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Negreanu Takes Two Decisive Pots
Last month, 24 big-name poker players were invited to the $20,000 buy-in Fox Sports Net (FSN) Tournament held at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino. We started with four tables of six players each with the final six playing “live” on FSN. The day was ideal for this tourney, since no other major sporting event was scheduled — a rarity indeed.
The 8:30 a.m. starting time. did not agree well with the players, who had just spent the month playing at noon for the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Further, we had to raise the blinds at a fast pace in order to eliminate players in time for the live part of the show. Still, no one complained — we knew what had to be done, and it was actually a fun event to play in!
All of us would have rather been playing poker that day at the Rio instead the Wynn because that would have meant participating in day five of the WSOP, the top honor in poker with a $7.5-million first prize.
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I Dominated, and Still Lost
I recently wrote about the tactic of folding a lot of hands when my opponents reraise me, and how this eventually induces them to reraise me even with bad hands. In other words, they begin to count on me to fold when they reraise, thus expecting they can bluff me out with their weak hands. This line of logic pretty much explains how I lost the following pot at the $10,000-buy-in main event of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The blinds were $250-$500, with a $50 ante, and I was in the big blind. Everyone folded around to player Z in the small blind, and he fiddled around, then called the $500 bet and raised it $700 more. I looked down at my hand, a beautiful-looking A-K. At this point I was thinking, “OK, player Z has roughly $16,500 in chips to my $34,000. Finally, I have a powerful hand in a great situation. For a long time I have been folding when players reraise me. Z will probably stick to form and reraise me if I reraise him here. How can I induce him to move all-in here? Or have I already induced this sweet situation?”
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Raymer’s Reign Ends With Pocket Kings
Greg Raymer had an amazing run in his quest to once again become the World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion. A huge field of 5,600 players had bought in initially, and with 54 players remaining, Raymer had become the chip leader. At the end of day five, with 27 players left, he was still going strong in third-chip position. Then, with 20 players remaining, a huge hand came up between Raymer and Aaron Kanter.
With the blinds at $20,000-$40,000 and an ante of $5,000 a player, Raymer opened for $100,000 to go, with Kh-Ks. Kanter called the $100,000 with Qh-Jh, and the flop came down 6d-5s-3h. Raymer bet out $150,000, and, for some reason, Kanter called the bet. At this point not much good could happen for Kanter: he was sitting only 7 percent to win the pot, and a queen or a jack on the turn could encourage him to put all of his money into the pot with only five “outs,” as an 8-to-1 underdog (39 losing cards against five winning cards).
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Australian Now the World Champion
Right now it’s 3:30 a.m. on July 16, during the 2005 World Series of Poker in Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas.
Phil Hellmuth (commenting live for CardPlayer.com and Real Networks): “With four players left in the championship, the blinds at $120,000-$240,000, and a $30,000-a-man ante, Joseph Hachem (pronounced “hash-im”) calls $240,000 on the button. Derrick “Tex” Barch calls in the small blind, and 27-year-old Aaron Kanter does what he’s been doing successfully for the last 12 hours, he raises it up $1 million more. Kanter has won a lot of money by making his opponents fold their hands before the flop. What’s this? Hachem has just announced that he’s all-in!”
(Loud-quick-rhythmic chanting from the crowd: “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy!”)
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Making the Good Fold in the Big One
Can you believe that 5,600 players entered the $10,000 buy-in main event at the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP)? And that they’re vying for $56 million in prize money and $7.5 million for first? Wow! For my part, with Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson both picking up bracelet No. 10 at the 2005 WSOP — I’m stuck on nine bracelets — I was fired up to go out and make history. If I could manage to win the main event, then I would break every record in poker.
With a three-day split start — roughly 1,900 entrants playing per day — I drew day two. Early in the day they decided to put me at the ESPN table, going so far as to tape my late arrival. Of course I wore all black, including an UltimateBet.com hat, Oakley sunglasses and a black jacket (with a PH logo) zipped all the way up. (By the way, ESPN’s WSOP coverage begins the week of July 18.)I was unbelievably lucky for a while, catching A-A against my opponent’s K-K, making four jacks with my pocket jacks and flopping trips while my opponents flopped top pair. The next thing I knew, I had $52,000 in chips, and was, in my mind, guaranteed to make it to the next day. Then potential disaster struck.
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The Race to 10 Bracelets
I was hoping to be the first player to cross the historic threshold to World Series of Poker (WSOP) win No. 10. With three of us, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson and I all knotted up at nine bracelets apiece coming into the 2005 WSOP, the race was on, and ESPN was hyping it all the way. It was about 12 days ago, then, while Brunson and I were both deep into the pot-limit Omaha tournament, that Chan won his No. 10, in the pot-limit Hold’em. Of course, ESPN interviewed the two of us to get our reaction. Brunson and I both said, “Chan is a great player and a great guy, so having him get there first is fine with us.” Brunson added, “I’ll just win this next one and tie him.”
Brunson didn’t make it to the final table in that tournament, but I did. (With a crushing eighth-place finish, though, my dreams of garnering No. 10 there fell well short.) But in the very next tournament — the no-limit Hold’em — the 71-year-old Brunson did make the final table, and went on to win his 10th bracelet. I’m very happy for Brunson and Chan, and proud of them, but I’m not crazy about losing my record! (ESPN will show both of their wins, sometime in the next few months.)
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