|
Friday 30th 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 -
*I'll show you mine if you
show me yours...
*******************************
Hiya there and how have you been this week??
It's been a funny old week for me - I didn't manage to qualify for
the Sunday Tournament
but then I went on to win a H.O.R.S.E. tournament - winning $310
for a $16 stake - so I'm
happy in one way and not in another.
*******************************************
I'll show you mine if you show me yours...
*******************************************
For this week's hand - the only thing to learn out of it really
is that it's always good to
take out insurance -
You'll see what I mean -
It's taken from the High Stakes Poker series where all the players
at the table are recognisable
as expert Poker-Players - I suggest that if you don't recognise
any of the players - then you're
not taking this game seriously - It's a bit like watching the England
Football Team line-up and if
you don't recognise any of the players - then you're not seriously
into football...
The action start where a few of the players have already folded
and it is now the infamous
Sammy Farha to act - he picks up KD & QD and although he is in a
deep conversation with
Doyle Brunson about a previous hand - he hardly draws breath and
predictably raises and
puts in $2400 into the middle.
David Benyamine folds.
Patrick Antonius picks up JH & 9H and decides that this would be
a good time to 'have a go'
and he raises it up to $16,000 -
Remember - this is real dollars not tournament dollars and the players
are not being sponsored -
they are playing with their own money.
Guy Laliberte folds - if you don't know who he is - he is the man
who owns the Cirque de Soleil
and is reputed to have a fortune and when I say fortune - I mean
he is reputed to be worth
$1.4 billion - so a few hundred-thousand dollars is not going to
worry him much...
Doyle Brunson folds.
Barry Greenstein folds and action moves back to Sammy who calls
the bet.
Gabe Kaplan commentating: "Patrick, who has been kinda
quiet has decided to make it
$16,000 with a Jack/Nine Hearts - very interesting - he's got position
on Sammy"
Sammy looks at Patrick and says: "I know you're going
to bet Patrick - I'll move in if I have
a pair or something..."
The Flop comes down: 6D 3C 9D
This gives Sammy a slight edge with 53% chance of winning this hand.
Gabe Kaplan: "Patrick flops top pair and Sammy has King-High
Flush Draw..."
Sammy checks.
Patrick bets out $20,000
Gabe: "...And we have a raise coming here !"
Sammy check-raises it up to $100,000
Gabe: "It was a very large raise and it was very fast!"
Patrick thinks about it for a moment or two...
Another moment or three or four go by and Patrick quietly announces...
"I'm all-in"
Sammy doesn't take more than two seconds to reply: "I
call!"
There is now... wait for it... $998,800 in the pot !! $1,200
short of One Million Dollars !!!!
The biggest pot in Poker History !!!
Sammy laughs and looks over at Patrick asking: "You have
a big hand - you have a set??"
Patrick replies with another question: "You have a
set???"
Sammy laughs: "No..."
Patrick is incredulous and thanking his lucky stars: "You
DON'T have a set - You're Flushing??"
Sammy is still laughing: "Noooo - you're flushing??"
Patrick is smiling and shakes his head.
Barry Greenstein chips in: "This is the biggest pot in
the history of High Stakes Poker."
Sammy is still quizzing Patrick: "You have a pair??"
Patrick: "Yes I have one..."
David Benyamine conjectures: "He has a three and a flush-draw!
Ace-Three Diamonds"
Sammy says: "No he doesn't have a Flush (draw)... What
do you have???"
Patrick coyly responds: "What do YOU have???"
Sammy replies: "Two over (cards)"
Patrick: "Ace-King Flush??"
Sammy smiles: "You tell me first, I'll tell you second."
Patrick laughs: "OK - We're going to do some business...
We going to run it twice??"
This means that Patrick is proposing that they see two Turns and
Rivers and split the pot
accordingly. In cases like these - it usually means that the pot
will be chopped as it is more
unlikely for one player to win both times...
Sammy responds: "Oh We'll always do business you know
that - we might chop it if we look
- we don't have to look - just tell me what you have and I'll tell
you what I have"
Gabe Kaplan: "Both players are a little superstitious
and they don't want to turn over their
hand first"
Patrick: "Two times??"
Sammy: "We probably can do that but what do you have??"
Patrick smiles: "I have a weak hand!"
Sammy smiles back: "You went all-in - I have a weaker
hand than you!"
Patrick is incredulous: "Noooo..."
Sammy continues: "But to my cost - I got to play with
you!"
Patrick subconsciously sits up now as he realises he probably has
the best hand at this moment.
Patrick: "Noooo... you called me in one second!"
Doyle Brunson chips in: "You've got an Ace-High Patrick,
that's good!"
