One of the hands I'm most often asked about and complimented on is the hand I played against Daniel Negreanu and Sammy Farha in
High Stakes Poker. High Stakes Poker airs on the
Game Show Network (
GSN) weekly, and we've filmed three exciting seasons. The following hand happened during season two:
The blinds were $300-$600 with a $100 ante. I was in late position, and when everyone folded to me, I looked down at the J
7
. Sammy was in the small blind and Daniel was in the big blind. Both had plenty of money and were the two action players at the table, so this had the makins of a big pot.
I brought it in for a pretty standard raise of $1,600 or $1,700. I suspected that they both would call, and they didn't disappoint me. The flop comes J
5
5
, and they both checked to me, as expected. Now what?
Well, I do have top pair, but my kicker isn't much to be proud of. Not only will I probably lose to any jack, the other end of the flop is a whole other problem. If either player has a 5 in his hand, I'm in horrible shape, dead to a jack or two runners. I think most players would simply bet out in this spot, and normally I would, too, but you always need to consider your opponents.
Sammy Farha? Not much explanation needed. (He's a complete and total maniac who would make a suicide bomber look like a coward.) And Daniel? He's only a notch below Sammy in this game as far as his maniacal tendencies are concerned. Sorry, Daniel. (He didn't like me referring to him as a maniac in this game, but if the snowshoe fits … Canadians wear 'em.)
Knowing my competition and the weakness of my hand, I opt to check the flop. Yes, it's a dangerous play. An overcard can fall and hit one of them who had no intention of calling the flop. However, I believed a bet was even more dangerous. What was I going to do if I was check-raised?
That would be the toughest spot of all. With a flush draw out there and knowing both players are capable of a stone-cold bluff makes laying down top pair kinda hard. Also, anytime the board comes paired, it makes a pocket pair that much more valuable. One of them may have pocket eights and think they're good. So, even if my jack can't beat much, it's still top pair.
One other advantage to checking is that I was almost positive one of them would fire out on fourth street, with or without a hand. Then, I have the value of picking off a bluff. Sure enough, Sammy fires out $10,000 when the 9
falls! Whoa, wait a minute. There's not even $6,000 out there. This looks like he's trying to win it right here, like he doesn't want a call and be forced to see the last card.
This doesn't mean he doesn't have a hand. Many hands would be vulnerable at this point; a jack, a 9, trip fives, or even a small flush. A fourth spade would kill any of these hands, and a jack, a 9, or a 5 would put a made flush in quite a bit of jeopardy. Considering all of this, I know that Sammy may have a hand. But then again … this is Sammy Farha we're talking about.
I put the odds at around 50-50 as to whether he actually has a hand or not, maybe even 60-40 against. When Daniel calls, it gets a little scarier, but not much. I know Daniel is thinking along the same lines as I am, and doesn't need a big hand to call Sammy here. There's always a chance that Daniel could have a big hand here, but I think it just as likely that he's calling with nothing to try to take it away on the end.
I literally put Daniel on a 9 or the A
, or both, which is exactly what he had (A
9
). After I called, Daniel shot me a quick "What in the world are you up to, Todd?" glance, and I was just about positive I had him beat. I also knew he was scared that I had flopped a monster.
The river brings the Q
, putting a four-flush out there. Sammy almost broke out in tears as he checked in disgust. That left only Daniel to worry about. He thought a moment, then checked, as well.
Up to this point, I had showed no aggression after the flop. On top of that, I knew Daniel was wary because of his "What in the world are you up to, Todd?" glance. It just felt like I had a full house. I knew I probably couldn't win by checking, and I probably could by betting, so that left just one question: How much?
If I did have a full house, I wouldn't bet too much. I'd try to get paid off by a big spade or even entice a raise by fives full. Therefore, to make it look real, I needed to underbet the pot. There was a little more than $35,000 out there by now, so I decided on $21,000, a little more than half the pot. That was enough to make Daniel think, and think he did.
After about 20 seconds or so, I knew that he must have the A
. After another 20 seconds or so, I was pretty sure that he was going to fold it, and my only decision was if I wanted to show the bluff or not. It probably wouldn't put him on tilt, but it couldn't exactly help his game any at that point, either. But, Daniel is a good friend of mine, so I reluctantly picked up my hand to muck it. (They'd all see it on TV anyway.)
At the last minute, Loud Mouth Mike comes to the rescue and screams, "Show a bluff!" There were a few comments like, "Yeah, right," and, "If he was bluffing, I'll stake Sheepy Sheikhan with my case money." That was all the encouragement I needed. I showed the 7
and threw the other card away, leaving them to speculate as to what I had.
"He had the 8-5 of clubs," exclaimed Mike. Nice try, Loud Mouth, the 5
was on the flop. I made them wait for it to air to see the other card, but it didn't really matter. No matter what I had, I bluffed the river.
This is the type of hand that just can't be taught. It comes from a sense of feel, which in turn comes from experience. Hours of playing with the same players through similar circumstances helps you to predict what they will do at any given time.
That, and one other little fact: I would have hesitated to make this play at Bellagio, all things equal. But I knew with those cameras there, Daniel was hoping to make a big laydown to look good on TV. God bless televised poker (and God help us with online poker!).
