NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship — Round Two

Welcome to my ongoing series of columns featuring an inside look at the matches I played in the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Last issue, I wrote about a hand that I was lucky to win in my first-round match against Mike Sexton. In this column, I’m going to discuss my second-round match. My opponent was Jeffrey Ishbia, an amateur poker player from Detroit, Michigan. I wasn’t going to overlook anyone, so I decided to give Ishbia respect as a player and treat this match like I would treat any other match. While trying not to look ahead, I knew that if I won and Tom “Durrr” Dwan won his second-round match, the world would get the rematch that it wanted so badly in the “Sweet Sixteen.”

You see, Dwan and I faced off in the first round of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2008, and on the third hand, we put it all in with my A-A against his 10-10. When he hit a 10 on the turn to take me out, I began my “Poker Brat” routine; I started whining, bemoaning my bad luck, and telling Dwan how poorly he had played his hand. This caused quite a stir online in every poker site’s chat room, where the then 21-year-old Dwan was viewed as nothing less than a hero — and for good reason, as he has won more than $10 million playing online poker! Maybe it was a new school vs. old school thing, but I cannot tell you how many times players have asked me when Dwan and I would have a rematch.

Against Ishbia, I didn’t want to take any chances. By that I mean that I didn’t want to play a huge pot in which he could get lucky and win the entire match in one hand. I was going to play small ball, and protect my hands — when I had the best hand — so that I didn’t get outdrawn. I mean, why should I take a 3-to-1 edge in one big pot? I thought it was better to play smaller pots with the best hand, until I had the best possible hand and Ishbia had a strong enough hand that he had to pay me off. I also would rely on my reading ability to pick up some chips, calling him when he was weak and bluffing him out when we were both weak.

Early in the match, with the blinds at 300-600, I picked up Q-Q. Ishbia limped in from the button, I raised it 900 more to go from the big blind, and Ishbia called. The flop was Q 8 3. I checked, Ishbia bet 2,000, and I made it 6,000 to go. Ishbia called, and the turn card was the J. Now, I was pretty sure that Ishbia was drawing dead on the flop: I didn’t think that he had a flush draw, and there was no way that he would put in 6,000 with an inside-straight draw. With the addition of the jack on the board, Ishbia could have been drawing live; that is, if he had a 9 (then, he would need a 10 for a straight) or a 10 (then, he would need a 9 for a straight) in his hand. Against a top professional opponent, I would have bet a lot less, or even checked, in order to try to max out the amount of money that I would win in this pot. But since I felt like I had a big advantage over Ishbia, I opted to protect my hand. Thus, I bet a whopping 12,000, while figuring that if Ishbia called, I was going all in after the river card was turned, no matter what that card was. Ishbia folded, and I went on to win my match, as did Dwan.

The stage was set: Dwan vs. Hellmuth II!

Learn more about Phil by going to his website, www.PhilHellmuth.com, and visit his webstore at www.PokerBrat.com.