Did I Misplay This Hand?

Recently I was playing in The Bicycle Casino's Legends of Poker $300 buy-in (with multiple rebuys) no-limit hold'em event. Things were going along just fine and I was feeling pretty confident. I had just finished second to Daniel Negreanu in the $1,000 buy-in seven-card stud event, and was starting this day with a big stack of chips. To top it off, I really liked the lineup at my table. I knew what the players were doing. There were even a couple of traditionally wild players whom I thought, with patience, I had a good chance of busting.

With the blinds at $50-$100, I made it $300 to go with A-A from first position. I hate limping with aces from early position! Jack Fox, whom I normally think of as being a semiwild player, was really toned down and playing strong poker when he called my $300 bet with 10-10. (It's not that I think Jack's semiwild style is bad, it's just a dangerous way to play the game.) After Jack called the $300 bet, one of the truly wild players decided to just call my raise with 7-7 in the small blind. This was totally unexpected and out of character for this player. I had seen him reraise with pairs all day long, and had even planned on busting him while he was making one of those moves. When it was his turn to act, I could see that he was contemplating making a reraise, but for some reason, he merely called the $300 bet. If he had reraised me preflop, I would have busted him. I felt like that was what was supposed to happen! Anyway, the flop came down Q-Q-J and Wild One checked. I then quickly checked for two reasons: First, I had a bad feeling that Jack had a queen, and second, I wanted to try to trap Jack and Wild One. So much for the best-laid plans of mice and men! Jack checked behind me and the next card off was a 10, giving Jack a full house! Wild One and I checked, and Jack bet $900. Wild One folded and I quickly called. I was a little concerned, but I had seen Jack bluff a lot in the past few years. The last card was a deuce and I checked again, and watched Jack move all in for about $1,700. I said to myself, "Hmm, what could he have? He could have a busted flush draw, and now he's trying to bluff me. He could have just overplayed a pair of jacks, like K-J or A-J. It's Jack Fox, and maybe he has just 6 5 or something similar and is trying to outplay me." I have seen him do some pretty crazy things. I actually thought that he might have 9 8, or some crazy straight like that! But I had set this hand up for him to bluff me by checking aces to him three times, so I had to carry through on my plan and call him down. So, I called, lost, and left myself with only $700 in chips.

I played my last $700 really hard, but I couldn't overcome losing all of those chips with the aces. Right after I called Jack, he said, "What a bad call you made against me on the end!" Well, I certainly don't mind my call against Jack in this hand, which he played perfectly. He didn't reraise me before the flop or bet on the flop. (If he had bet the flop, I probably would have raised him and won the pot!) I guess I need to re-examine my opinion of Jack being a semiwild player!

The question I've asked myself since then is, "Did I misplay this hand?" Upon further reflection, I believe that the answer is yes. Why didn't I just bet the flop? There was $1,000 sitting out there and Jack would have folded, and maybe Wild One would have moved in on me. Perhaps I would have doubled up instead of going nearly broke. Why check the flop and let a straight card come out there for free? Why risk $2,600 after the 10 came off? I think I was also a little bit unlucky that Wild One didn't reraise me before the flop, but perhaps I gave something away about the strength of my hand. There are times that I play hands to trap people, and sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. Anyway, Jack Fox went on to win the tournament, and Eric Holum finished second. It must have been a nice ride home for Jack and Eric, who drove down from Reno for just that one event. With about $75,000 in winnings sitting between them in the car right next to those first-and second-place trophies, I'm sure they thought the trip was worth it!

I hope that you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.

Editor's note: You can often find Phil Hellmuth playing poker online at www.ultimatebet.com. To read more Hand of the Week columns, go to www.philhellmuth.com.