Tournament of Champions

What a lineup we had in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, which was televised on ESPN: David "Chip" Reese, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, nine-time WSOP Champion Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, reigning World Champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, nine-time WSOP Champion Johnny "Oriental Ex-press" Chan, Howard "The Professor" Lederer, all-time women's WSOP money leader Annie Duke, and me.

One thing we all knew going in was that this was a group of players you couldn't run over or intimidate. This took a lot of the bluff out of the game, and forced everyone's hand somewhat toward a "play your cards" style of play. The fact that first place was $2 million and second place paid nothing influenced the style of play, as well.

I decided before the event began that I would "trust my instincts" and live or die with them. With only five players remaining, and the blinds at $8,000-$16,000 and the antes at $3,000 a player, the following key hand came up for me:

I was dealt the A Q in second position and was staring down an opening bet from Johnny Chan – in first position – of $50,000. After a minute or so, I decided Chan would call me or move all in if I raised him. My read wasn't extremely strong, but I added in the fact that I have been very unlucky in my lifetime with A-Q in big tournaments. I believe that will eventually change, but the fact remains that A-Q is a hand with which you will be in bad shape when the big money goes in. I felt like I was supposed to play the hand, that everyone else at this table would play the hand here, and that I better have a darned good read in order to lay it down. Finally, I felt stronger about my read, and folded.

Howard Lederer then reraised Chan $150,000 from the third position, Raymer and Duke folded, and then Chan moved all in for another $150,000 or so. Howard quickly called with his A-J, Chan flipped over 6-6, and the race was on. I then told the table that I'd folded A-Q.

Only a few minutes before, after Chan had laid down A-J faceup for a Raymer reraise, Howard had said, "I won't be laying down A-J for a reraise." And the rest of the table nodded in agreement. I didn't say anything, but thought, "Come on, it will be easy to throw away A-J when you have a strong read that you're crushed."

Back to the hand: The flop was Q-4-2, then K-9, and Johnny won the pot with his 6-6. Howard then started bemoaning the fact that I had made a bad laydown that had ultimately cost him $360,000 in chips; if I had played, Howard would have folded. Then, Howard said, "The only pleasure I had this hand was the fact that Phil would have won the hand with his A-Q." (Fair enough; I was wincing in the background when a queen hit the flop!)

I then said, "You would have folded to my reraise, huh, Johnny?"

Johnny said, "I would have played; what's the difference between you and Howard?"

I thought, "The difference is that I folded A-Q and he moved all in with A-J," but I didn't say anything.

Then, Howard asked, "Did you learn your lesson yet?"

I responded, "I folded the worst hand, just like I'm supposed to. After all, I would have been a 13-to-10 underdog to go broke. I didn't want to race for all of my chips."

The rest of the story is that Chan finished fourth, Howard finished third, I finished second, and Annie Duke won it. Congratulations, Annie, you played great poker!

Editor's note: Chat or play poker with Phil at UltimateBet.com. To learn more about him or to buy his books or DVDs, go to PhilHellmuth.com.