Phil Gets Lucky!

It was Sunday, Feb. 9, the second day of the big limit hold'em event; there was a big audience surrounding the final table; first place paid $457,000; and I was the chip leader - of the $1,000 buy-in Omaha eight-or-better tournament. I had been eliminated on the first day of the "million dollar" event. David "The Dragon" Pham was the chip leader and eventual winner of that big limit hold'em event.

When we got down to the final five players in my event, which paid $55,485 for first, the following hand came up between Vince Burgio, Dennis Waterman, and me. By then, the room was a tomb, as Pham had exited with his $457,000 first prize. Vince had come to the final table a bit short-stacked, but now had a nice chip lead. With the limits $4,000-$8,000, Dennis opened with a raise for $8,000 from under the gun, and I looked down to see A 2 3 8, and was the next player to act.

What should I do? I had a good hand, and my choices were to reraise Dennis (who had started the hand with $11,000) and put him all in, and eliminate the field behind me, or just call and potentially bring other players into the pot. So, should I trap or eliminate the other opponents? Additionally, I was thinking of eliminating Dennis by running him through both me and the other players. In other words, if I called and let other players in, there would be a higher probability that we would eliminate Dennis; this is a common (and good) tournament tactic. After all, what if the final board was K-K-9-10-7, and Dennis won the pot with A-J high over my A-8 high?

After a moment, I opted to just call - trying to trap others and gang up on Dennis, as well. This prompted Vince to call the raise from the small blind, and the flop came down 9 9 2. Vince bet out $4,000, and Dennis - very reluctantly - called with his last $3,000. I decided that calling $4,000 here wasn't the worst play ever - I had deuces, the backdoor nut-low draw, an ace to hit, and the backdoor-flush draw - especially since I knew Vince could have K-K in this spot. Plus, I figured that Vince would check on fourth street, what with Dennis being all in and there being no side pot to speak of ($2,000).

Wrong! Vince bet out $8,000 when the 5 came on fourth street - giving me the nut-low draw, a straight draw, and a flush draw - because he had a 9. When the Q came on the end, for 9 9 2 5 Q, Vince bet out again, and I had to call $8,000 with my 8-high flush, hoping that it was the best hand. Vince flipped up A-J-9-4, and I claimed the pot with my 8-high flush. Dennis never did show his hand, but said that he couldn't beat Vince's three nines.

Did I make the right call on the flop? I think so. After all, there was $35,000 in the pot, and it was only $4,000 to me with my backdoor draws, deuces, and an ace. Also, I believed that Vince had an overpair and would check to me on fourth street. If I had known he had a 9, it would have been very close as to whether or not I should call there. In any case, I was sure lucky to hit running diamonds to scoop the $71,000 pot!

Vince said it was the key pot of the tournament for both of us, and I think he was right about that. Vince finished third, Shirley Rosario finished second, and I won it with no deals to take home the entire $55,485 first-place prize money. Nice job and congrats to David Pham.

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

Editor's note: Phil can often be found playing $4-$8 limit hold'em online at UltimateBet.com, table "philhellmuth." For more info about him and more Hand of the Week columns, or to buy his new instructional book, Play Poker Like the Pros, go to PhilHellmuth.com.