Online Poker Sites
Poker Players
Poker Tips
How to Play Poker Basics
Poker Hands
Poker Terms
Poker Tells
Free Poker Games Online
Texas Holdem Rules
Texas Hold'em Games
Omaha Poker Scooping
Poker Tournaments
World Poker Tour
WSOP
Poker Stats
PokerTracker
Sharkscope
Calculatem
ThePokerDb
Official Poker Rankings
Site Map
|
 The
World Poker Tour event held at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City was sure to make great television. All of the elements
for a dramatic show were in place; a few world class players, an underdog (the amateur at the table), good guys, bad guy,
and some of the most aggressive players on the tournament trail. I was looking forward to watching this episode and it did
not disappoint (well maybe just a little because
Phil Ivey was the first player eliminated). The six players who made it to the final table were
Daniel Negreanu,
David Williams, Josh Arieh, Phil Ivey, Brandon Moran, and Syracuse Chris Tsiprailidis.
During the two hour program, the play was a combination of brilliance and idiocy. I know there is a fine line between the
two and some players showed how easy that line is to cross. The thing that I had to remind myself about was that the show
was edited and we did not get to see all the hands. On one hand a player made a move with 94 and on the next hand shown, another
player made a move with 92. Although, the episode showed the hands as consecutive, there could have been fifteen hands in between.
The first hand shown was enough to demonstrate how the rest of the show was going to play out. Josh raised to $70,000 with
75 of diamonds, Phil reraised all-in for an additional $463,000 with AK of diamonds, David (in the blind) thought about it
for awhile and decided to fold pocket tens and of course Josh folded behind him. Right before Josh folded, he asked Phil,
"Can you beat 7 high?" Phil actually smirked which is a rare sight when he is at a poker table. He probably thought Josh was
just messing with him, but this was one of the few times when a poker player told the truth at the poker table. I know if
Josh hadn't raised, David would have been willing to go
heads up against Phil, but with two raisers
in front of him, he obviously didn't think he had the best hand.
The next few hands were very similar to the first one. We had a player reraising from the blind with 52 offsuit and another
player reraising all-in with 98 of hearts. Mike Sexton made a comment about dressing all the players up in black and white
and putting them behind bars because these players were thieves.
 Phil Ivey was the
first person eliminated when he was involved in a race situation. Brandon raised to $70,000 with A7, Josh called from the
small blind with pocket threes, and Phil moved all-in for an additional $323,000 from the big blind with AQ
suited. Josh thought about it for a second and
then said he was going to make a bad call. The flop was JT4 and the turn was a three. Phil was
drawing to one of the four kings in the deck,
but a seven fell on the river instead.
Brandon was the next player out and he was also eliminated in a race situation. Brandon raised the $24,000 blind to $75,000
with AK, Daniel reraised to $250,000 with pocket jacks, Brandon moved all-in for an additional $262,000, and Daniel called.
Both players wished each other "fake" luck and then watched the dealer as she put a flop of 944. The turn was a queen
and the river was a three. Brandon was the "newbie" at the table, but the few hands we were able to see, he played well.
He seemed satisfied with his performance and had a huge smile on his face when he did his exit interview with Shana Hiatt.
The next player to go was Chris and I was actually surprised at how he went out. He hadn't played many hands and finally
decided to mix it up with the chip leader, Daniel. Daniel raised the $40,000 big blind to $160,000 with A9 and Chris moved
all in for an additional $530,000 with 53 offsuit. Chris hadn't played many hands and I was shocked that he chose this hand
to make a move. Daniel had so many chips, he could make a call and not damage his stack. Daniel did make the call and his
ace high held up.
They were down to the final three and it was interesting that just a few months earlier, Josh and David had been at the
final table together at the main event of the World Series of Poker. David made a mention about how he wanted to win this
event more than anything because of his taste for success at the WSOP. Oddly enough, they finished in the same place as they
did in the previous tournament.
 There were some aggressive plays
prior to only having three players left at the table, but it got even more aggressive. After the first three hands, I thought this is what
No Limit is about. It is about manipulating situations,
not necessarily about playing the cards in your hand. Just as I was thinking that, Josh was eliminated on a bonehead play. It was a classic
example of "going to the well once too often". Josh called in the small blind with J9 and Daniel
checked with 96 of clubs. The flop was T53 with two clubs.
Daniel bet $40,000 and Josh called. I didn't particularly care for the call in this spot because there were two clubs on the board.
It appeared Josh was making a call so he could take it away on the turn, but he should have taken into consideration that he wouldn't be
able to take it away on the turn if another club came out. The turn was a seven of diamonds and Josh bet $225,000 after Daniel checked.
Daniel called the bet. Okay, he did make the call to try and take the pot down on the turn. He tried, but it didn't work, so he should have
considered giving up. The river was a four giving Daniel the
straight. Daniel bet $550,000 and Josh moved all-in.
Daniel called and sent Josh packing. In the exit interview, Josh said he played badly throughout the tournament and was really disappointed.
 The
heads up match was great. David played a great game of poker throughout the event and the heads up match started out no
different. He made some aggressive moves and took the chip lead from Daniel. He also mixed his game up a little and that one
a couple pots too. One hand that was interesting was when Daniel called on the button with K2 and David checked in the big
blind with pocket nines. The flop was 663 and both players checked. The turn was a nine of spades giving Daniel a
flush draw (king high) and David the
full house. David checked, Daniel bet $60,000,
David raised to $200,000 and Daniel called. The river was another six. David bet $500,000 and Daniel looked stumped. Daniel said,
"You got me curious again….so curious. Okay, I call." David won a nice pot with that hand. Daniel had made a call earlier
on in the tournament because of his curiosity. The first one only cost him $100,000 in chips and I figured that was a small price
to pay if he wanted to get some kind of
read on David's style of play. The second
"curiosity call" kind of baffled me. I couldn't figure out why he would call $500,000 just because he was curious. I think
he was curious as to what David had, but I think he made the call because he thought he might have the best hand. Things
were just not making sense to him and it was very possible he had the winning hand.
After a few more hands, David had Daniel on the ropes and Daniel was looking frustrated and puzzled. It looked like David
was going to get his wish and win this event. Although it looked like that, looks can be deceiving. Daniel doubled up on the
next hand when he got extremely lucky. Daniel called with A2, David
reraised and additional $200,000 with pocket queens,
and Daniel called. The flop was 922 and all of the money got in there.
Two hands later, David made a huge mistake that might have cost him the tournament. David raised to $285,000 with Q7 and
Daniel reraised an additional $450,000. The reraise should have sent alarms off in David's head. Daniel loves to see flops
and get in to pots cheaply. If he raised, he most likely had a hand. David called anyway. As soon as he called, Daniel
started messing with his chips and David asked him if he was getting them ready to
move in on the flop. David read the situation correctly,
but ignored what he just saw. After a flop of J52 and a bet of $400,000 by Daniel, David moved all-in. Daniel called quickly and doubled up again.
From what we saw on television, David played the best poker of the group and earned a lot of pots with his aggressive play.
Daniel played great too, but he also got hit with the deck in crucial times. The A2 hand started it out for Daniel and then
later during the heads-up play, he got dealt pocket aces twice and pocket kings once. The final hand was one of the times
when Daniel held Aces. David called with K6 of diamonds, Daniel raised to $400,000 with pocket aces, and David called. The
flop was KJ8. Daniel bet $400,000, David moved all-in, and Daniel called. The turn was a jack and the river was a queen. The
two of them were so close in chips, they had to count the stacks down to see if Daniel had won. Daniel had a few more chips
than David and was declared the winner.
See also The Borgata Casino Season Two |
