season when durrrr had flopped a full house. Negreanu bluffed at the turn and gave up on the river. When Negreanu bets big again on the river and goes completely silent there’s a good chance you’re beat.
Galfond, however, didn’t get out of the way and ended up calling the $80,200, only to find out his hand is nowhere near good.
Hero calls are tricky business. When you’re right, you look like a genius. And when you’re wrong, you look like an idiot.
It’s a tough, double-edged sword and this time Galfond found himself looking like the latter.
But don’t feel too bad for him; he’s made more than his share of money online.
More Strategy Snapshots from High Stakes Poker Season 6:
Episode 11: Negreanu Runs Bad, Plays Worse
Episode 10: The Old Triple Straddle
Episode 9: Big Mistakes Benifet Benyamine
Episode 8: Ivey Fivebets Light
Episode 7: Negreanu Bluffs Into The Nuts
Episode 6: Good2cRaSZi Bluffing
Episode 5: Welcome to Ivey World
Episode 4: Ivey Goes Vegetarian
Episode 3: Negreanu Bailed Out by River
Episode 2: Hoivold Sent Packing
Episode 1: Hellmuth Felted
Visit PokerListings.com
High Stakes Snapshot: Negreanu Runs Bad, Plays Worse
April 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under poker news
Hand 1:
Matusow limps upfront with K♣ K♦ and Negreanu limps in from middle position with 8♣ 9♣. Eli Elezra makes it $5,000 with the A♣ 7♥ and it’s folded to Matusow who once again flat-calls.
Negreanu calls as well and they take a flop three-handed of K♠ 9♥ 9♦.
Matusow and Negreanu both check to Elezra who fires $8,000. Matusow flats with his nut full house and Negreanu makes it $28,800.
Elezra instantly mucks and Matusow thinks before making it $68,800.
Negreanu hems and haws before moving all-in for $151,300. Matusow snap-insta-beats Negreanu into the pot with a call.
They choose to run it twice and naturally Negreanu bricks the one-outer both times.
The only explanation I can think of for this atrocious flop play is that Negreanu just really didn’t want his $150,000 dollars.
Matusow (the tightest player in the game by a mile who limped UTG) check -alls a c-bet only to back-re-raise when Negreanu check-raises.
Is this ever not the nuts?
What does Negreanu hope to accomplish by moving in? Not only is it impossible for Matusow to have a worse nine, it’s impossible for him to have any nine in this situation given how tightly he’s been playing.
Yet Negreanu moves all-in.
Since Matusow never has a nine there are only two outcomes: either Matusow folds his bluff or he receives a belated Christmas gift of $150,000.
Either way it’s an awful play. It’s not like Matusow is going to felt AK here, so what does Negreanu expect to get value from?
Mistake number one costs Negreanu a $329,200 pot.
Hand #2
With the straddle on, Matusow once again limps up front with a big hand – this time the A♣ Q♣.
Benyamine, Elky and Galfond all call with trash hands and Negreanu makes it $16,000 in the small blind with T♥ T♣.
Matusow limp re-raises to $45,000 and everyone gets out of the way except for Negreanu who makes the call with his two tens, $200k effective deep.
The flop comes 6♥ 4♣ 7♣. Negreanu checks and Matusow shoves all-in for $199,100 into the ~$100,000 pot.
Negreanu thinks before eventually calling with his two tens.
Matusow is a very slight favorite with his overcards and a flush draw and when they run it twice Matusow manages to win both and the enitre $496,800 pot.
Again, obvious bad luck for Negreanu losing both in a coin flip.
However, he didn’t play the hand well by any means. Sure, once the cards are turned over, it looks like a decent enough call but that’s results-oriented thinking.
Negreanu was lucky enough to run into the very bottom of Matusow’s range. Matusow limped UTG then re-raised a massive $16,000 raise from the small blind.
Given how tight he’s been playing a limp re-raise screams strength but Negreanu calls 10% of his stack pre-flop out of position anyway.
Negreanu has already put himself into a tough spot. He’s going to be left guessing on every flop and, out of position, he’s seldom going to be making the right decisions.
But he calls pre then checks and Matusow shoves for 2x pot on the flop.
Negreanu makes the call – and believes it’s a good call – because he has so much invested and it’s a coinflip. But in reality it’s a terrible call vs. Matusow’s range.
Against Matusow’s very hand it’s correct, but against his entire range it’s terrible. Negreanu was very lucky to run smack into the bottom of Matusow’s range and even the bottom of Matusow’s range is a favorite. So the call is actually negative g-bucks.
