A Bluff That Turned the Tide of Fortune

When he was around 28 years old, Bobby Baldwin was considered to be the best no-limit hold'em player alive. He was very highly regarded by a lot of people, including all the old pros. Bobby Hoff once said that Baldwin was 15 percent better than anybody playing at that time. During the 1978 World Series of Poker, Baldwin and Crandall Addington were playing heads up for the title when Baldwin pulled off a successful bluff that changed the entire course of the tournament. Although it was not the final hand, it was the key hand because it shifted the momentum of play.

Addington had the lead at this point. With the blinds at $3,000-$6,000, he raised $10,000. Baldwin called the raise with 10-9 offsuit. "People don't realize that lots of times, hands are played before the players ever see a flop," my writing partner, T.J. Cloutier, commented. "When Baldwin called Addington's raise with a 10-9, he probably had it in his mind that even if he didn't get a great flop to his hand, he was going to win the pot anyway. In other words, long before the flop actually came up, Baldwin had decided that he was going to make a move on this pot. This hand probably was the turning point of the whole tournament."

The flop came Q-4-3 with two diamonds, and Baldwin led at it for a substantial amount. Addington called. Off came the A on the turn, putting three diamonds on the board, and Baldwin moved in. That was his opportunity. "You've heard me say a million times that you must have nerves of iron to play no-limit hold'em," T.J. continued. "You have to be willing to sacrifice everything you have on a major bluff. And Baldwin was such a good player that he didn't think twice about it. When the board came with something he could represent, even though Addington had called him on the flop, he moved on it."

What if the turn card had been a brick, an innocuous card? In that case, Baldwin would have shut down. He would have taken his loss with the hand because he knew that Addington had a hand when he called him on the flop. Realize, too, that when Baldwin moved in on the turn, Addington could have had two diamonds in his hand, but that was the chance that Baldwin had to take. Since Addington had raised before the flop, there was a chance that he had a pair or a "big ace," and that he did not have any diamonds, in which case Baldwin's power play would work. If Addington had put Baldwin on a flush when the Au came, he wouldn't have called anyway if he had had a big ace - but he would've taken more time to muck his hand. He threw it away quickly, so the chances are that he did not have a big ace. Baldwin flashed his cards as he scooped in the pot, but we'll never know what Addington's cards were.

This successful bluff changed the tide of events. If Addington had called, the tournament would have been over because Baldwin probably had no outs if, for example, Addington had a queen. And Addington would have had what he coveted more in life than all the money he had earned from the oil business, which was very substantial. He would have won the World Series of Poker championship.

Most of the men who played in the 1978 WSOP had been road gamblers on the Southern circuit, including champion Baldwin, Jesse Alto, Louis Hunsucker, and Buck Buchanan. I felt somewhat like a roadie myself this summer while I was vacationing in Missouri and Michigan, playing poker along the way. While I was in Columbia, Missouri, I played in a $5-$10 limit hold'em game at the home of Finney Aronson, along with my friends Cheryl and Bill Mullins. We all booked wins in the game, but Cheryl brought home the most bacon. Finney was a gracious host who provided snacks and a lot of lighthearted conversation. I was treated like a celebrity - in fact, they made the game 12-handed so as not to shut anybody out, because they all wanted to play with me. "Little things mean a lot," as the old song title goes.

If our bluffs hold up, I hope to see you in the winner's circle one day soon.

Editor's note: Tom McEvoy and T.J. Cloutier include this 1978 WSOP final-table analysis and others in their upcoming book, Championship Tournament Hands. They are the authors of the Championship series of poker books, available through Card Player. Visit www.pokerbooks.com for more information; you may contact McEvoy and Cloutier at this web address.