Phil Hellmuth专栏

The Ace that put me on the Floor!

The story: at the Bay 101 WPT (World Poker Tour) final table—with the blinds $10,000-$20,000--I managed to get $800,000 into the pot before the flop with my Q-Q vs my opponents Ac-Jc.  By the way, the “New Phil” smiled as the young man told me he was a better no limit Hold’em player than I was only one hour earlier.  With six players left, and first place $870,000, sixth place was $120,000.  The flop came down K-6-5.  When a 10 hit on the turn, my young opponent now had three aces and two queens to win the pot with.  I was about to have the chip lead, just one card away!  I could feel it.  I deserved it.  [I had dominated the poker tournament for 20 hours of play time, without ever being all in, or even close to it.]  Alas, the river was an ace!  And I just sat there, stunned, for almost 45 seconds.  Now surely the “Old Phil” would tell the kid what the score really was.  Surely Phil Hellmuth would give the kid a lecture about what a horrendous move he just made, and how the kid wasn’t event in the same zip code skill wise, right?  No, not this year; in 2010 I plan on being a perfect gentleman!  But this was a huge test for me.  One hole in my resume, one that is constantly pointed out to me, is the fact that I have not won a WPT event.  So I wanted this tournament so, so badly.  Not to mention the money.  I mean, if no queen hits on the river, then I believe that the worst I would have done would have been second place and $500,000.

After 45 seconds I slowly rose up out of my chair, and then I shook everyone’s hand at the final table and I wished them good luck.  Then I lost it a little bit.  I was overcome with emotion, and I fell to my hands and knees (in the dimly lit corner), and put my head between my arms.  After another 45 seconds passed by, I suddenly realized that the cameras (and the eyes of the poker world) were probably still on me.  I wanted to stay down and lick my wounds.  I wanted to stay down because I was in pain.  I wanted to stay down until I felt better.  But I knew that I had to man up, get up, and do my exit interview.  As I stood up, sure enough, all of the cameras were still on me (obviously they were expecting me to be a “Poker Brat”) and I manned up and did a pretty gracious exit interview.

As I waited for my check, I signed a non-stop stream of autographs until I was called back to the stage by Matt Savage, “Phil Hellmuth, please come back to the final table area.”  I thought, “Oh great, this is the ‘Shooting Stars’ and I still have to sign the t-shirt for the kid that busted me, the one who told me that he was better than me.”  I actually smiled and I told myself, “Stop whining man!  Get up there and take it like a man.”  As I entered the room I received a standing ovation.  After I signed the T-shirt, “Good luck, Phil Hellmuth Jr.”  I received another standing ovation.  Could the world be embracing me, finally?

As to the hand: I limped in with Q-Q in the small blind.  Then the kid--in the big blind--raised it up $55,000 into the $50,000 pot.  I then called the $55,000, and raised it up $200,000 more to go into the $160,000 pot!  No more slow playing here, I made a big over-raise, I sent a strong message, pot over, right?  No, the kid moved all in for $800,000, and I quickly called.  Someone announcing on the Internet actually called it a “Cooler,” and I couldn’t believe that anyone would think like that: the kid had A-J!  A cooler is when it is like J-J vs Q-Q, or K-K vs Q-Q.  Additionally, the kid had been playing with me for two days, and he knew that I never played a big pot.  Suddenly I ship $255,000 into a smallish pot and A-J is going to be good, really?  To me, the kid had the world’s easiest lay down!  But the good news is this: look out world, I am back!!

pro's poker career & life, respect!

他老了

看了他在high stakes poker上的表现，确实是老了。

Phil’s Horrible Call!

Let’s discuss a hand that came up at the Bay 101 WPT (World Poker Tour) event where I almost blew my chips, my tournament hopes, and my eventual final table.  The hand came up early on Day One against Amnon Philippi, and we have some history.

The history: basically Philippi helped me bust myself in the 2009 WPT Championship event on Day One, where 2% of the field went broke on Day One, and I lasted like 35 minutes!  On that day, for no good reason I bluffed off a ton of chips to Philippi.  More history: Philippi and I faced off at the WSOP in the main event, and I came right at him, bluffing him like a madman, and trying to induce him to bluff me.  You see, when I bluff a ton of my money off to another player, then it seems like my opponent cannot help but try to bluff me as well.  My opponents trying bluff me, after I bluff them, is like a virus!

Round three between Philippi and I went down at the Bay 101; ding!  First, I called Philippi down twice, and he had it both times.  Then, with the blinds at $150 - $300 and a $25 a man ante, I opened for $750 with 8-8, and Philippi made it $1,800 to go from the small blind.  I called, the flop came down K-7-4, Philippi bet $2,000, and I called.  The turn card was a deuce, and we both checked.  On the river a nine came off and Philippi bet out $4,500, and I thought for a minute about what to do.  I only had $7,300 left, and a bad call would really cripple me.  Eventually I opted to call, and Philippi showed me three kings.  Frankly, I was embarrassed and more than a little appalled at how poorly I had played this hand, and I meekly mucked my hand face down.  Philippi then told me, “Man, you played that hand well!  I just know that I was supposed to bust you there.  You would have called if I had moved all in, right?”  This commentary was irritating on so many levels: first, I played the hand poorly; second, Philippi was inadvertently needling me (or was it intentional?); and finally, if Philippi had moved all in, then I would have folded!  However, before I had the chance to get too aggravated I looked down at As-Ks, and I ended up all in for $2,800 against an opponent’s A-J off suit.  I won that hand, and two days later—going into Day Three—I was chip leader with $520,000 in chips.

