Every Man For Himself...Almost
2008-03-18 18:13:08
By:
Gene Bromberg
What did we learn during last night's episode of
The Best Damn Poker Show? Well, don't re-raise with A-Q when Annie Duke is watching. "Hollywood" Dave Stann repopped Gary DeBernardi with Ace-Queen...and when Debo moved in it set Hollywood Dave to pacing around the table knowing he'd stubbed his toe. Debo was playing tight and had Stann in bad shape with pocket Kings, but that paled in comparison to how he probably felt after Annie laid into him with a withering critique of how he played the hand.
If you ever wanted an example of how important position is in poker, look no further than the hand played by Sully Erna and Tracy Scala. Under the gun Tracy raised with Ad-9s and Erna woke up with two black Tens in the small blind. Erna re-raised and Annie said, "All right, that's the end of that pot". But Erna raised a small amount, pricing Scala into the hand. "I told (Sully) to price him in," said Erna's coach, Phil Hellmuth. With Tracy playing so aggressively Phil wanted his players to play big pots with him.
The flop came 5s-Kh-9h. Erna had to act first, and he checked. Phil expected Tracy to make a typically aggressive bet...but he checked his second pair. "How good is Tracy?" Annie said to Shawn Rice. The turn was the 7h, putting three hearts on the board. Erna bet 17,000, about a third of the pot, no doubt hoping to take it right there. But Scala made an ominous call. The river brought the Jh, a disasterous card for Sully and his two black Tens. With Scala calling the turn there was no way Erna could bet the river with four Hearts showing, and when he checked Scala quietly announced "All-in. "
"I'll say it right now, if Sully makes this call he deserves to win the tournament," Annie said. But of course there was no way he COULD make the call. "That was an impossible situation for Sully," Annie said magnanimously after Erna mucked his hand. "I can't think of a player in the world who makes that call--not even you, Phil."
If you review the hand and reverse the players' positions it might've played out differently. After flopping second pair the aggressive Scala probably would've led out...and been raised by Erna, as Phil had instructed him to do when playing against the table's most aggressive player. Scala would've either had to fold or, less likely, move all-in, as calling would've left him nearly pot-stuck with no idea where he was. The hearts hitting the turn and river would've frozen Tracy, not Sully, and Erna could've either taken the pot away on the river or simply shown down his Tens to take the pot. The power of position.
You had to feel a bit bad for Allan, who was instructed by Phil to loosen up and use his tight image to grab some chips...only to run into Hollywood Dave's pocket Aces when he made his move. His elimination put Phil's team in a terrible spot--not only is Phil one elimination away from losing the match, his two remaining players combined have fewer chips than Hollywood Dave or Debo, with Tracy having a comfortable stack as well. Those three players should be able to use their big stacks to put the squeeze on Phil's two remaining players, especially as they really have no incentive to go after each other. Not until Phil's team is officially put to the sword. THEN they can battle each other for the overall victory.
But before then, if those three mix it up in a big hand against each other, I think we might see an eruption of Mt. Annie that would rival Krakatoa. You don't see a lot of team poker out there, but if Annie's trio plays a savvy game the rest of the way Phil's gonna need a lot of luck to snatch victory from the gaping jaws of defeat.
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