5 Things I Learned From Watching Phil Hellmuth Play Poker at the Bay 101 WPT

5 Things I Learned From Watching Phil Hellmuth Play Poker at the Bay 101 WPT

Image via Wikipedia

The Bay 101 Shooting Stars event had a webcast where you could watch the action live. The camera was fixed and you got to see play at only one table. Overall, it was excellent! If you are a poker club and want to attract more players to your tournaments, this is a great way to do it.

Daniel was the at the featured table on Day 1a, while Phil was at the featured table for the last three days.

I spent a lot of time watching Phil play poker and spotted a few trends in his play. One caveat: you don't get to see hole cards or the community cards. Yesterday, they added a second shot that tried to show the viewer the community cards, but frankly, it was difficult to see.

Giving these limitations, here is my learning from watching the action.

5 Things I Learned From Watching Phil Hellmuth:

1. Players willingly revealed their hole cards to Phil way too often.

At the start of the event, Phil would ask a player what they had. Almost all of the players would not reply.

So Phil started to show his cards to loosen things up. And it worked. I have never witnessed so much sharing at a poker table. I am convinced Phil was getting more information on his opponents than they were getting on him.

A similar thing happened on Day 1a with Daniel Negreanu. But since the players like Daniel, he would just have to ask a player what they had, and often, the player would just tell him! Were all these players lying? Maybe. But, I don't think so.

Hey...it's tough to lie when you actually show your hand! It was amazing to me. Do these players think Daniel and Phil are going to be their new best friends?

2. Phil often says he has a "good" or a "stronger" hand than the other players.

It was funny how often Phil would say "I had a hand" after the hand had ended. He would sometimes even say what it was to his opponent (or show one or both cards.)

By doing this table talk, my impression is the following:

• Phil added the perception of strength to every hand he got from the dealer.
• Phil loosened up his opponents to make it acceptable to share information/hole cards.
• Phil got his opponents to like him more.

At one point Phil even mentioned how his opponents always tell him how likable he is in person, unlike the way he is shown on TV.

3. Phil was the more aggressive and intimidating player at his table.

Phil raised pre-flop more often than his opponents. His opponents did not want to tangle with Phil, so he would steadily build his stack.

4. Phil played his opponents rather than his own cards.

Clearly, almost every time an opponent checked, Phil would take it as a sign of weakness and bet. Phil was great at playing his opponents whether in position or out of position.

Here is a typical sequence when Phil was in position:

Player A raises pre-flop. Phil calls. It goes heads-up to the flop.
Player A make a c-bet. Phil calls.
Player A checks the turn. Phil bets. Player A takes longer time than usual to decide his play before he mucks.

Here is a typical sequence when Phil was out of position:

Player A raises pre-flop. Phil calls on the big blind. It goes heads-up to the flop.
Phil checks. Player A make a c-bet. Phil calls.
Phil checks the turn. Player A checks the turn.
Phil bets on the river. Player A takes longer time than usual to decide his play before he mucks.

Was Phil floating all these times? I don't know if he had a big hand or not. But, if he had a big hand every time he said he did, than he was playing with a different deck of cards than everyone else:-)

It was like Phil was playing at a higher level of poker--and frankly, I think he was doing just that!

5. Phil was more cautious against the professional players.

When the tables got down to 6 players, Phil was playing against better opponents and a few pros. He was more cautious in his play. And, of course, the pots were going to be a lot bigger with the bigger blinds.

The one additional move he used more often was the pre-flop re-raise against an aggressive player. Phil would identify his aggressive opponent and allow him to win a few hands heads-up with pre-flop folds. However, eventually Phil would re-raise the aggressive players pre-flop, and take down a nice sized pot.

Conclusion:

Phil has been playing great against his weaker opponents. He has also gotten lucky a few times where he found pocket Q's vrs pocket 10's, and a boat against a straight. Fact: You gotta be lucky to win a poker tournament.

It will be interesting to see how things go for Phil at the final table. Right now he is in second place in chips.

Since I play in the Bay Area, I think the local players were at a disadvantage in that we do not have much experience in tournaments with this kind of structure or this level of competition.
I believe that the longer rounds and more starting chips gave the local players a false sense of security; that is, you can just wait a lot longer for big cards. Watching Phil and Daniel play poker I can tell you that is not the case if you want to win.

My Biggest Tournament Poker Win: Learning...

My Biggest Tournament Poker Win: Recap and Learning

I thought I would share with you my notes that are a recap from my biggest cash at a poker tournament. My objective is that it may help you improve your game. (As I have suggested, it is important to write down your learning from playing--and I do practice what I preach.) This recap is rather long, so I will break it up to make it easier to read.

