Ivey’s Fearless Bluff Shines on High Stakes PokerIvey Five-Bets Preflop with Five-High |
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Bluffing was definitely the major theme in this week’s episode of High Stakes Poker. Lex Veldhuis basically tried to bluff everyone with shaky results, and Dennis Phillips even turned his pocket jacks into a bluff to get Tom Dwan off the best hand with a large river bet.
But the most memorable bluff of the night belonged to Phil Ivey, and it wasn’t even close.
In a hand that might have elicited a few stunned expletives out of the viewing public, Ivey showed exactly why so many top-level poker players fear him.
The hand started innocently enough as Barry Greenstein opened to a $5,500 preflop raise with Q
10
. Ivey, who had just won the previous pot after firing a double-barrel bluff against Andrew Robl, decided to ignore the value of his cards once more, re-raising to $18,000 with his 5
2.
That’s when Veldhuis decided to get involved — four-betting the action to $51,600 preflop with his K
J.
To his credit, the Dutch pro showed moxie throughout his episodes on High Stakes Poker this season, constantly getting involved in the action and running more than a few bluffs against his tablemates. Unfortunately, for him, his competitors seemed to pick up on his aggression and turned it against him on countless occasions.
All the same, it seemed implausible that he would fail on this hand. Reading the situation excellently, Veldhuis put himself in position to win a nice-sized pot without even needing to see a flop.
But he was facing Ivey, and with Ivey, nothing is implausible.
The audience was reminded of that fact after the action returned to the Full Tilt pro once Greenstein got out of the way. Ivey asked how much more Veldhuis had behind in his stack, a question that seemed to HSP host Gabe Kaplan and probably most people who were watching to be a little bit of Hollywooding.
But after Veldhuis responded, “One-forty something,” Ivey pushed all in.
After seemingly making the determination that Veldhuis had enough behind to fold, Ivey five-bet preflop with just five-high. And sure enough, he was right. Veldhuis sighed and threw his hand into the muck.
Kaplan called it “one of the great bluffs in the history of High Stakes Poker.”
While many poker players will only five-bet with pocket aces, Ivey showed that he is willing to do it with literally any two cards.
As for Veldhuis, it marked the worst moment for him in an episode that saw him ratchet up his aggression even more. In the first six televised hands of the show, Veldhuis reraised before the flop four times. He only won one of those pots, getting Greenstein to fold his A-Q when he four-bet to $60,800 preflop with the same hand.
There were plenty of other instances of players trying to pull moves throughout the episode, but one surprising move belonged to Phillips.
The High Stakes Poker newbie decided to just limp in from early position with his pocket jacks, calling Dwan’s $8,300 raise out of position. The New Jersey pro out-flopped the former trucking account manager with his A Q, thanks to a Q 10 5 board.
Phillips check-called a $15,600 bet from Dwan. The K turn slowed down the action, as both players opted to see a free card. But when a third spade fell on the river, the 4, Phillips decided to try to seize the $52,200 pot from Dwan, firing out $33,000. Dwan thought about it briefly, but ultimately threw his cards away.
A new lineup premieres during next week’s episode. While Ivey, Dwan, and Negreanu will return, they are joined by what GSN is dubbing the “wildest lineup yet,” featuring Bertrand Grospellier, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Mike Matusow, and Eli Elezra.
A preview of the future action showed Brunson and Matusow jawing at each other and a frustrated Negreanu banging his fist onto the table, an indication that his struggles on the show are far from finished.
Check back to CardPlayer.com next week for a recap of all the major action.
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