Is there anyone better than Doyle Brunson to call poker bet your way? No, not Michael Jordan or penny pinchers. There’s just no one.
Last year, the man picked himself (Doyle Brunson) to be the World Series of Poker’s $25,000 buy-in Hold’em champion. The Poker Brat has not disappointed. He’s named his child, and he’s questioned the work of the play-by-play man, Mike Sexton.
Last week, Brunson picked poker legend Johnny Chan to be the No. 1 player in the $4,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at Bellagio.
Does anyone care?
If you watched the end of the Chan-Choi match, you can Only Imagine what will the world of poker be like after they’ve seen what Doyle Brunson does with a hand.
It’s a hand that has made poker what it is. If you had a advertising firm, what would it be able to do with a brand newfangled advertising service? Then, you would probably pay attention to what Doyle Brunson had to say about the best poker hand of all time.
If you combine that hand with the one played between Brunson and David Redlin, you can guess what the result would be. Oh, wait… what?
Brunson picked Phil Hellmuth to win the 2008 Main Event. Hellmuth picked Doyle Brunson.
It’s amazing, but all the talkative Doyle Brunson seems to have picked a pocket pair (he’s a man after my own heart, if you don’t mind the pun) smarter than anyone else in poker.
For the record, Doyle Brunson tips the hand to Phil Hellmuth.
It’s a really good hand! It’s got potential! It’s got… what, three outs?
If only there were three “Dewapoker“, or three cards which could give you the dynamite hand you needed to completely turn the hand around. Right now, you only have one card which can give you a decent hand, and there’s only one card which can give you make a hand with the two cards you already have.
Unfortunately for Doyle, Phil Hellmuth is bluffing with a high pocket pair.
The two players check and the dealer flips over the final card, dumping three more of the same suit on the table. This means for Phil, there are three remaining cards, his hole cards, that can give him the top hand.
This is where the hand between Hellmuth and Brunson could develop into a heads-up match for all the chips between them.
If Phil were to get any kind of hand, it would probably be top pair top kicker, and he would likely bet or raise his opponents to put more pressure on them. In poker terms, this hand is unbeatable. Phil simply flopped a great hand.
While it’s fantastic for Phil, imagine if he had been holding QQ, or even AA instead of the pair of 55. With the extra card bringing the odds against him, it’s quite possible that he would have Deep-Toned kings.
For both players, the hand is probably Draw-heavy, with the Ace making a potential both straights and flushes, and the King possibly providing the low. The fact that they are 9700+ while the blinds are quite low doesn’t help the position of either player, and the deeper you get into the tournament, the lighter the positions’ cards you’ll find.
The fact that the two are blind to each other’s presence (pssst…!) allows for the kind of heads-up they would likely have. Phil has to drive it almost all-in (Isn’t that the whole point of heads-up matches?) and can only do so if his two opponents are on his bench.
The fact that the two are sitting 9th and 10th ( respectively ) behind the big blind doesn’t help either.
However, there is one pretty big tell in this hand: When Doyle went all-in, he did so very quickly. Then when he and his would-be killer hand crumbled, he paused.
While waiting for his next chance, the first tells you what he’s holding. Doyle has a set. Phil immediately calls. Wait… what? Phil never looks at his cards. He looks at his chips. Then he looks away. That tells you he has a pair of Ace-high. Doyle’s straight certainly looks like it will carry on…
Then when the next hand comes on the flop, Phil looks at his cards as he bets… and then he pushes his chips into the middle and frantically tosses them into the pot, he’s gone.