The Oracle's Corner

This hand took place in the World Poker Tour Championship in April 2008 at Bellagio. Phil Hellmuth actually wrote about this hand in the Vol. 21/No. 12 issue of Card Player, but he left out some pertinent situational facts, and thought he was playing Michael Binger, instead of Michael's brother, Nick.

Facts of the Hand
Event: $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship
Players Remaining: 340 out of 545, ninehanded table
Blinds and Ante: 500-1,000 blinds with a 100 ante
Phil Hellmuth's Chip Count/Hand: Approximately 40,000/J J
Nick Binger's Chip Count/Hand: Approximately 110,000/ K K
Average Chip Count at the Table: 80,000
Players' Images: Phil has no idea who Nick Binger is, despite the fact that they have played together before. When Phil later discusses and writes this hand up, he refers to Nick Binger as Michael Binger. Most of the others at the table would label Nick a tight-aggressive player. Nick is wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses, leading Phil to think Nick is just "some Internet kid," which, although he has been spotted on the Internet, he most definitely is not.

NIck Binger's Read

Phil limped from under the gun and announced to Mike Matusow, "I can't believe I limped this hand under the gun." I immediately narrowed Phil's range to 9-9 to J-J and prayed for a big pair in the big blind, knowing he would stack off to me. Because I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses, Phil had me pegged as an aggressive online player and would never give me credit for a hand. I looked down at K-K and realized that Phil would call nearly any size of a raise preflop, putting me on a squeeze play. By raising to 8,000 instead of 5,000 or 6,000, I thought it very likely that I would isolate Phil while building the pot. The last thing I wanted was a four-way pot out of position. Once Phil called my flop bet, I knew he would bet the turn if a blank fell, thinking I was giving up on my steal attempt. I knew he might have 9-9 here after smooth-calling the flop, but given the preflop action, I never even thought of getting away from my hand here. His bet of 5,100 into a 43,400 pot seemed odd. I gave it the strange look it deserved, shrugged, and then casually put him all in. His call with pocket jacks surprised me, as he should have saved his last 15,000 and folded.

Phil told Mike right after the hand, "I couldn't get away, it was some Internet kid!"

Mike knows me pretty well, and told him, "Are you kidding me, Phil? That's Nick Binger; he's the tightest player at your table!"

Any decent player could put Phil on a strong medium pair after his speech and under-the-gun limp, and would never try a squeeze play out of position. Assuming that all of your opponents are terrible poker players may work in smaller events, but it strikes me as a bad idea in a $25,000 buy-in event. The irony is that Phil probably still will think I'm some random Internet kid the next time we play together!

Michael Binger's Analysis

I still can recall with great joy sitting in the Fontana Room playing in the 25,000 event and all of a sudden hearing Mike Matusow yelling loudly, "Are you an idiot, Phil?! That's not some Internet kid! That's Nick Binger!" I turned and watched Phil Hellmuth leave the room. I knew then that my brother had done a beautiful thing. Nick told me about the hand later, and I thought nothing of it until I picked up a recent issue of Card Player and read Phil's description of the hand, in which he confused me and my brother. I wholeheartedly concur with Nick and Roy (below) about the foolishness of Phil revealing information about his hand strength by his comments to Matusow when he limped, and also not knowing who his opponent was and making arrogant assumptions about him. Now, the poker analysis: Phil limped from under the gun with 40 big blinds with J-J. I don't like this limp because it often will generate a multiway pot out of position, which will be difficult to play since overcards will hit the flop most of the time. Furthermore, if you are raised, you will be tempted to overplay your hand, since you previously have disguised its strength and may think you are trapping your opponent with J-J, when in fact you are trapping yourself. This is precisely what Phil did. A standard raise to 3,000 from under the gun would have enabled Phil to get away cheaply when Nick reraised from the big blind. Nick raised a good amount (8,000), and I don't like Phil's call of 20 percent of his stack preflop. If he was hoping to flop a set, he wasn't getting enough implied odds. If he thought he had the best hand, he should have reraised preflop … although I hate limp-reraising with hands like J-J, since you essentially are turning your hand into a bluff. Once he saw the flop, Phil was in a difficult spot, and really had to decide then whether or not he had the best hand, and either raise all in or fold. Phil avoided this decision and called off a third of his stack, hoping that Nick was bluffing, I guess. On the turn, Nick made a great check, knowing that Phil would trap himself. He did so in an odd way, by betting one-eighth of the pot and then calling all in.

In conclusion, LOL, Phil-aments!

Roy Winston's Read

What makes this hand fascinating to me is Phil's ego. Let me start out by saying that I think Phil Hellmuth is a fantastic poker player, and he has marketed himself better than anyone in poker. Now that I got that out, what a donkey he was in this hand. By remarking to Mike Matusow about his under-the-gun limp, he basically was playing his hand faceup. I have gotten to know Nick well over the past year, and he is an extremely good no-limit hold'em player. In fact, in the last Aussie Millions tag-team event, I picked him as my partner. Sadly, though, his partner lost all the chips, but that's another story.

So, here's Phil Hellmuth in arguably one of the biggest events of the year, in an extremely tough field, with no cameras on him, and he is so grandiose that he doesn't know against whom he is playing a hand for all of his chips, and he gives his hand away to the entire room. I don't even know where to begin. In any tournament, especially a major event like this, you must know your opponent. Basic fact number two is: Don't talk about your hand in such a way as to reveal it. And third, know where you are in the hand. Phil went 0-for-3. If you are going to limp with a hand like jacks and then announce basically what you have, when Nick raises, you have to think best case that he has A-K and it's a coin flip, or, as it turned out here, he has one of the three hands to which you are a massive dog. Once Nick raised preflop, I like either a fold if you think you are behind, or a push if you think you are ahead. Against Nick in this situation, my hand would have gone into the muck so fast that a breeze would have been created at Bellagio. I hate the call; you're either ahead or behind, and Phil should have figured this one out. He called the flop bet, bet a weird amount on the turn, leaving himself enough chips to still get away from the hand, but then called off his remaining chips without regard to his situation.

Pro Conclusions

All we can say is that next time, Phil, check your ego at the door and know your opponent. Great player, terrible poker. Nick went on to finish 15th in this event, which was a great accomplishment.

Roy Winston, M.D., and Michael Binger, Ph.D., have more than two decades of higher education between them. The two, with nearly $8 million in combined tournament winnings, continue to impress with consistent results on the tournament circuit and in high-stakes cash games.