Someone else says: "How do you know?"
David Benyamine enters the chat: "He doesn't have an Ace-High
- he has a pair of three's
and a Flush Draw!"
Sammy butts in: "He said No-Flush - he said he doesn't
have a flush!"
David quietens down: "Yes he has a flush for sure!"
Sammy: "No - he doesn't have a flush!"
Patrick: "Me? No - I don't have a flush."
You might be wondering why they don't just turn their cards over
and go for it - well - what
they are doing is trying to suss out what the other player has and
what the odds are for running
the Turn and River more than once... Once the cards have been turned
over - there's no going
back...
And so it continues...
Sammy quizzes Patrick: "What do you have?? You're crazy
all-in! What do you think... We're
kids here??"
Doyle Brunson laughs and says: "You're not playing Solitaire
fellas!"
Sammy laughs back: "If we had Patrick, we'd play it every
day like this!!"
Patrick bargains: "Four times !?!"
Sammy replies: "FINE - What do you have though???"
Patrick: "It's your show-down - who shows first??"
Sammy: "You have a pair at least??"
Patrick: "I have a pair - I have top pair!"
Sammy laughs out loud and claps his hands - I have to say that in
all the years I've been
watching Poker matches, cash games and tournaments of all sorts
- I have NEVER seen
Sammy in such good humour as this - he's normally completely sullen
and non- communicative
but this is just another side of him and it's great to see he is
human after all !
Sammy: "Oh HA HA !!! - Top Pair - Bring us one
more Patrick Here! - Half a million on Top Pair !!"
Doyle is now wanting to get on with it: "Come on -
Turn the hand over!"
Sammy tries it on one last time: "I've got the aces Doyle
- what do you know?! - No - I gotta
tell you I haven't!"
David Benyamine tries again: "Oh he has Jack-Ten Diamonds
or Jack-Queen Diamonds!"
Sammy is serious for the first time: "OK - I got two over
and a Flush"
Patrick responds: "OK - it's a flip!"
Sammy asks: "Four times??"
Patrick: "What two overs??"
Sammy: "I can't tell you - it'll surprise you"
Patrick: "No NO NO !"
Sammy: "Two face cards!"
They are both laughing again...
Antonio Esfandiari has been enjoying the exchange and shouts
out: "I Love you guys !!"
Patrick: "OK OK - Lets run it FOUR times !"
Gabe Kaplan: "They're going to run it Four times!"
AJ Benza also commentating: "I've never seen that before"
Gabe: "Why don't they just run the rest of the deck and
run it fifteen times??"
The first Turn comes down: 3D giving Sammy a Flush.
The first River comes down: 9C which gives Patrick the Full House!
By the way - they still haven't turned over their cards !
So it's 1-0 to Patrick
The second Turn is: 5D giving Sammy a Flush
The second River is: AH
So it's now 1-1
Gabe Kaplan: "Second round to Sammy - it's like a four-round
fight - I got a feeling it's
going to be split at the end after all this !"
Round 3... The third Turn is: 2S keeping Patrick on top...
The third River is: 6H
So it's now 2-1 to Patrick
Sammy: "That's amazing - ****ing amazing I tell you!"
(That's more like the Sammy I'm used to !)
Last round...
The fourth Turn is: 4S keeping Patrick on top...
The fourth River is: 5H
So... it ended up 3-1 to Patrick - $750K to him and $250 back to
Sammy.
They finally turn the cards over and now Sammy isn't laughing
any more... "OK - How
much do I owe you??"
Doyle breaks the silence: "That was almost a dead-end
heat boys if you all but didn't know it!"
Suddenly the door opens and in walks Daniel Negreanu.
"Hiya - how you'all doing - did I
miss anything????"
The whole table responds en masse: "NOOOOO!!"
Daniel: "Nothing at all???"
You can view this hand at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRgwMMn2bCg
**************
Post Mortem
**************
In the Post-Match Interview, Patrick had this to say...
"I love Sammy - I know him pretty well nowadays because
I play alot with him - Pot-Limit
Omaha and he loves to talk and he loves to do business and we'll
see - it's good for the
game and it's good for the TV"
(it was also good for his bank balance!)
Obviously - by running it Four Times - both players gave themselves
a chance to reduce the
risk and that's exactly what happened - Sammy lost $250K instead
of losing $500K so although
it was technically "The Biggest Pot in Poker History" - it wasn't
really !
I can't think of any games - other than the High Stakes Poker Series
- where players have
the chance to run it more than once - if it had been a tournament
- Sammy would be bemoaning
his luck, with his Flush losing out to a Full house !
***************************************
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
|
