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 The
World Poker Tour Bellagio Season Two show was incredible. Four of the players,
Gus Hansen,
Paul Phillips,
Mel Judah and Dewey Tomko, have previously played on
a WPT final table and they were all amazing to watch on this show. Tino Lechich and Abe Mosseri also made the final six.
This episode has been the best of season two so far.
Normally the first hand we see does not involve much
action. That was not the case for this
show. Gus limped for $24,000 with pocket
fives, Abe called with Q9 of spades and Tino raised to $99,000 with AJ of diamonds. The flop was A82 with two diamonds. Tino
checked, Gus checked, Abe bet $300,000 and
Tino moved all-in. Gus and Abe folded and Tino picked up the first pot of the evening.
The next hand shown was a "Gus". Tino called in the small blind with A8 and Gus checked his 53 in the big blind.
The flop was A53 and both players checked. I was amused that this hand hit both players and both checked trying to trap the other
opponent. Tino was probably licking his chops when he saw the ace flop not knowing that Gus held the wonderful "53 offsuit".
The turn was a nine and Tino bet out $40,000 and Gus called. The river was a king. Tino checked, Gus bet $80,000 and Tino
called. Gus is always so exciting to watch because he is willing to play post-flop poker. I have noticed lately that many
new players like to move all-in so they don't have to do post-flop thinking. Gus is the extreme opposite. This is what makes
him my favorite player to watch on the WPT.
Mel got himself trapped on the next hand when Abe called with pocket fives, Paul called in the small blind with A9 of spades
and Mel checked his big blind with AT. The flop was A42 giving Mel and Paul top pair. Paul checked, Mel checked behind him
and Abe bet $50,000. Paul called and Mel raised to $150,000. I couldn't believe Abe called behind him with his
gutshot straight draw. There
was no way he could have thought he had the best hand at the time. After he called, Paul correctly folded. The turn was a
three giving Abe his straight. Mel bet
$120,000 and Abe made it $350,000. I was surprised to see Mel call in this situation. Mel has always been a player I admired
because of his ability to
read his opponents. Abe was staring Mel
down with a smug look on his face that screamed he had a huge hand. The river was a seven of clubs making three on the
board. Mel checked, Abe moved all-in and Mel finally laid his hand down.
Windows - Mac
Mel did double up on the next hand we saw when Paul raised to $80,000 with 98 and Mel moved all in for $211,000 with A6.
Paul said, "I have to call that". Mike Sexton commented about it also being the correct play because of the
pot odds, but Mel won the pot.
Paul and Gus went at it in the next hand. Paul called in first
position with AJ, Tino called in the small blind with 96,
and Gus checked his T5 of clubs. The flop was KKT. Tino checked, Gus bet $50,000, Paul raised to $150,000, Tino folded and Gus called. The turn
was an ace giving Paul the best hand. Gus checked and Paul checked behind him. The river was a three of diamonds making three diamonds on the board.
Gus checked, Paul bet $120,000 and Gus folded. As Paul was stacking his chips, Gus told him, "I let you get away with that one". Paul earned
that pot by taking the lead and not allowing Gus to push him around. I knew we were going to see incredible poker because of Gus' unpredictable play,
but also because Paul held position on Gus and was determined to exploit it.
 Every
once in awhile Gus will wake up with a respectable hand. This was the case when he came in raising with pocket jacks. Abe called in the
small blind for $90,000 more with AJ of hearts. The flop was Q43 and both players checked. The turn was a four of hearts giving Abe the
flush draw and both players checked again. I was
surprised to see Gus check here giving Abe a
free card. The river was another
three. Abe checked, Gus bet $100,000 and Abe called. Abe's inexperience showed on this hand. Not particularly because of the
way he played it, but afterward. He told Mel what he held almost like he wanted Mel's approval for calling with Ace high.
Dewey Tomko proved his experience on the next hand. Gus limped with T9 of spades, Paul called with KJ, Abe called with 95
and Dewey moved all-in from the big blind with A4 of diamonds. He knew he was not likely to get called in this situation
with all of the limpers and his reputation for being a solid player. Paul earned himself another pot when he did not have
the best hand. He raised to $100,000 with A5 and Abe called in the big blind with K9. The flop was KJ6 and Abe did not
take the lead when he checked. Paul bet $100,000
and Abe called. The turn was a jack and Abe checked again. Paul bet $300,000 and Abe folded.
Abe's inexperience showed again when he raised to $120,000 with A7 of hearts. Dewey moved all-in with pocket queens and Abe
called. Dewey was the tightest player on
the table and Abe called with Ace rag. It was a horrible call on his part and it reminded me of the newest generation of
Internet players who think ace anything is a premium hand. The board of J65K3 with only two hearts did not improve Abe's
hand and Dewey won a nice pot.
Mel was eliminated when he called in the small blind with JT and Abe raised to $100,000 in the big blind with K6 of clubs.
The flop was KJ7. Mel checked, Abe bet $150,000, Mel moved all-in and Abe quickly called. The turn was a seven and the river
was a queen making Mel the sixth place finisher.
