Friday 23rd May 2008

Welcome to Hold or Fold - The UK's only Poker E-Letter dedicated to
helping YOU become a better player!

In this week's E-Letter -

       *Derren Brown teaches Granny to Play and
       *Phil Ivey licks his chops !

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Hiya there nd how have you been this week??

Basically I'm not too happy with myself...

At last Sunday's Tournament - I was doing ok and was well into the second hour when
things became very very tight and very very boring.

The v.p.i.p. (voluntary put in pot) of the whole table was about 11% so I started to take
advantage of this and became very aggressive.

Things fell into a pattern for a while, I would raise and gain some chips - then someone would play back at me and I'd lose some chips - this went on and on and I couldn't seem to make any significant headway and finally went in with a Pair of 4's to be called with two overcards which hit and I was gone - It was bad play on my part and I think I just lost concentration and lost my focus and this resulted in my being forcibly ejected from the tournament.

Since then - I have put a big sign with "PATIENCE" on the wall next to my computer and
I will not do that again !!!

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Derren Brown teaches Granny to Play

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As I was pottering around Youtube trying to find a stunning hand to share with you - I came across this fabulous 10 minutes where Derren Brown tries to teach an old lady to win a poker match - He gives her lessons on how to read people and whether they are holding high or low cards -

It is really fascinating to watch and eventually she sits down at a table with Neil Channing and
Jeff Duvall....

Sit back and watch it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQycG9U6OOQ

Now that you've seen it - don't you think it gives you a HUGE insight to body language???

Talking of which...

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Phil Ivey licks his chops !!

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The last - goodness-knows-how-many - hands I have highlighted - have all been on the telly -
so you haven't been able to see them for yourself -
Well this week's hand is on YouTube - so you can read all about it first - then watch it and see
the body language for yourself.

The hand is taken from the Aussie Millions 2006 and features one of the Masters of Poker of
all time - Phil Ivey.

One of the great things about Phil Ivey is that his body language is virtually impossible to read.
He plays the same way whether he has the Nuts or whether he's bluffing his socks off...

The Blinds are 1000/2000 with a running ante of 300 so there is 5,400 in the pot as the cards
are dealt.

An American Commentator called Barry is talking about one of the players at the table,
Kenna James: "Little known fact about Mr James is that he was in fact taking acting classes
in Hollywood, California when he stumbled upon a game of Poker - and he hasn't been back for
auditions since."

The first three players fold and action is on Gerry Fitt who picks up JS & 9S - and he calls making
the pot 7,400.
 

Next to act is Phil Ivey who picks up KS & KC -
 

Commentator 2: "One of the things you've gotta like about Phil Ivey is that he always seems
to get the max out of what he has."

Phil thinks about it for a bit and then raises to 14,000.

Commentator 2 continues: "One of his 'tricks' if you want to call it that is playing his Jack-
Three the same way he plays his Pair of Kings the same way he plays his Ace-Four - It's very
hard to put him on a hand - He'll raise with just about anything in the correct position."

The rest of the table, including Kenna James and Kathy Liebert fold around and the action moves
back to Gerry Fitt who has a decision to make.

Barry: "So it's Gerry Fitt who has to do some thinking here."

Commentator 2 continues: "And these are the two biggest stacks at our table right now,
the guys who least want to confront each other."

Gerry looks at his cards again and then announces: "I call".

Commentator 2 continues: "In a No-Limit Tournament, the big stacks like to pick on the
smaller stacks, the guys who can't hurt them - we could have a big confrontation here."

The Flop comes down: KH 9D KD
   

Both commentators burst out laughing bigtime !

Gerry checks.

Commentator 2 whispers in awe: "OHHHhhhh MYyyyy Goodnesss....! I tell you what Barry,
I think Phil Ivey should bet here."

Phil only thinks about it for a few seconds and then he taps his arm and says: "Check"

Commentator 2: "He just checks, thinking this hand is just too big here to bet but if he wants
to get any action out of Fitt..."

The Turn comes down: 5H


Gerry Fitt checks again.

Barry: "Fitt smells a rat here!"

Phil quickly reaches for chips and throws 20,000 into the pot.

Commentator 2: "Is Gerry Fitt's 9 enough to compel a 20,000 call here - with two kings on
board, it makes it less likely that Phil Ivey has a King in his hand and of course, astronimcally
unlikely that he has two- kings in his hand! Quad-Kings is the last hand that Gerry Fitt suspects
right here!"

