Phil Gets Lucky

At the WPT (World Poker Tour) Championship, this hand came up on day six, when we were playing down to the final six players. With the blinds at 15,000-30,000 and a 3,000 ante per player, and nine remaining players, I opened from under the gun for 80,000 with J-J. Here’s a brief history: I had been anteing/blinding off my chips (playing almost zero hands), when I opened with 6-5 offsuit and everyone folded. The very next hand, I picked up A-J and opened again, and everyone folded again. Now, I looked at J-J and opened, so this was the third hand in a row that I opened the pot with a raise. Right behind me, Nikolay Evdakov made it 200,000 to go. I called, the flop came Q-9-8, I checked, and Evdakov moved all in. I had 345,000 left, and studied for a while. Finally, I called, and Evdakov tabled K-K. Now I needed a jack for a set or a 10 for a straight to win this pot (I was about a 3-1 underdog). The turn was an ace, and the river was a jack! What a card for me!

How did Evdakov and I play this hand? My 80,000 preflop bet was OK. An 80,000 bet isn’t far from the standard opening bet of three times the big blind. Some would say that I should have opened for more than 80,000, for a few reasons. First, it was the third raise in a row for me, so opening for more — like 90,000 to 120,000 — would be a stronger move. Second, there are those who say that you should open for a minimum of three times the big blind (90,000, in this case). Interestingly, on the Internet these days, a standard opening raise is more like two-and-a-half times the big blind. Why? Because the players online do not seem to be defending their blinds very often, so a two-and-a-half times the big blind opening bet seems to win as often as one of three times the big blind. Why risk more if you are picking up the blinds, when the likely outcome is that either everyone folds or someone reraises and oftentimes makes you fold your hand right then and there?

Evdakov’s smallish 120,000 reraise was very inviting. I mean, considering that he had K-K, his reraise was OK, but I would have been tempted to raise more — like, say, making it another 150,000 or 160,000, to protect my hand. My call preflop was OK, but it sure looked like Evdakov had A-A or K-K. And if I really thought that Evdakov had A-A or K-K, I could have folded my hand before the flop. However, the fact that I had raised three hands in a row influenced my decision. I mean, no one looks strong when he’s raising every pot. Thus, I knew that I looked weak. And because I looked weak, I wondered if Evdakov had reraised me with 10-10, 9-9, or A-K. In fact, I seriously considered whether or not Evdakov might have A-K. My check on the flop was a good one. Some players would say that I should move all in here. I mean, if I am going to call anyway, why not shove? Why check and give Evdakov a free card, with which he might hit his A-K or smaller pair? Well, I wanted to give Evdakov the chance to bluff all in with A-K, 10-10, or another bluffing hand.

Evdakov’s all-in move on the flop was pretty standard. As for my call — well, by now Evdakov had shown a ton of strength, and it could be argued that I had to fold my hand and save my last 345,000. I called because I thought it was possible that Evdakov had A-K or 10-10. Also, I did have outs if I was wrong.

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