It was the the day before the WPT main event at the Reno Hilton many years ago. It was a $1,000 No limit buy-in. First place was $80,000. To get into this event, I chopped a one table satellite the night before.

It began on a Monday at noon. There were about 250 players. A number of the pros were in town early and played in this event as well.

Part 1

Image via Wikipedia

"The first 2 hours, I don't recall playing a hand. But that was okay since the rounds were 50 minutes long, and I had $1,500 in chips to start.

Key hand... I am on the big blind, and Hon Lee--a pro--and another player called my big blind. I had K-8. The flop came 8-6-5 with 2 spades. I bet $100. Hon Lee raised to $400 and the other player called. I thought for a while and decided the best play was to move in...and gamble here.

Why?

1. Both player knew I was a tight card player and wouldn't make this move unless I had a big hand.
2. I needed some chips--I was down to $1,100.
3. Hon Lee had about $1,000 chips..and would not want to go out of the event on a hand like this.
4. Hon Lee is a pro and will be aggressive when a flop looks scary.
5. The other player I thought was on a flush draw--and had lots of chips.
6. On an unraised hand, the big blind (me) could have anything---even the nut straight.
7. It is almost always better to raise or fold, and not call in poker.

Anyway, Hon Lee took a lot of time, and decided to fold. The other player says, "well if he called, I would have called." Yes, he was on the draw. Big win for me.

So, I start to get a few hands and play the players and not my cards. How?

There were three general types of players at this event:

1. Pros--who are aggressive and take chances. They will almost always raise on the button or small blind if first in the hand. But, they don't want to be taken out of the event and will lay down their hand if you re-raise them...why? Because they understand table image and saw or thought I was a card player--tight and only play my cards.

(Actually, in the entire event, if I raised pre-flop and a player re-raised me, I folded...there will always be another hand.)

Also, there are some variations on a theme among the Pros:
-Some pros defend their blinds with zeal/
-Some pros like TJ Cloutier play like his book before the flop--but changes from the flop on.
-Some pros like Layne Flack will look to play almost any 2 cards--even calling a raise with bad cards--hoping to hit his flop...or if his opponent checks (a sign of weakness) he will bet and win.
-All pros try to intimidate you with their bets--if you show any weakness on the flop--and they've never seen you check raise on the flop--they will bet.
-All pros will attack your blinds--so, attack back once in a while and they will behave. Again, raise or fold.

A general rule with Pros--they don't like moving all-in on the flop, unless they are trying to get you out of a pot thru intimidation..it is not that they don't have a hand, but they know they probably don't have the best hand at the moment and prefer you would fold.

2. Card players who are solid, smart players and are aware of what is happening to them--they are slowly losing because they are not getting cards, but they don't adjust their game to this fact.

When these players raise before the flop, fold. They have a hand..they play by the book. If it cost more than 5% of your chips or you are out of position, don't even bother calling then with a pair.

They like to think they are smart by mimicking the pros and raising on the button as a steal--if you think he/she is doing this--just re-raise them and they will fold. Or call, and see what happens on the flop...but when someone else bets into them on the flop, and they missed, they fold.

3. Card players--these guys not only play by the book, but you know where they are based on how they bet. If they bet on the flop, they hit their hand. If not, you bet...they fold.

I used the above knowledge to win pots when I am in a hand. In fact, I notice that I almost win every pot I enter...by playing the players and not my cards. Of course, I don't need to enter a lot of pots since if I play only a few hands, I get lots of respect whether I raise 2x's or 3x's the big blind. How much respect? I get 5-6 suited under the gun--and raise 2x's the big blind--everyone folds!

In fact, it was funny, but later in the event when I was building my chips, one player turns to the player to his left and says, "I wish I had his seat, he is getting all the card." Funny thing was that most of the time, no one even saw my starting hands...I just made them think that I had a big hand, because I was always betting the flops as if they were hitting my hand.

To be continued...

The Not So-Secret Fact About Poker Tournaments on TV

TV Poker Tournaments

Every so often I receive questions from people who watch poker on TV. One common question goes something like this:

"When it gets to the final two players, I don't understand why players push all-in with a lot of hands even though they have so many chips in front of them. Why be so reckless and risk everything?"

Image via Wikipedia

My Answer

If you notice that the remaining two players start playing all-in on almost every hand, there is a very good reason. They have agreed to chop the purse since the difference between first and second is hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I know in the past the WPT has allowed deal-making, and they probably allow it now. I don't know if the WSOP allows deal-making although I don't know how they can really stop it.

(I've been told that chopping the purse used to be very common in golf.)

If you know more about chopping at these major events, please let me know. I haven't been in that situation...yet=)

Thanks!