Gerry has been thinking about it - his elbow on the table and his head in his hand, he sighs
and goes into the tank a bit - I think one of the tells here which makes him look uncomfortable
is that he strokes his cheek with his fingers as a comforting type of gesture... a sign that he's
not too happy about the situation.

He comes out of the tank, reaches for chips and says: "I raise."

Commentator 2 shouts: "He's going to raise !! OK Now - we know that Phil Ivey is licking his
chops, lets watch to see how Ivey reacts to this bet."

Gerry puts 70,000 chips in the middle.

Ivey has been in a very impassive position, one hand resting on his cards, the other hand on
his arm, his head as been down and as the dealer announce the amount of the raise, Phil looks
up and glances over at Gerry and then immediately looks down again.

Commentator 2 continues: "The raise is to 70,000 - lets see how long Ivey takes. 50,000 to
merely call - will he merely call or re-raise? And I like it that Ivey hasn't gone to his chips yet -
he took a look at his opponent..."

Ivey starts to count out his chips and then stops and adopts the same position that Gerry had
before he bet - his elbow on the table and his head in his hand... 30 seconds have passed since
Gerry raised...

He starts to riffle the chips as he thinks about the hand.

Commentator 2 continues: "...Still thinking... ostensibly... beeeeeeeeeautiful act Phil Ivey is
putting on right now."

Barry: "Yes - and your point is well taken - he would play it this way if he had a Ten-Three !"

So after 40 seconds - Phil releases the chips into the middle and calls.

There is now 173,400 in the middle.

The River comes down: 9H


Both commentators exhale in sympathy !!

Barry shouts: "OHHHH is that BRUTAL !!!"

Gerry quickly checks.

Commentator 2: "Oh my goodness - Gerry Fitt just got the worst card he could have possibly
found in the deck - he now has a Full House - Nines full of Kings. He just checked it though
because Gerry Fitt knows that if Phil Ivey had a King - that Nine fills up Phil Ivey."

Another 20 seconds go by while Phil looks at his chips and then he announces: "I'm all in."

Gerry immediately looks over at him.

Barry: "Phil Ivey says I'm All In"

Commentator 2 continues: "Gerry Fitt has more chips than Phil Ivey but that's a 160,000
chip bet - this is by far the hugest pot of the tournament and Barry, that type of bet - that
all-in there - to most players it would look like a guy who doesn't want to get called and that
sometimes can influence a players decision - when you look at a guy who doesn't want to get
called - normally you would call him - this is a tough spot for Gerry Fitt - he has a Full House,
he improved his hand on the River - how do you throw a hand like that away?? I don't think I
could honestly."

It's now been over 45 seconds since Phil's all-in and Gerry is still in the tank - he looks at his
cards again and heaves a hugh sigh !

Commentator 2 continues: "Gerry Fitt is having second thoughts"

Barry: "Yeah agonizing - trying to figure out what can he have??"

Commentator 2 continues: "It's as simple as this - if he believes Phil Ivey has a King in his
hand - he must fold."

And after one minute exactly - Gerry does exactly that - he believes Phil and throws his hand
away.

Commentator 2 is in full admiration: "He DOES and what a GREAT GREAT GREAT fold - Will
Ivey show??"

Phil takes his protective chip off his cards, looks at them again and with a small smirk on his
face - he throws them into the middle - face down !

Commentator 2 continues: "He Does NOT show and this way Phil Ivey keeps the seed of
doubt planted in his opponents mind - The guy called a big raise on the Turn, he improved
on the River and he'll never know until he watches our broadcast."

Gerry acknowledges that Phil hasn't shown and just for an instance he wipes the sweat off his
brow and gives himself a comfort pat on the head to keep his spirits up.

You can view this hand at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7nDEBkPN-E

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Post Mortem

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First of all - what on earth was Gerry Fitt doing in this hand in the first place???

He and Phil Ivey are the two big stacks at the table so they don't want to clash with each
other at this stage...

Secondly - He's out of position -

Thirdly - He's got a poxy Jack-Nine Suited - guaranteed to get him into alot of trouble....

and lastly - as Norman Chad would say - "It's Phil Ivey !!!" What does he want to clash with
him for???

And then - having got himself into this awful fix - he makes it even worse when he makes the
decision that Phil does not have a King and then changes his mind - If he thinks he's ahead at
the Flop - then he has to think he's ahead at the end - so why fold to an all-in raise??

If he was going to fold to the all-in raise - then why check-raise the Turn???

It was all wrong from start to finish and he was lucky that Phil Ivey didn't fleece him for even
more chips than he lost.

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Well I hope you have a good week - may the cards be with you and I'll see you again next Friday.

All the best

Meg Arana
Hold or Fold