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7th May 2007
Welcome to Hold or Fold, the UK’s only Poker E-Letter dedicated
to helping YOU become a better player!
This week I want to share with you:
*The Biggest Pot
in High Stakes Poker History
How has your week been? Mine has been so-so, in last Sunday’s $300K
tournament I was doing well until my Full House was beaten by a
bigger Full House – Talk about a Bad Beat – it took me two glasses
of wine to get over it!
Having said that – I was reading Gus Hansen’s Blog where he shares
some of his big Bad Beats and at least mine only cost me $26 !!
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The Great Dane –v- The Cheeky Canadian
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Not co-incidentally, this week’s hand features Gus “The Great Dane”
in the Biggest Pot in High Stakes Poker History – he is renown for
his ability to play, literally, any two cards.
Here is how it unfolded…
Gus is Under the Gun (first to act) and picks up Pocket 5’s.
There is $1700 after the blinds and he raises the pot by $2100 so
it now stands at $3800.
Daniel Negreanu, a Canadian with a great sense of humour and lots
of table-chat, picks up Pocket 6’s.
Daniel raises by $5000 to make the Pot now stand at $8800.
Barry Greenstein folds, as does Doyle Brunson and Eli Elezra and
action moves to Antonio Esfandiari who sits there with AQ offsuit.
He decides that as he’s sitting in the Big Blind, he would be ‘out
of position’ to Gus and Daniel, having to act first after the flop,
so, in response to a raise and a re-raise, he folds the AQ !
(very tight play!)
Gus calls Daniel’s raise and the pot now stands at $11700.
The Flop comes down as 9C, 6D and 5H – giving both Daniel and Gus
a set!
The commentators, Gabe Caplan and A.J. Benza exclaim:
“Wow – Gus has Trip 5’s and Daniel has Trip 6’s – Gus is going
to lose a lot of money on this hand !”
Gus decides to slow-play, i.e. pretend he has a weak hand, and checks
the flop – and Daniel puts in $8000.
The commentators say: “Gus is going to raise now – he
doesn’t want Daniel to catch a straight so it’s the right thing
to do”
Gus raises to $26000. Daniel grabs a pile of notes and just calls
the bet.
“Gus is convinced he has the best hand right now”
The Turn comes down as 5S - ANOTHER 5 !!
HUGE cries from the commentary box:
“WOwwwwwW – Gus has made QUADS and Daniel has 6’s full !!! –
Unbelievable – THIS is TROUBLE !”
Gus looks as cool as a cucumber and bets $24000.
“I think Daniel is putting Gus on Trip 5’s and he’s wondering
how to extract the most money out of Gus”
Daniel calls the bet so the Pot now stands at a whopping $111,700.
The River comes down with the 8S and the action is back at Gus.
Gus checks (!) – This was the key moment….
Now the commentators are cooing: “And Gus checks his Quads
– great play by Gus. The main thing is that Daniel thinks he has
the best hand and there’s no reason for him to feel that he doesn’t
have the best hand”
Daniel grabs his huge wads of Dollars, adds a few chips and raises
$65,000 and the pot is now $176,700.
Gus quietly announces: “I’m all in” –
Daniel’s immediate reaction is: “Huh???” –
“I’m all in” says Gus calmly.
The pot is now $408,700 – Gus has put in another $232,000.
Daniel gasps and stands up – “How much more is it??”
He’s in shock and wants to know where he stands.
And the commentators exclaim:
“The pot now stands at $408,700 and even if Daniel doesn’t call
– this will stand as the biggest pot in High Stakes Poker History
- Daniel knows that Gus is a loose player but I don’t think
he’s loose enough to make this kind of bet on a bluff”
Gus very coolly counts his chips out and announces that he has $167,000
left
(after taking out Daniels $65K bet)
Daniel counts his chips out and obviously replays the hand in his
mind –
He says: “If I lose this pot, it’s a cooler – I can’t feel too
bad”
He considers that the only hands that can beat him are Pocket 9’s,
Pocket 5’s or Pocket 8’s – The odds are tremendously in his favour
and he decides to call.
The pot is an incredible $575,700 !! – The Biggest Pot Ever in High
Stakes Poker History !!
Gus shows his Quads and Daniel shudders and says “That is so
sick”
Gus says “I wasn’t too happy on the flop but the Turn was good”
Daniel says “I was worried a little bit but I wasn’t exactly
going to throw it away”
You can see this hand for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k8mdvx0RWM
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Post Mortem
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In a later interview Daniel mulls over the hand…
“When Gus check-raised me on the River - I was shocked, I couldn’t
believe it - Gus decides to check-raise me all-in – It didn’t make
any sense whatsoever. If he had Quad 5’s or Pocket 9’s, it would
only make sense that he would bet the River.”
“I asked Gus about the hand later and he said that he thought “well
– you would be more likely to bet the River than to call a bet on
the River” – He was wrong, but as it worked out, he got the wrong
read, but the right result and he busted me for over $300K – That
was tough !”
If you want to read more about the incredible Great Dane, Gus Hansen
– his website is: http://www.gushansenpoker.com
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All the very best
Meg Arana
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