Let’s take a closer look at this hand.  My $750 raise was OK—anything from $750 to $1,100 is standard--and Philippi’s $1,050 reraise was fine.  I do not mind my call pre-flop for $1,050 more.  I mean 8-8 may have been good, or I could always flop a set.  On the flop my call was not horrible, except that I should have known that Philippi had the “Best possible hand.”  All of my life I have known when my opponent has the best possible hand, and Doyle Brunson talks about how the great players “Know” when they are up against the nuts.  I like Philippi’s check on the turn.  Why bet when your opponent is probably drawing dead?  Why bet when you may make your opponent fold a weak hand?  And why bet when your opponent may try to bluff you?  A check gives your opponent some rope, and keeps him involved in the hand.  Philippi’s $4,500 bet on the river was well-sized.  My call on the river was pretty horrible.  Actually, it is an easy fold, unless you have a great read on your opponent (and I didn’t feel like I had any read).  Nice hand Amnon, but look out for the next time we play, that virus is bound to kick in soon!

都是E文啊，坐等译文

1989年，24岁的Phil Hellmuth 击败87，88两届世界冠军Johnny Chan， 成为扑克史上最年轻的世界冠军。这一纪录一直保持到了2008年。他目前保持多项wsop纪录，包括最多金手链（11条）及最多进钱圈（75次）。截止2009年10月5日，Phil 比赛的总奖金为$10,926,521,排在扑克史上第四位。Phil是扑克名人堂成员。
!!!!!

坐等译文

Lucky Ace for Phil

At the WPT (World Poker Tour) Championship last week I had a real shot to win the whole thing, but you wouldn’t have known that if you entered the room late on Day Two in the middle of the following hand.  With the blinds at $1,200- $2,400, I opened for $6,500 under the gun (in first position) with A-A, and two players called, including the always tough Kathy Leibert.  The flop came down 9c-7s-3d, and I bet $12,000.  Player One folded, and Leibert then made it $30,000.  I was sitting on around $96,000 when the hand began, and now I had to make a decision.  There was no flush draw possible, I felt that there was no way that Leibert had a straight draw, so that I either had her crushed because she had one pair or a bluff, or she had me crushed with a set: with 9-9, 7-7, or 3-3 in the hole.  If I folded now, then I would have almost $80,000 left going into Day Three (there was only ten minutes left before we finished playing for the day).  I ruminated on the fact that there were so many other hands that I could beat.  And after a moment, I shoved, and Leibert snap called (a bad sign!), and then she showed down 7-7!  Ouch, bye bye Philly boy.  When the turn was a six, I didn’t even bother looking at the river card.  Instead I turned my attention to my friend Howard Lederer to tell him that I was indeed about to be busted out of the tournament.  Only a few minutes earlier I claimed to Lederer that me going busted in the next twelve minutes was an impossibility!  When I heard my tablemates react with a, “Wow!”  I turned to see that the ace of clubs was lying out there as the river card!  [Phil sit back down kid!]

How did I play this hand?  I like the $6,500 raise pre-flop, any bet 2.5xBB (times the big blind) to 4xBB is OK.  I like the $12,000 bet into about $22,000 on the flop, any bet over 50% of the pot is OK with me, although some would argue that a check here makes sense (to trap your opponents), while others would argue that making a larger bet makes sense (to protect you hand).  I love Leibert’s $30,000 bet.  And she made it quickly, so that I didn’t think that there was any way that she had a set.   Well played Kathy you certainly fooled me!  Before I look at my all in move, let me give you a little history.  Earlier in the day, someone had raised it up to $3,000 under the gun, then the next two players called, and then Leibert made it $12,000 to go.  I had a strong read that the player under the gun had nothing, and I thought that Leibert picked up on that as well.  Thus I made it $50,000 to go from the big blind with A-10, and Leibert moved all in for $68,000.  I called [What a horrible play I made here to put in 68 big blinds before the flop with A-10!], and she showed down K-K and won the pot.  Because of that reckless play, I thought that Leibert may have raised it up with a pocket pair like 10-10, 8-8, 6-6, or 5-5, or perhaps with A-9 suited, or maybe she was just trying to bluff me.  So I have no problem with my all in move on the flop with A-A, given the history.  Without that history, 80% of the time I would have to go with pocket aces right then and there anyway, because of my stack size, and the size of the pot.  Occasionally I may be able to fold the A-A when I have a “Sick read” of some sort, and I smell that my opponent has a set.

nice river....