Holiday Poker Game in Madison

My traditional “holiday poker game” is held in Madison, Wisconsin, and this year it was a $1,000 buy-in, $5-$5 blinds pot-limit hold’em game. It is always one of the highlights of my holiday trip back to Wisconsin. We play with a great group of guys, and it is a lot of fun to play super deep-stack poker. This year, we started at around 4 p.m., and by 2 a.m., we had more than $50,000 on the table. With the stacks so deep, a person can play 40 percent of the hands and still make money. Playing that many hands and still winning requires guts, heart, and the ability to make big bluffs and small bluffs, and to slow-play and fast-play; the right mix can yield a large profit. Of course, the wrong mix can yield a large loss!

At around 2 a.m., the following hand came up between UB.com pro player “Poker Ho” and me. With the live $10 blind on, Poker Ho and Jon Green limped into the pot, and I called with the J 6 from the button. The flop came down J-5-2 rainbow, Ho bet out $50, Green called, and I decided to “pot it” (bet the size of the pot). The players in the blinds folded to my $260 bet, and Ho then quickly threw $520 (a $310 reraise) into the pot. Green folded, and after a moment, I called. The turn card was an 8. Ho announced, “I bet the pot,” and I quickly folded. Ho told me later that he had flopped a set of fives.

What happened in this hand? I love Ho’s $50 bet into a $60 pot with a set of fives. The other option is that he could slow-play his very powerful hand and bet $20, or even check on the flop, but then he would most likely give up the chance to win a huge pot. A check on the flop is the worst possible tactic, as it denies one of the three players in the blinds the chance to check-raise the pot on the flop, and therefore could cost Ho a lot of action. I mean, if one of the blinds was attempting a check-raise with, say, J-2, J-5, 5-2, K-J, or something similar, and it was checked around, that player in the blind might fear that his hand was no longer any good on the turn, and may well put less money into the pot on the turn. Also, a 6, a 4, a 3, or an ace could queer Ho’s action, as he would now have to fear that an opponent had a straight. The other reasonable option is a smaller bet on the flop. On the positive side of the ledger, a small bet — say, $20 — would still give an opponent in one of the blinds the chance to check-raise, and it might lure in someone with a pair of deuces, or ace high, or a weaker holding. On the negative side of the ledger, a small bet would attract a call from someone with an inside-straight draw (6-4, 6-3, A-4, or A-3), who then would get a huge payoff from Ho if he made his straight. To sum it all up, I like the $50 bet a little more than the $20 bet, and a check is a bad play.

In regard to my $260 bet on the flop, I think it was a good one. I made the pot-sized raise thinking I probably had the best hand, but also to find out where I stood in the hand. I really love Ho’s $310 reraise, especially since he executed it at lightning speed. He acted so quickly that I became a bit confused. I hate my call! I mean, I raised on the flop to see where I stood, Ho’s reraise told me that I was beat, and I called anyway! I do not like Ho’s pot-sized bet on the turn. Why let me get away from my hand when he was so powerful? I know why he made the pot-sized bet, though. He was making sure that I didn’t call with 4-3 and bust him. I would have folded 4-3, but he gave me the chance to easily get away from one pair, and also possibly get away from two pair (had I had it).

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