14 Gold Medals, and a Player, Too!

I watched the 2008 Summer Olympics with no small measure of amazement as Michael Phelps won gold medal after gold medal. One day it was Phelps by a country mile, and the next day his relay teammates ran down their opponents at the last possible second. Over their loud protests, I made my sons watch each race on television, knowing that we were witnessing something truly special on a historical and global scale. Finally, Phelps won the race that defies explanation, and we watched the replay of it over and over again and still were left shaking our heads in disbelief. Phelps was beat, but somehow used a half-stroke, a move of a champion, to beat Milorad Cavic by literally a fingernail! When I watched the replay seven or eight times, my sons were very happy to be in the room watching with me. Eight races, eight gold medals, what else can you say?

As news filtered to the poker world that Phelps is a poker player and a fan of the poker world, players took notice. Then, a few months after the Olympics ended, I was in Las Vegas when Phelps asked to meet me. I have met some of the biggest celebs in the world, but Phelps was the first person I was completely star-struck by. Also, I was impressed with his knowledge of Texas hold’em; the very next day, he made the final table in a tournament at Caesars Palace with more than 300 entrants.

Anyway, Phelps played a big pot in another tournament recently that I decided to discuss in this column. The blinds were 500-1,000, with an ante of 125 a man. Player A moved all in from under the gun for 5,000 with K-6 offsuit, and everyone folded to Phelps, who moved all in from the small blind for 29,000 with the 9 9. Player B — in the big blind — tanked for a moment, then called 28,000 more with A-7 offsuit. The hands were turned up, and the flop came down 10-9-6. What a great flop for Phelps with his pair of nines. The turn was a jack, which meant that Phelps could now lose if an 8 or a queen came on the river. Alas, the river was an 8!

Let’s take a closer look at the play of this hand. I do not like Player A’s all-in move from under the gun with K-6. I would greatly prefer a fold. I mean, he would have been in the big blind the very next hand, and anything could have happened then. For example, maybe someone in late position would have raised with 2-2 or Q-J, or on a bluff, and Player A could have found himself a favorite to win a pot of 10,000 in chips. Or, maybe Player A could have folded both hands in the blinds and still had about 3,000 left when he took possession of the button and had several more hands to choose from. Phelps’ all-in move for 29,000 was a good one, as he had to fear only Player B in the big blind. In fact, Phelps sent a clear message to Player B, which was, “I have a strong hand!” I hate Player B’s call with A-7. He obviously didn’t get Phelps’ message, or interpret it very well. Regardless, Player B had only 1,000 in the pot, and it was 28,000 more to call with A-7 offsuit. If Mike “The Mouth” Matusow saw Player B make that call, he would shout, “Are you insane?!”

Phelps has a ton of poker talent, and in the next 15 years, don’t be surprised to see him win a few World Series of Poker bracelets to go along with his — oh, say — 19 to 24 gold medals! By the way, I have asked Phelps if he wants to trade one of his gold medals for one of my WSOP bracelets, but I don’t think he’ll go for it.

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