Dancing With J.C. Tran

J.C. Tran is a great poker player, and is what I like to call a “natural-born hold’em player.” I do not believe that there are many natural-born hold’em players amongst the top poker players in the world today. There are many great well-known players out there, but many of them are great at other games like seven-card stud or pot-limit Omaha. If they are great at hold’em, sometimes it doesn’t come easily to them, whereas J.C. naturally knows, for example, when to value-bet bottom pair. J.C. and I are playing in the Premier League IV this year, and we faced off in our second heat, where a sick hand came up.

With six players remaining and the blinds at 3,000-6,000, J.C. limped in with the 5 4, two players folded, and I made it 30,000 to go with 10-2 offsuit from the small blind. Before I continue, I must point out that there is some history that needs to be discussed briefly. First, I had reraised J.C. four times with nothing in the previous 20 minutes (but I didn’t show any bluffs) Second, J.C. had reraised me one time a few minutes earlier. Third, I had raised or reraised eight of the previous 10 hands that were dealt. Fourth, J.C. and I both started this hand with around 300,000 in chips.

J.C. called my raise, and the flop came A 9 2. Now, I bet 35,000, and J.C. called. On the turn, the 7 came off, and I bet out 48,000. J.C. then counted out a raise and followed through with his bluff, calling my 48,000 and raising it 61,000 more to go. I considered my options. I thought to myself, there are no draws on the flop, so he probably has me beat. I had a vague feeling that J.C. could have a hand like J-10, in which case I had him beat; I couldn’t beat any sort of real hand. J.C. had another 150,000 in his stack, and I finally thought that I had to move all in or fold. Eventually, I opted to fold.

How was this crazy hand played? Believe it or not, I do not mind the way that I played this hand, although it certainly could be argued that a conservative approach would have been much better. When I busted out in sixth place and received only 3 points in the league (first got 16, second 11, third 8, fourth 6, fifth 4, sixth 3, seventh 2, and eighth 0), I reconsidered my extremely aggressive play. It would have been so much easier to ramp down my aggression and cruise on to at least a fifth-place finish. But once I took the aggressive line with 10-2, I like the 35,000 bet on the flop, and the 48,000 bet on the turn. The turn bet should have forced J.C. to fold, and it would have worked against most players in the world. However, J.C. is among the top 1 percent of players in the world, and I must give him a ton of credit for his strong work in this hand; it’s no wonder that he is the defending Premier League champion. If I had known that J.C. was capable of making such an aggressive raise, maybe I could have been the superhero in this hand and simply moved all in, which would have forced J.C. to fold. It would have been an amazing move, and one that I would have added to my highlight reel. Either one of us could have won this hand; it was a matter of who blinked first — and this time I was the one who did!

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