Lucky Ace for Phil

At the World Poker Tour Championship recently, I had a real shot of winning the whole thing, but you wouldn’t have known that if you had entered the room late on day two in the middle of the following hand.

With the blinds at 1,200-2,400, I opened for 6,500 from under the gun with A-A, and two players called, including the always tough Kathy Liebert. The flop came down 9 7 3, and I bet 12,000. Player A folded, and Liebert then made it 30,000. I had around 96,000 when the hand began, and now I had to make a decision. There was no flush draw, and I felt there was no way that Liebert had a straight draw, so either I had her crushed because she had one pair or a bluff, or she had me crushed with a set, with 9-9, 7-7, or 3-3 in the hole. If I folded, I would have almost 80,000 left going into day three (there was only 10 minutes left before we were to finish playing for the day). I pondered the fact that there were so many other hands that I could beat. After a moment, I shoved, and Liebert snap-called (a bad sign!). Then, she showed down 7-7. Ouch! Bye-bye, Philly boy. When the turn was a 6, I didn’t even bother looking at the river card. Instead, I turned my attention to my friend Howard Lederer to tell him that I was about to be busted out of the tournament. Only a few minutes earlier, I had claimed to Lederer that my going broke in the next 12 minutes was an impossibility! Then, I heard the players at my table react with a “Wow!” I turned to see that the A was lying out there as the river card. Wow, indeed!

How did I play this hand? I like my preflop raise to 6,500; any raise of 2.5-4.0 times the big blind is OK. I like my 12,000 bet into a pot of about 23,000 on the flop; any bet of more than 50 percent of the pot is OK with me, although some would argue that a check here makes sense (to trap opponents), while others would argue that making a larger bet makes sense (to protect the hand). I love Liebert’s raise to 30,000. And she made it quickly, so that I wouldn’t think there was any way that she had a set. Well-played, Kathy, you certainly fooled me!

Before I look at my all-in move, let me give you a little history. Earlier in the day, someone had raised to 3,000 from under the gun, the next two players called, and then Liebert made it 12,000 to go. I had a strong read that the player under the gun had nothing, and I thought that Liebert also picked up on that. Thus, I made it 50,000 to go from the big blind with A-10, and Liebert moved all in for 68,000. I called (what a horrible play I made to put in 68 big blinds before the flop with A-10), and she showed down K-K and won the pot. Because of that reckless play, I thought Liebert may have raised with a pocket pair like 10-10, 8-8, 6-6, or 5-5, or perhaps with A-9 suited, or maybe she was just trying to bluff me. So, I have no problem with my all-in move on the flop with A-A, given the history. Without that history, I would have to go with pocket aces right then and there 80 percent of the time anyway, because of my stack size and the size of the pot. Occasionally, I may be able to fold the aces when I have a “sick read” of some sort and smell that my opponent has a set.

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