Winning the Pot Without Winning the Race, Hellmuth Watch

I witnessed a hand online the other day that was impressive poker on one player's part, and unimpressive poker on another player's part. My friend was at the final table at a tournament, down to the final 3 players. He had about 350,000 in chips compared to his opponents 1.2 million. The blinds were 6,000/12,000 with 200 antes.

My friend was on the button was 33. He raised to about 37,000. The small blind called the raise, the big blind folded. The small blind had King-Queen. The flop was King, 6, Ace. The KQ had effectively won the race, and the pocket crabs were drawing to 2 outs.

The small blind made a mistake and bet out the minimum, 12,000 chips. The minimum bet into a pot of 86,000 chips made it quite clear that the small blind had hit the flop, but not very hard. My friend sensed weakness. Although he figured he was beat, he also figured he could win the pot with a bet. He raised to about 40,000 in chips. The other player thought about it, then called.

The call was a demonstration of weakness. Although the first bluff didn't work, the next one would most assuredly succeed. The turn was a Jack. The small blind checked. My friend with 33 bet out something his opponent couldn't call, a bet of about 120,000 chips. The bluff committed a great deal of his stack to the pot, which was a demonstration of strength. The opponent folded after deliberating.

My friend lost the coinflip, but won a big hand because he was aggressive. The opponent lost because he was passive. He called the raise preflop, only bet the minimum on the flop, called a raise, then checked the turn. At no point was he seriously aggressive, even though he had a chip lead of more than 3 to 1 against my friend.

Hellmuth Looking for Bracelet #10 (spoilers)
Phil Hellmuth Jr. finished 2nd in the $5,000 NL Hold Em Event in the World Series of Poker, pocketing $461,000, but falling short of bracelet #10.

Hellmuth had a slight edge in chips at one point Heads Up with Jeff Cabanillas. Cabanillas made some good calls, and got some good cards to gradually whittle Hellmuth down to 600,000 in chips compared to Cabanillas' 1.4 million. On the last hand, Hellmuth flopped 2nd pair, and went all-in. Cabanillas called with 3rd pair, a straight draw, and a flush draw. Hellmuth turned trips, but Cabanillas rivered a flush to win the bracelet and over $800,000.

Hellmuth has also finished 13th in the $3,000 Limit Hold Em event. The Turning Stone's best player, Al Krux, finished 35th in the $1,500 No Limit event. Hellmuth cashed in the same event.

That makes 50 WSOP cashes for Hellmuth, and 34 top 10 finishes for the 9 time bracelet winner. It's only a matter of time before he captures #10.