Negreanu used up all his luck just not to be up against aces, so when both boards bring Matusow flushes it should come as no surprise.
It’s a good thing Negreanu’s won $12 million in tournaments because he’s lost – and continues to lose – a boatload on High Stakes Poker.
More Strategy Snapshots from High Stakes Poker Season 6:
Episode 10: The Old Triple Straddle
Episode 9: Big Mistakes Benifet Benyamine
Episode 8: Ivey Fivebets Light
Episode 7: Negreanu Bluffs Into The Nuts
Episode 6: Good2cRaSZi Bluffing
Episode 5: Welcome to Ivey World
Episode 4: Ivey Goes Vegetarian
Episode 3: Negreanu Bailed Out by River
Episode 2: Hoivold Sent Packing
Episode 1: Hellmuth Felted
Visit PokerListings.com
Poker2Nite S2 Episode 7 Part 2 – Poker Channel Europe
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Poker2Nite S2 Episode 7 Part 2
Poker Channel Europe Join the Poker2Nite team for the latest news from across the World of poker, the hit new show broadcasting on FSN in the US hosted by Scott Huff, Joe Sebok, … Kevin Pollak, Samm Levine Join Poker2NitePoker News Daily |
Poker2Nite S2 Episode 7 Part 2 – Poker Channel Europe
|
Poker2Nite S2 Episode 7 Part 2
Poker Channel Europe Join the Poker2Nite team for the latest news from across the World of poker, the hit new show broadcasting on FSN in the US hosted by Scott Huff, Joe Sebok, … Kevin Pollak, Samm Levine Join Poker2NitePoker News Daily |
High Stakes Snapshot: The Old Triple Straddle
April 20, 2010 by admin
Filed under poker news
The hand in question starts off with David Benyamine posting his $400 small blind. Next is Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who posts his $800 big blind.
Then Daniel Negreanu puts on the $1,600 straddle. Eli Elezra posts the $3,200 straddle and, last but not least, Tom Dwan re-re-re-straddles to $6,400.
When you add in the $200 antes it adds up to $13,800 in the pot before the cards are even dealt.
Doyle Brunson, the first non-blind, looks down and sees A♥ Q♥. With the $6,400 straddle on, Doyle effectively has 24 big blinds.
With a solid hand and 24bb he chooses to just make the unexploitable play of moving all-in. Doyle would be more than happy win the blinds, antes, and straddles, but his hand is good enough that it has decent equity if called by anything but aces.
By moving all-in Doyle is guaranteed to see all five cards and can’t be forced to fold like he may have been had he made a smaller raise.
When Doyle moves in, he and the entire table burst out laughing, except for Mike Matusow. Matusow, directly on Doyle’s left, wakes up with K♠ K♣ and announces that he’s all-in too.
Doyle immediately stops laughing and let’s a hilarious “Oh no” slip.
The biggest nit at the table, who’s folded all but one hand, wakes up to kings when there’s three straddles and a $150,000 shove in front of him. Easy game.
Doyle realizes that once Matusow shoves he probably has AA or KK or sometimes QQ and that his A♥ Q♥ is in rough shape.
Each of the remaining blinds does his best to try and squeeze out AA to no avail.
When the dust clears Doyle and Matusow agree to run the whole board twice.
The first board’s flop comes out 3♣ 3♥ J♣. The turn brings the 8♥ and a backdoor flush draw for Doyle.
The river binks the 6♥ and the Grandfather of Poker sucks out with the backdoor flush to guarantee himself half the pot.
The second board’s flop comes K♦ J♦ 4♠ and this time Matusow has to dodge the gutshot.
The turn comes A♣ and the river bricks off the A♦ and Matusow somehow dodges and wins the second half.
After all that excitement the two end up splitting the $319,000 pot – a fairly anti-climactic ending to a pretty interesting situation.
If you haven’t seen the episode it’s worth it just to hear Doyle’s “Oh no” when Matusow moves in. It’s the best thing since his Ivey impression.
