Poker After Dark

Recently, I watched a rerun of Poker After Dark from 2007, featuring Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, and David Benyamine. Usually, the players buy in for $20,000, with a first-place prize of $120,000; but in this case, it was a $60,000 buy-in, with a $360,000 first-place prize. I love watching Poker After Dark. It reminds me of the old days when I used to play primarily with great players - the same ones who regularly play on Poker After Dark now. These days, I'm not around the poker tour as much - until the World Series of Poker events begin - and I miss the guys and gals. I miss the witty banter, the big mood swings (OK, that's just me!), the intelligent conversations, the side bets, the high-stakes poker, and just the feel of competing against the best. Poker After Dark runs six days a week on NBC at 2 a.m.

With the blinds at $300-$600, Elezra opened for $1,500 with 5-2 on the button. Cunningham folded out of the small blind and Harman called from the big blind with A-4. The flop came down K-5-2, Harman checked, and Elezra bet $1,500 into the $3,300 pot with his two pair. Harman studied for a moment and called with her gutshot-straight draw. The turn card was an ace, Harman checked, Elezra bet $5,000 (into $6,300), and, after a long study, Harman called. As I watched the action, I noticed that Elezra kept his head down, and then threw out the $5,000 pretty quickly after Harman checked to him. The last card was an 8, Harman checked, and Elezra bet $5,000 into the $16,300 pot. From my couch, I noticed that Elezra was perfectly quiet and looked down at the table, for the most part. Harman took so long to act that the announcer (Ali Nejad) said, "Jennifer's going into the tank; she has top pair, but no kicker." Indeed, Harman took a good long time, and I believe that that's because she had a strong read on Elezra, with whom she has battled for many years in the high-stakes side games at Bellagio. I have seen Harman make great reads against Elezra - and the rest of the world - dozens of times. Finally, she called, and Elezra said, "Two pair."

Harman then said, "Why did I do that? I could have easily folded that hand."

Then, Elezra said, "I mean, I bet it for value on the river."

Harman instantly shot back, "Yeah, I saw," and everyone at the table chuckled.

Then, Greenstein said, "What did you bet it for before the flop?"

Elezra said, "For value there, too; I was planning on making a wheel."

Let's take a closer look at this hand. First of all, I would like to see Elezra open for more than $1,500 before the flop. I guess that I would like to see him fold the 5-2 before the flop, but it was a button raise, so that's OK. But if you do decide to play that hand from that position, try to win the pot before the flop by opening for anywhere from $1,800 to $2,200, because it is too easy for someone to call $900 more, and you really don't want to look at a flop with that hand against almost any two random cards! I like Harman's call before the flop with A-4.

On the flop, I like Elezra's $1,500 bet into the $3,300 pot. Too often, we bet too much money when we hit a strong hand, which drives our opponents out of the pot, and then we miss the chance to get some value out of our strong hand. In this case, the $1,500 bet is like the bait on a hook. Harman's call of this bet was natural and easy to make. I mean, she has a straight draw and an ace draw - and more importantly, ace high was a favorite to be the best hand.

On the turn, I like Elezra's $5,000 bet into the $6,300 pot. With a board of K-5-2-A, why give someone a cheap card to beat you? Harman's call was natural, but as I watched the tape, I believed that she thought that Elezra had some sort of reasonably strong hand. Yet, reasonably strong easily could have meant a pair of kings, like K-J, K-10, or something similar, which she had beat with her aces.

On the river, I love Elezra's $5,000 bet into the $16,300 pot. He made it really easy for her to call by making such a relatively small bet. In fact, Harman called $5,000 with a chance to win $21,300, which means that the pot was laying her more than 4-1. Thus, she had to be more than 80 percent sure that she was beat in order to fold. So, on the surface it was an easy call. But again, I believe that Harman was convinced that Elezra was strong. Her long hesitation and general demeanor tells me that she read Elezra as being really strong. Was Harman right in saying that she could have easily folded that hand? Well, actually, in her case, yes. But for the rest of the world, it was an easy, automatic call.