In the Sept. 10th CardPlayer Magazine there’s an article written by Phil Hellmuth in which he discusses getting blown out of the Turning Stone American Poker Championship Tournament. Here’s Phil in his own words:
Instead, a mere five hands later, with the blinds at $250-$500, I raised it to $1500 to go with the 3h2h, and the flop came down 10h 5h 3d (I had flopped a pair and a flush draw). When the big blind checked to me, I moved all in for about $14,000 into the $3500 pot. My opponent called me quickly with the Qh Ts.
I absolutely hate this call here, especially because he had only $16,000 left. Was he hoping that I had stone-cold bluffed my last $14,000 into a $3500 pot on the flop? Apparently, but I don’t ever remember betting out that much money relative to the size of the pot on a pure bluff in my long poker life. Best case, he could hope I had the Ah Kh, which would still be a very slight favorite over his hand. I guess he thought I had J-10 or 9-9 or didn’t think it through at all.
Before going any further, Phil didn’t get his flush nor did his hand improve at all on the turn or river. I can see where a third party might question his opponent’s call here but Phil critisizing of a guy for calling with top pair when he went all in with 3h 2h with bottom pair and a flush draw is nothing more than a demonstration of Phil’s own ego. Wait, Phil RAISED 3x the BB with 32s! IMHO, Phil’s every play was wrong from beginning to bust yet he’s talking about how he doesn’t like the other guy’s call? Amazing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the other guy’s play either but then again you won’t see me writing in a public forum how I called down a hand with bottom pair and then talk about what a goof it was for my opponent to call my flop bet with just . . . top pair.
It reminds me of Josh Arieh in the WSOP. Board is As Kh Qh and Josh has Th 9h. His opponent, Demetriou, has AJ (i.e the better hand) and Demetriou puts out a bet that would require Josh to go all in. Now, I’ve seen people debate back and forth whether Josh’s call was correct or not or whether Demetriou was correct in betting out that much at a guy who was already pretty much pot committed but bottom line is that Josh’s behavior after hitting his hand was in the words of announcer Norm Chad, “classless.” After hitting his hand he taunts Demetriou on camera asking “You put me all in with AJ?” He’s shaking his head and making faces like Demetriou was a stone-cold idiot. Again, agree or disagree with either Josh’s or Demetriou’s play here but for one player to critisize another player’s marginal play while also making a marginal play is just stupid.
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Hi, my name is Bill Rini and this is my poker blog. I've been blogging about poker and the poker industry since around 2003-ish. Like most people I started out playing poker as entertainment in home games whenever we wanted to sit around and smoke cigars, drink beer, and eat pizza, and needed a good excuse. I started playing online shortly after the first online card rooms opened and it wasn't long before I was playing 20, 30, or even 40 hours a week or more. One day I received a phone call about a program manager position at Tiltware which was the company that consulted to Full Tilt Poker on software development and marketing. After Tiltware I spent about 2.5 years working at Party Poker where I was the poker room manager.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Well said. It’s well known that Phil plays a ton of hands before the flop, and clearly his opponent used that to help make his decision to call. However, Phil is also known for hating to put all his chips in the pot, so maybe we should put him on a big hand. Two conflicting Phil-tendencies, and the caller chose the right one.
I think the main point is, rather than saying his opponent made a great call, he takes the low road and calls him an idiot (more or less). Big baby.
Josh Arieh acted like Phil several times during the WSOP episodes. I’d much rather watch Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Doyle, Bunson, and many other players who walk away or simply say “nice hand” when they get beat by someone making a bad play. The pros of all people should realize that it’s poker and everyone plays differently.