More Strategy Snapshots from High Stakes Poker Season 6:
Episode 9: Big Mistakes Benifet Benyamine
Episode 8: Ivey Fivebets Light
Episode 7: Negreanu Bluffs Into The Nuts
Episode 6: Good2cRaSZi Bluffing
Episode 5: Welcome to Ivey World
Episode 4: Ivey Goes Vegetarian
Episode 3: Negreanu Bailed Out by River
Episode 2: Hoivold Sent Packing
Episode 1: Hellmuth Felted
Visit PokerListings.com
Poker2Nite S2 Episode 6 Part 2 – Poker Channel Europe
|
Poker2Nite S2 Episode 6 Part 2
Poker Channel Europe Join the Poker2Nite team for the latest news from across the World of poker, the hit new show broadcasting on FSN in the US hosted by Scott Huff, Joe Sebok, … |
Poker2Nite S2 Episode 6 Part 2 – Poker Channel Europe
|
Poker2Nite S2 Episode 6 Part 2
Poker Channel Europe Join the Poker2Nite team for the latest news from across the World of poker, the hit new show broadcasting on FSN in the US hosted by Scott Huff, Joe Sebok, … |
High Stakes Poker Snapshot: Ivey Fivebets Light
April 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under poker news
The Set-up
At the time of the hand the game was playing six-handed with the blinds $400/$800 with a mandatory $1,600 straddle AND a $200 ante.
The hand starts out with Barry Greenstein raising to $5,500 in the cut-off.
Phil Ivey immediately makes it $18,000 on the button and the two blinds fold.
Lex Veldhuis tanks in the straddle and cold four-bets to $51,600.
Greenstein turbo folds and Ivey thinks before moving all-in for $197,200.
Veldhuis folds and Ivey picks up the $77,500 of dead money.
The Breakdown
This hand is an excellent example of short handed No-Limit Hold’em and the leveling that takes place.
There are a few factors that contribute to this being such an interesting hand. The game is short handed, there’s forced straddle, and every one of the six players are aggressive and thinking.
With the forced straddle and the $200 ante, there is $4,200 in the pot before the cards are even dealt.
Dennis Phillips folds UTG and Barry Greenstein raises to $5,500 in the cut-off with the Q♣ T♦.
QT is a fine hand on it’s own to raise in the cut-off in a six-handed game, add in the dead money before the flop and it’s a no brainer.
Phil Ivey, directly on Greenstein’s left, immediately three-bets to $18,000 on the button with the 5♠ 2♦.
Ivey three-bets on the button as a bluff. He knows that with so much dead money in the pot Greenstein is going to be raising a much wider range than normal.
Ivey treats Greenstein’s raise as even more dead money and attempts to steal all of the dead money with a re-raise.
Now the 5♠ 2♦ probably isn’t the best hand to use as a three-bet bluff. Generally you want to have a hand that at least has some equity if called.
52o has basically none, but the fact that Ivey’s in position and playing three-bet pots out of position is so difficult and because the situation is so, so good Ivey can basically three-bet 100% of his range in this spot profitably.
The two blinds fold and Lex Veldhuis tanks and eventually cold fourbets to $51,600 with the K♥ J♥.
Veldhuis four-bets for the same reason that Ivey three-bet. He realizes there is so much dead money before the flop and that Greenstein is going to be raising very wide, and thus Ivey’s three-betting range is wider than normal as well.
So he elects to cold four-bet with K♥ J♥ as a bluff. It has to be as a bluff because neither Greenstein nor Ivey are ever calling a cold fourbet in that spot with a worse hand.
Chances are there will never be a flop. They will either both fold or one of them will move in.
Though K♥ J♥ is a pretty hand it really doesn’t matter what Veldhuis’ cards are because the chance he plays a flop is basically zero. The only thing the K♥ J♥ is good for in this spot is card removal.
Greenstein folds and Ivey thinks before moving in.
Now we’re on that comical crappy sitcom level of thinking. The “I know that you know, that I know, that you know, that I know…..”
Ivey knows that Veldhuis knows that Greenstein was likely raising very wide pre-flop, he knows that as a result Ivey’s three-bet range is wider too, which of course makes Lex Veldhuis’ four bet range wider.
Long story short, Ivey believes that Veldhuis is light, which he is. All that’s left is to find out if Ivey has enough fold equity to make him fold.
Ivey asks how much Veldhuis has left ($140,000ish) and then shoves when he gets his answer.
Ivey feels that when he shoves $200,000ish into the $77,500 pot that Veldhuis will not be priced in to call with his bluff and will have to fold his re-re-re-steal hand.
Veldhuis does muck and Ivey’s correct on all accounts, which seems to be a running theme.
More Strategy Snapshots from High Stakes Poker Season 6:
Episode 7: Negreanu Bluffs Into The Nuts
Episode 6: Good2cRaSZi Bluffing
Episode 5: Welcome to Ivey World
Episode 4: Ivey Goes Vegetarian
Episode 3: Negreanu Bailed Out by River
Episode 2: Hoivold Sent Packing
Episode 1: Hellmuth Felted
Visit PokerListings.com
High Stakes Poker Snapshot: Negreanu Bluffs Into The Nuts
March 30, 2010 by admin
Filed under poker news
The Set-Up
Episode Seven is playing even bigger than normal High Stakes Poker with a mandatory $1,600 straddle.
