At Bay 101, a Bad Play and a Bad Beat

Date: 2008.03.17 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

The World Poker Tour came to the Bay Area in early March, and I was fired up! First, the hosting casino — the Bay 101 in San Jose, Calif. — resides in my backyard. And second, I had just final-tabled on the WPT in Los Angeles 10 days earlier, so I was feeling at the peak of my powers. I also had the added bonus of being able to sleep in my own bed. As I drove in to play in the tournament, I received a text message from John Juanda, saying he was betting a lot of money on me to win. I felt like Juanda had made a good bet, because when I begin to catch my stride in tourneys, I usually stay in “form” for a month or two. I knew that I was in form, partly because I had a clear blueprint — in my head — of how to win. The day-one part of that blueprint is this: Make it until the end of the day by playing patiently — and by avoiding big pots.

About an hour into the tournament, I was sitting on my starting chip stack of $20,000 when the following hand came up. With the blinds at $150 to $300, five players limped in, and I called $75 more from the small blind with 9s-6c. The flop was Qc-9c-2d. All five of us checked, and the turn card was the 4c. I bet out $1,100, three players folded and then Alex (a local player and a nice guy) made it $3,600 to go. I studied for a moment, and I thought that Alex probably had a weak hand that included the Ac, which would give him a draw at an ace-high flush. Why did I think Alex was weak? He had played five out of the last seven hands and hadn’t shown any of his hole cards. I assumed that he was loose and reckless.