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 The Ultimate
Poker Classic episode was not as exciting as some of the previous episodes. I was looking forward to this episode because I have heard so much about
Erick Lindgren and I wanted to see how he played. I do not think this
episode showed his full ability. I liked his patience and there was one hand that stood out in my mind, but many of the hands he held were so good,
they were straight forward.
The shows filmed overseas do not have the WPT stage and I think the stage helps add to the dramatization of the event. My friend,
Steve Badger disagreed and said the hotties in
the bikinis (especially Shana Hiatt) made it much more interesting.
One of the first hands, Anthony Fagan raised to $50,000 with KJ and Erick reraised to $150,000 from the small blind with
pocket aces. The flop was 763 and Erick moved all-in. He did not take the opportunity to milk this situation. He might have
been able to get more chips from Anthony if he checked the flop or made a moderate bet. After, Erick made his move, Anthony
took his sweet time to fold. I know there are times when a player must think about
pot odds,
implied odds, the possibilities
of an opponents hand, etc., but when a hand comes down like this, just throw the damn hand away and save the acting.
A little while later, Daniel Larsson raised to $30,000 on the
button with K7 and Erick called in the
small blind with K9. The flop was A93, Daniel bet $30,000 and Erick called. The turn was a six and Erick led out for $60,000
and Daniel raised to $160,000 with only king high. Erick laid his hand down and I could almost see the wheels turning. It
seemed Erick was going to make a few of these
laydowns just so he could win a huge pot on a later hand. Anthony had a similar style to Daniel and I figured he would
also get himself into a situation later on in the tournament. Erick made a few moves with good hands and when Daniel or
Anthony made a move on him, he folded. He finally told Daniel: "I will break you next time".
Card Player publisher Barry Shulman made a few good
moves in the beginning of the show and I thought he was going to be unstoppable because of his chip position. He seemed to be
thrown off his game plan on one hand in particular and lost a lot of his chips. Rick Casper called in the small blind with 85
and Barry checked his Q5 of clubs. The flop was Q76 giving Rick the open end straight and Barry the top pair. Rick bet $50,000
and Barry called. A raise would have been in order in this situation to see where he stood. The turn was a nine giving Rick the
straight and he bet $200,000. Barry quickly called. The river was a ten and Rick moved
all-in. Barry quickly called again, even
though he really couldn't beat anything except a total
bluff. Rick won a huge pot and took the
chip lead for a short time. More importantly, Barry lost a lot of money on hand that he was kind of forced to play. I am
sure Barry would not opt to play Q5, but because he was in the blind, he had to. Barry did not try and determine the
strength of his opponents hand and it cost him.
Windows - Mac
Erick was one of the shorter stacks until the following hand took place. Erick raised the $30,000 blind to $80,000 with
pocket Aces. Rick
reraised to $300,000 with pocket kings
and Erick moved all-in for $68,000 more. Rick called and lost the pot when his hand did not improve.
Rick was eliminated when Daniel raised the $30,000 blind to $80,000 with pocket jacks. Rick moved all-in over the top for
$511,000 more with pocket nines. Daniel thought about it for a short time and called. The board was QJ872 and Rick finished
in sixth place. Twice, Rick lost his chips to an $80,000 raise. The raise was not even three times the amount of the blind.
Normally that would be an indicator of the opponent having a good enough hand they want to be played with.
Erick got dealt pocket aces several times. He did not extract as many chips as he might have been able to get on the following
hand either. Daniel raised the $50,000 blind to $150,000 and Erick moved all-in for $497,000, so Daniel folded his hand.
Sometimes it is hard to judge the show because they do not show us all of the hands. Ted Harrington had quite a few chips
and then all of a sudden he is shown with $243,000. It would be nice if we were able to see how his chips dwindled. The same
is to be said about Barry. His chips went down considerably after losing the Q5 pot and then all of a sudden, he had a lot
of chips. Ted moved his $243,000 in with A6 of hearts and got called by Anthony in the small blind with AJ and Daniel in the
big blind with 98 of clubs. The flop
was QJ4 with two hearts, the turn was a three and the river was a seven. Both
players who were not all-in checked
the hand down. Ted Harrington finished in fifth place. The poor guy got almost no air time.
Anthony showed us again how his aggressive style was paying off when Barry raised to $100,000 with K7 and Anthony called
$50,000 in the big blind with 98. Barry bet $100,000 after a flop of T53 and Anthony raised to $400,000 with 9 high. Barry
folded his hand. Barry was eliminated shortly after that when Erick called in the small blind with
AK and Barry moved all-in with his
pocket tens. Erick called $601,000 and won the pot with a board of KK989. Barry finished in fourth place.
Erick called on the button with JT, Anthony called in the small blind with KT and Daniel checked his 63 of spades. The flop
was KJ7, Daniel and Anthony checked, Erick bet $150,000 and Anthony called. The turn was a two, Anthony checked, Erick moved
all-in after a lot of thought and Anthony said "you must have a flush draw". Erick had the jack of diamonds with three
diamonds on board and Anthony folded after he made that
read. This is not an uncommon site on the
WPT when a player evaluates a hand perfectly and then does not follow through with his read.
My favorite hand that Erick played was when Daniel
limped in the small blind with J8 of clubs
and Erick checked his 74. The flop was A74 with two clubs. Daniel checked, Erick bet $150,000 and Daniel called. The turn
was an ace of diamonds and both players checked. The river was a nine of hearts. Daniel bet $200,000 and Erick quickly
called. It looked like he knew his hand was good. There was no thought before he made that call. He had thought that hand
through when he checked on the turn, and it was checked behind him. This is what separates the professionals from the
amateurs.
We saw a lot of hands where a player moved all-in and I always like when that happens. I know it is only a matter of time
before one of the players gets his hand caught in the cookie jar and I knew it would not be Erick (partly because of his
experience and partly because I knew the results before watching the show). Anthony had made three all-in moves that we saw
and then went for it a fourth time with J6 of hearts. Erick quickly called in the big blind with AK. The flop was 974 of
clubs. The turn was another four and the river was a seven of spades. Anthony left in third place.
When the heads up play began, Erick had $3,651,000 in chips to Daniel's $723,000. On the first hand of heads up play, Erick
picked up pocket eights and moved all-in and Daniel folded his Q5 of spades. The next hand we see, Erick picked up pocket
tens and moved in again. Daniel folded his J2. Daniel made a comment about Erick getting a lot of hands and I figured he was
going to wait to trap Erick. He did manage to trap him when he called with AK of spades and Erick moved all-in with Q3 of
diamonds and Daniel called. Unfortunately for him, the flop was Q74. After the three was revealed on the turn, Daniel was
drawing dead and Erick won the event.
Also see the Ultimate Poker Classic Aruba - Season One and
Season Three report
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