Tino left on the next hand shown. Tino raised to $120,000 with KQ of spades, Gus reraised $200,000 more with AT and Tino called. The flop
was AKJ. Gus bet $300,000 and Tino called all-in. The turn was a five and the river was a jack. Tino was the fifth place finisher.
The hand I did not like to see Gus get involved in was when Dewey raised to $260,000 with
AK of clubs. Gus
reraised to $700,000 with AJ of spades
forcing Paul to fold his AJ. Dewey looked at his chips and said "whatever" as he made the motion to move all-in. Because Gus
had already got so involved in this hand, he was forced to call the remaining $145,000. The flop was Q93, the turn was a five, and the
river was a four. WE didn't see Dewey involved in any hands besides the one with the A4. He had to have a premium hand. I think Gus'
mistake here was to make this an all-in before the flop hand or a fold for Dewey, rather than calling and having a hand of post-flop play.
 Paul
Phillips made me laugh on the next hand and he wasn't even involved. Gus raised to $150,000 with A6 and Abe called $90,000
in the big blind with 87. The flop was A83 and Abe moved all-in for $420,000. Abe told Gus, "I need to double up, Gus". When
Gus called, Paul said to Abe, "You might have talked yourself into a call you don't want." The turn was a five and the river
was a two. Abe finished the tournament in fourth place.
Paul seemed to make all the right moves in all the right situations. He raised the $60,000 big blind with pocket queens to
$150,000 and Gus called with A2. The flop was J73 all spades with Gus holding the Ace of spades. Gus led out for $130,000,
Paul raised another $300,000 and Gus called. The turn was a six of spades. Gus bet $800,000 and Paul made the correct
laydown.
Paul's position on Gus was earning him a couple of pots including when Gus raised with K4 of spades and Paul came over the
top of him with J9 of spades. Gus laid the better hand down. Paul knew Gus would be raising a lot of pots and was playing
back at him better than I have ever seen anybody else do. Paul also won another pot from Gus when Gus called with Q9 and
Paul checked his J2. The flop was J64. Gus checked, Paul bet $100,000, Gus raised to $300,000 and Paul reraised him another
$500,000. Gus folded his hand and Paul won himself another big pot.
The key hand of the tournament came when Gus raised the $100,000 blind to $280,000 with pocket tens. Paul moved all-in for
almost three million in chips with AQ. Gus said, "That's interesting". He started talking to himself, asking himself how he
could call the hand. He thought about it for awhile and did call. The flop was J99 and the turn was a four. It looked like
Gus might win the pot until the queen hit on the river. Gus played terrific and made the correct
move in my opinion. The crowd stood up cheering
for Gus when he left in third place.
 When the play got
heads up, Paul had Dewey about five to one in chips.
Dewey had a lot of work to do and he gave it a hell of a go. The first hand Paul raised with J8 and Dewey moved all-in with pocket nines.
Paul folded his hand. This was going to the first of many all-in moves by Dewey. Dewey knew he needed to get into a race situation with Paul
and win it to give himself a solid chance of winning the tournament. Paul called on the next hand with J8 and Dewey moved all-in with 53 of hearts.
Paul folded again. Dewey moved all-in with T9 and Paul looked frazzled with his K6. He folded again. I was amazed at the patience Paul had.
I believe he knew what Dewey was trying to accomplish and he didn't want to give him any of his chips without a decent hand. The problem was
Paul wasn't getting any decent hands. Dewey went at it again when he held AT and Paul folded his 73. The next hand shown Dewey held JT and
Paul had 43. It didn't look like Paul was ever going to get a hand. He looked at the next hand and again he held junk (52), but he took a
shot at the pot this time. He raised to $250,000, but Dewey moved in again with A4. I was surprised when Paul laid the next hand down.
After seeing the junk hands he was dealt, QT
suited would look like a
monster. Dewey moved all-in again with T9 and Paul
debated for awhile, but folded again. The final hand was when Dewey moved in with K8 of spades and Paul called with pocket sevens.
This was the hand that he held at the Bicycle Casino when he eliminated
T.J. Cloutier. The flop was T74 with two spades. Paul flopped a
set, but Dewey had the spade draw. The turn
was the three of hearts and the river was the queen of clubs. Paul Phillips was declared WPT champion of the Bellagio event.
After Paul won the event in December I asked him: "You mentioned you thought either you and Gus would come in first and
third and Dewey would come in second. What was it like to adjust your play to the two different styles of Gus and Dewey?"
He responded: "Fortunately I had position on Gus, which is critical against a guy who raises every hand. I let him get away
with most of them but swatted back when I had something decent. Generally we both stayed out of Dewey's way unless we had
something very worthwhile, but we both knew that I was liable to re-raise him with something quite a bit less strong than
Dewey was, and from there we both risked ending up in the middle. That's just what happened, and when we ran the cards out
it was I who got lucky. If I'd been on Dewey's left instead of Gus's, I would have tried to use Dewey's presence behind Gus
as a lever to keep Gus out of pots, but it would have been a lot trickier. Gus is too willing to call a raise and if I had
to play a lot of flops out of position against him I wouldn't have liked it one bit."
Also see Bellagio Bellagio Season One and
Season Three
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