In this hand it’s Tom Dwan’s straddle.
Everyone folds to Daniel Negreanu on the button who raises to $6,500. The two blinds fold and Tom Dwan re-raises his straddle to $23,600.
Negreanu makes the call and the flop comes A♦ A♥ J♥. Dwan c-bets $28,200 into the $49,800 pot.
Negreanu thinks and calls. The turn comes the K♣ and Dwan fires again, this time $56,600.
Daniel Negreanu goes into the tank before raising to $138,600. Dwan chooses to just call the $80kish raise.
The river comes T♠. Dwan checks and Negreanu checks through. Tom Dwan tables the A♠ K♦ for the nuts and Daniel Negreanu mucks J♦ 8♠ face down.
The Breakdown
When it’s folded to Negreanu on the button he raises to $6,500 attempting to pick up the blinds and antes with a somewhat weak J♦ 8♠.
Both the blinds fold and Dwan makes it $23,600 with the A♠ K♦, an obvious three-bet for value.
Because Dwan plays so aggressive and three-bets so often, people are going to end up calling with a much wider range than they would against a tight player.
That said AK is going to be a three-bet for value hand almost always vs a button raiser when there’s a straddle on. Negreanu flats the re-raise with his weak jack.
He probably feels that because he’s around 300k effective deep and in position vs Dwan’s wide re-raising range he’ll be able to out-maneuver him post flop.
Of course this thought is delusional.
The flop drops A♦ A♥ J♥ and Dwan c-bets $28,200 into the $49,800 pot.
Dwan flops trips with a king kicker and doesn’t need to start hammering away with full pot bets.
Betting half pot on the flop and the turn will put enough money in the pot to win be able to win Negreanu’s stack by showdown.
Negreanu makes the call with his two pair aces and jacks with an eight kicker. He’s thinking if Dwan doesn’t have an ace his hand is good.
The turn comes K♣ and Dwan fires a second barrel, this one $56,600 into $106,200.
With a full house Dwan opts to second barrel with the nuts rather than slow play.
When you’re an aggressive player slowpaying isn’t as necessary. You’re betting all the time anyway so people naturally won’t believe you, so there’s no reason to slow down, just keep firing and let your image work for you. People are going to think you’re bluffing anyways.
Negreanu thinks and decides to turn his jacks into a bluff and raises to $138,600.
This play doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense poker theory wise.
The raise is attempting to represent a full house or a made hand, lets for second look past the fact that Daniel Negreanu already made the near nuts twice in this episode and played both extremely passively and showed down both, and just look at what he’s trying to get Dwan to fold.
When Tom Dwan three-bets before the flop and then fires two barrels on an A♦ A♥ J♥ K♣ board his range is polarized.
He either has a monster, or he’s bluffing. There are approximately five different fullhouses he can have, none of which he’s folding with his image.
The only hands Dwan may two barrel only to fold against a raise that are better than Daniel’s jack would be something like A♠ 9♠ or another ace rag hand. But in that case Dwan would likely take a different line realizing that he will not often get three streets of value from a worse hand.
Thus Daniel’s raise in this exact spot only folds out hands he’s already ahead of. It’s another example of “I don’t want you to outplay me so I’m going to try and end the hand right now and oh yeah, I don’t really want to think about ranges at all so I raise.”
So Negreanu raises as a bluff and Dwan elects to just flat call with the nuts. He knows that either Negreanu is bluffing or he has a monster.
The river comes T♠ and Dwan checks.
Dwan realizes that should Negreanu actually have that (smaller) monster he’s going to be shoving the river regardless when checked to and as a bonus if he is bluffing he’s giving Negreanu one last chance on the river.
Negreanu wisely decides not to pull the trigger and checks through. His jacks are obviously no good vs Dwan’s aces full of kings.
Hands like these show you why Dwan’s relentlessly aggressive style is profitable. He coerces his opponents into making terrible errors that they probably wouldn’t make against other opponents.
And Daniel Negreanu continues his poor showing on High Stakes Poker. He has to be the biggest loser dollar-wise that the show has ever seen.
More Strategy Snapshots from High Stakes Poker Season 6:
Episode 6: Good2cRaSZi Bluffing
Episode 5: Welcome to Ivey World
Episode 4: Ivey Goes Vegetarian
Episode 3: Negreanu Bailed Out by River
Episode 2: Hoivold Sent Packing
Episode 1: Hellmuth Felted
High Stakes Poker Season 6 Set To Kick Off
Visit PokerListings.com
