Sheiky's Bizarre Move

After beating T.J Cloutier, Greg Raymer, and Evelyn Ng, my confidence was very high and I felt like I'd be able to just play my game and grind out a victory over Sean "Sheiky" Sheikhan. In the early going, it appeared as though that's exactly what was going to happen.

We started the match with $160,000 each and I grinded my way up to a lead of $240,000 to $80,000. Sheiky was getting visibly frustrated and I felt like it was only a matter of time before I'd be able to send him to the rail and meet Ted Forrest in the semifinals.

Going into the following hand I held a lead of about $207,000 to $113,000 with blinds at $3,000-$6,000. Sheiky made almost the minimum raise from the button, making it $13,000 to go. With 7-4, I decided to take my chances on hitting a flop and called the $7,000 raise.

The flop came A 7 5 giving me middle pair and I decided to check to Sean. Sean fired out $15,000 which could mean a lot of different things. Obviously he could have the ace, a flush draw, or even just a random bluff with king high in the hopes of representing the ace. I called.

The turn card was the 3. That was a really good card for my hand, because now, not only did I have my pair of sevens, but I could also hit a straight with a 2 or a 6. I paused for a moment, thinking about taking control of the hand by betting out. If Sean didn't have the ace there was a good chance I'd be able to pick up the pot right there. The danger with betting was that I might end up betting myself off of the draw if he does have a strong hand and decides to raise me.

I finally decided to check with the intention of calling a smallish bet if he were to bet again. Sean checked as well and the river card came the 6 filling my straight. I wanted to make an assertive bet in the hopes that Sean may call me with a pair or aces or even two pair.

Also, I wanted to make a strong bet so that if my opponent raised me I could safely fold my hand as he'd have to have a flush to make that raise.

Finally, I decided to bet out $20,000 hoping to hear Sean say call. To my dismay, Sean didn't say call. He said all in!

Once again, it was time for me to go over the possible hands that Sean could have. I ruled out aces up or a set, why would he raise me with one of those hands on that board? I narrowed it down to the following hands: a flush, the same straight, or a nine high straight.

One of the coolest rules that is legal in the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship is that a player may show one, or both cards to his opponent at any time during a hand. That's the way poker was always meant to be played. The new rule that took away a player's right to show his hand is one of the worst, and ill-informed decisions that the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) made when coming up with a set of standardized rules.

I am a fan of the TDA and what they've accomplished, but the reasoning for this rule is just plain silly. The only legitimate argument I'd ever heard for the reasoning behind this rule was to curb collusion.

Now, clearly in a three-handed pot you should be penalized for showing a card, but when the pot is heads-up, this rule has no positive influence.

The idea that it deters players from colluding is ridiculous. If two players were colluding in a pot they would never be in that situation, ever.

So anyway, enough of my rant and back to the action. I decided to take advantage of this purely ethical rule change and I turned my hand faceup so that I could get a reaction from Sheiky. Now remember, he isn't forced to look at it, but if he does, I can use any information I pick up to make a more calculated decision.

When I turned my have faceup I was certain of one thing: Sean was not bluffing. No chance. Once I figured that out, I had to ask myself the following question: Would he raise me on the river with just a 4?

The way that I played my hand, my most likely hand was a flush. For Sean to raise me, it only seemed logical that he had a flush. Raising with just the 4 in a situation like that is a recipe for disaster (more on that later).

Figuring that the best I could do is chop, I decided to fold my hand and go back to the grind. Before mucking his hand, Shawn showed me the K! Yikes, he raised me on the river with K 4.

That left us pretty close to even in chips with the blinds now at $8,000-$16,000. At that point, the element of skill is long gone and the matches become card catching contests. I failed miserably in that department, looking at a steady diet of J-2, 8-3, 9-3, and 8-2. Sean caught some hands at the right time and it was all over for me and I was disgusted.

It all came back to that one key hand where Shawn decided to move all in with a 4 on a board of A-3-5-6-7 and three clubs. The play worked, as it got him an extra half of the pot, but the play is a bad one.

The only value of raising in that situation is the unlikely chance that I have just the 4 also. The flop was A-7-5, so the odds of me having one of the last three fours is less likely than me having either 8-9 or a flush draw.

The only hands that I would call with, have Sean beat. If I had any other hand, I'd be throwing it away anyway.

Frankly, when I look back at the hand I think I know what happened. Sean was very frustrated. He had the look of a man who was giving up. He later told me that he didn't even realize there was a flush there. Yikes! I lost to a guy who couldn't read the board! Man, that sucked.

My fold on the river is pretty standard. The only thing I could have done differently on this hand was to either a) bet the turn, or b) check and call on the river. Both are viable options, and frankly I think I made a key mistake by not betting the turn.

Oh well, there is always next year right?

You can read Daniel's blog and play poker with him at www.fullcontactpoker.com.