The Sky is Falling

While hanging around with some of the top pro poker players recently, the following statement came up regarding Alan Goehring, Robert Varkonyi, and Jimmy White (who won, respectively, the World Poker Tour Championship, the World Series of Poker championship, and the Poker Million – The Masters): "The sky is falling!" I mean, Varkonyi is an amateur who competed against the best poker players in the world, and had to be at least a 5,000-to-1 underdog to win the five-day WSOP championship; Goehring is another amateur who had to be at least a 1,000-to-1 underdog to win the five-day WPT Championship; and White is a very inexperienced poker player who plays snooker for a living, and claimed in the press later that it sure helped his "game" to play online poker.

In all three cases, these players played hands that anybody who knows anything about poker wouldn't have played. Maybe they're on to something new regarding no-limit hold'em strategy. Seriously, it looked like they played so badly that perhaps we should disregard traditional poker philosophy and tactics. They either were incredibly lucky or played so far above the rim that no one knows exactly how they won.

Jimmy White reportedly called $90,000 from the $10,000 big blind with 6-4 offsuit; it turned out that the all-in player had A-2, and Jimmy won it with a river 6. At my table in the WPT Championship, I saw Alan Goehring make it $5,000 to go and then call my $15,000 bet – a $10,000 raise – with the 7 4 without so much as a blink of the eye. It turned out that I was bluffing with the 8 7, and had him buried – but we split this one with a 7-7-6-6-3 final board.

I watched with astonishment as Alan then limped in for $1,500 with the 7 3 from middle position, and then called a $10,000 raise. This time the flop was 7-6-5, and he called an $18,000 bet; then a 6 came for 7-6-5-6, and he called $30,000; finally, a river 7 came for a board of 7-6-5-6-7, and his opponent moved all in for more than $100,000 on a bluff. Give Alan some credit here, as his opponent was bluffing on every street and he managed to make the tough calls.

I looked over at Alan at that moment and noticed that he now had more than $600,000 in chips in a tournament in which the second-place player had $200,000. But, did Alan try to hold his position? Did he hold on to those precious chips until at least the end of the day? Did he tighten up and protect his chips? Nope; he gave Doyle Brunson $250,000 when he had 5-2 offsuit, and Allen Cunningham $150,000 when he had 6-5 offsuit. Later, I looked over and saw that he was down to less than $200,000 in chips that same day!

At the final table, Alan raised it to $15,000 and then called a Bruno Fitoussi $30,000 raise with the J 3. It turned out that Bruno was bluffing with the Q 9, and he bet the 6-6-5 flop for $40,000, whereupon Alan called him with no pair and no draw. They both checked on fourth street. Alan then bluff-bet out $100,000 on the river, won the pot when Bruno folded, and then showed Bruno the bluff! Give Alan credit here, as it was a pretty sporty play to make at this point in the tournament.

Was Alan satisfied with an occasional risky play? Nope; he then called $80,000 with J-3 offsuit at a 10-handed final table, after Phil Ivey had opened for $80,000 and Layne Flack had called with K-J. (Read that last line again!) Of course, the flop came down J-3-2. Phil checked his 10-10, Layne bet his last $460,000 or so, and Alan sent Layne packing with a very puzzled look on his face. (What must Layne have been thinking to get busted by this crazy play at the final table of the WPT Championship? Brutal!)

On another occasion, Alan opened for $60,000 with J-J and the blinds at $15,000-$30,000, and Doyle Brunson, who had seen quite enough, moved all in with Q-8 for about $450,000 or so. Ted Forrest, sensing weakness in Doyle, called the bet with A-J for his last $450,000 or so. Nice read, Teddy, but you forgot to study Alan this time. By the way, Teddy did end up beating Doyle's Q-8. Give credit to Alan again for his call here, as he didn't have to call. As a matter of fact, he didn't have to win the pot, either, but he did call, and he did have the best hand, and he did eliminate Doyle and Teddy on the same hand.

Varkonyi made some unorthodox plays, as well (but my friends say I have written about them too much), and he caught a huge rush of cards at the final table to win the WSOP.

Were these three players just incredibly lucky or are they supergeniuses? (Clearly, they were lucky, when 7-4, 7-3, Q-10, J-3, and another J-3 win key pots for them.) My sense is that the more they learn about hold'em, the worse their results will be. However, let's give them credit for winning, especially in a nontraditional way. If someone walking on water thinks everyone else walks on water, it is easier to believe that he can walk on water. If you believe you can walk on water, perhaps you can.

Jimmy, Robert, and especially Alan, in the future it will be interesting to see whether you learn from the great players or teach the great players a thing or two. Is the sky really falling or is a new breed of player taking over?

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 hold'em online at UltimateBet.com, table "philhellmuth." For more info about him or more Hand of the Week columns, go to PhilHellmuth.com.