Championship Poker at the Plaza - Final Table

On day two of this tournament, we played for a very long time, all the way from 36 players down to the final six. When we were sevenhanded, it seemed like it was never going to end. "Here comes Paris all over again," I was thinking. In Paris, I was the chip leader with seven left and nobody, and I mean nobody, would go broke. Finally, I volunteered!

This time, though, I was able to make the final table, as Billy Baxter went out in seventh place. I started out in fifth chip position with $86,000, but I wasn't too worried about that. The blinds were still extremely small and the chips were spread pretty evenly. In fact, within the first 30 minutes, I was up near the lead.

Layne Flack was the first to go after several tough breaks in a row. Following him were Gavin Smith and Dan Alspach, which left just Ted Forrest, Freddie Deeb, and myself.

Threehanded, it was Ted's turn to run unlucky, as he just didn't have anything go his way. Now, it was between Freddie and me for the money and the title.

Freddie and I have played together a lot in cash games, but we'd never played heads up before. I was really looking forward to the match, because I believed we had very similar styles. Both of us like to play lots of hands and see lots of flops.

As play started heads up, that's exactly how things went. Very few if any pots were raised preflop, and we matched wits after the flop – each of us trying to outmaneuver the other.

The structure when we got heads up was without question the most skill-oriented TV tournament structure in history.

With the blinds at just $800-$1,600 with a $200 ante, Freddie had $342,300 to my $337,700. That's more than 200 big bets each! This wasn't going to be "raise and take it" poker, oh no. You weren't going to see both of us get all in before the flop unless we had the same hand – aces! To win this match, we'd have to do it after the flop – yum-yum.

So, with the A 7, I went ahead and limped in from the button. I find it kind of humorous when some poker commentators are so shocked when a player doesn't raise with an ace: "He's just limping in! Wow, how unorthodox." The truth is, most of the great players will often limp in with ace-rag hands rather than raise. Why? Well, because a hand like A-6 offsuit just doesn't play well after the flop. When you hit your ace, you get action only when you're beat, and if you miss the flop and get called – well, then you are kind of in a mess, too.

So, I made the "standard" play here by limping with the A-7. From the big blind, Freddie raised the pot $7,000 more. Now, we hadn't been doing that, so I assumed that Freddie must have a pretty strong hand. With an ace and position, though, I wasn't about to let him take the pot right there, so I called.

The flop came K 6 2 and Freddie fired out $16,000, which represented close to a pot-sized bet. So, I folded like a good boy. Yeah, right! I had position and a key card, the A. Also, if Freddie had a hand like Q-Q or J-J, that king on the board may freeze him on the turn, at which time I could pick up the pot. It was too early to make my move on the flop, so I decided to wait for the turn and see what developed.

The turn was the 4 and Freddie checked, as I'd hoped he would. Now, before I continue, I have to make one thing clear: The 4 a scare card! Freddie and I both like "little cards." That was no secret to either of us. Freddie knew I could have made a straight with 5-3, two pair with 6-4, or some other off-the-wall hand.

Now, I thought Freddie had something like J-J, and if I bet strongly on the turn and river, he would let those jacks go. I bet $30,000. Freddie called, and now I was going over in my mind how much I was going to bluff on the river. "$120,000. That's a big-sized bet that won't break me," I thought. The river brought the 4. All that card did was make me a "fake flush."

Now this is where the hand gets kind of crazy. I was fully expecting Freddie to check, and I had my $120,000 cocked and ready to fire. But Freddie came out betting $65,000! Oh well, that kind of tossed my plan for a loop, didn't it?

That bet was very odd to me, though. I thought, "How could he bet that card?" I knew he didn't make the nut flush, because I had the A. I didn't think that card made him a full house, because he probably would have raised me on the turn with two pair or a set.

It was so strange. That card was one I didn't think could help Freddie one bit. On the other hand, the hand I was representing while playing phantom poker definitely could have benefited from the 4. I could have had 4-3, 5-3, a flush, a flopped set, and so on. The way I had played my hand, all of those hands were legitimate possibilities.

Before I decided what I wanted to do, I just wanted to try to figure out what Freddie had. So, I went back to all of the clues:

1. He raised before the flop from out of position, and that felt like strength to me since it was so rare.

2. He bet big on the flop to protect his hand.

3. He didn't like that straight card on the turn, but he also didn't fold.

Aha, A-K; never mind how I knew that! So, if he had A-K, why would he bet the river when such a scary card came? Oh, I know, I know! He bet that scary card for two reasons:

1. He was hoping I would call him with a worse king, but thought I would check a worse king behind him.

2. He knew I couldn't raise him on the river unless I had made a very strong hand.

OK, he was slightly wrong about No. 2! Normally, it's not a play I often use from my arsenal, but all the clues forced me to do something here. Believing he had A-K, I knew he couldn't possibly call a raise here. After all, what in the world could I have to raise him on the river? I had called the flop and bet the turn. Any logical player would have something here. (Did I just insult myself?) After finally building up the courage, I decided I needed to make a play at this pot: "Raise. $100,000 more."

So, why only $100,000? Two reasons:

1. It looked more like I actually wanted a call from Freddie.

2. If I was wrong and Freddie called, I'd still be in the hunt, down 2-1 in chips.

Freddie deliberated for a little while and finally said, "You must have flopped a set." I, of course, said nothing, being the shy, quiet guy that I am.

Then, Freddie's hand went into the muck. Ever feel like you have a really big secret and are dying to tell someone? That's how I felt at that moment. "If I show a bluff, is that good for the game?" I asked. "Yeah, sure," replied Freddie.

"All right, then that must be good for the game!" I said as I turned my cards faceup and raked in the monster pot. I just don't know if there is a better feeling than that. I was all giggles inside. If I were home on the computer playing online, I'm certain that I'd have been dancing around the room yelling at the computer, "How do you like them apples? You can't handle me! Too strong, baby, too strong!" OK, so what if I'm a geek; we all have a little geek in us, don't we?

Showing that bluff may have seemed like a bad idea, but it gave me a significant psychological edge at the time. I don't think Freddie truly ever let go of that hand mentally, as he made reference to it several times throughout the remainder of the match. Hey, I was OK with the topic of conversation, if you know what I mean.

Finally, I busted Freddie with 5-5 against his A-K (the exact same cards with which I had busted Ted, 5-5 versus A-K), and won my first TV tournament since 1999.

I like Freddie a lot. We are pretty good friends away from the table and have had lots of good times together. I was happy to see that he didn't take my showing him the bluff the wrong way. He is a professional and understands that's just part of the game. I was "doing what I had to do," if you will, and he respected the play. There were no hard feelings.

So, I won this tournament a week after Greg Raymer had won the World Series of Poker championship and $5 million. My check was for $310,000. Oh well, it wasn't $5 million, but I was extremely proud of what I had accomplished, and it wasn't at all about the money. I'd just played the best tournament of my life. It helped reinforce to me that if I try my best, stay focused, and take my time in crucial situations, great things will often happen.

Daniel Negreanu can be reached at his new, updated website: www.fullcontactpoker.com. Unfortunately, because of an overwhelming number of e-mails, he cannot answer any strategy- or help-related questions and doesn't offer any private tutoring.