Championship Match
Shawn Van Asdales AT vs. Patrick Karsts 88

Championship Match
Mike Spinasanta's AJ vs. Patrick Karst's AQ

Third of Three Team Matches
Shawn Van Asdale's AK vs. Jon Nau's KK

Second of Three Team Matches
Scott Clark limps in the one-hole with two tens. Commentary included at conclusion of hand

First of Three Team Matches

Darryl Dare's JJ vs. Mike Spinasanta's AK

Phil Hellmuth comments.

She is in the cutoff with Q-10 off suit and $4,400, five handed, and the blinds are $300-$600. Annie's argument for moving all in is not too bad. You will, most of the time, pick up the $900 in blinds as everyone else folds their hands. Still, moving all in here is not my usual tactic. I would prefer to wait for a stronger hand. I like the fold, but even a call is OK with me. A call gives you the chance to win a big pot if you hit your hand, and one of your opponents hits his. Like when it comes 10-7-4, and your opponent has 8-7 or something. The fold though is my favorite play. Why not wait for a stronger hand? Why risk $4,400 to win $900? I feel like a better spot will come up in not too long. Like when you have A-J in the cut off, or 8-8 in one of the blinds--these are spots to move your chips all in!! So my reasoning is this: fold because a better situation is coming soon.

Annie Duke comments.

Phil has lost his mind. She has less 7 big blinds in her stack. QT is an above average hand. If she limps in there is no big pot to win if she hits her hand because she has a small stack. The fact is that if she moves in she doesn’t have to hit her hand because most of the time her opponent folds. When that happens she picks up the $900 plus the antes for a 25% increase to her stack. When her opponent does not fold she is not supposed to be in terrible shape and when she wins she will be up to close $10K and can now play poker again.

To limp in or fold in this spot is silly when you are so short stacked. I don’t know what kind of hand Phil expects to get but QT would look pretty good to almost anyone sitting with 7 big blinds.

Phil Hellmuth comments.

I believe that Annie said that Jon Hair was supposed to go broke with A-Q on the Ks-Qd-6s flop. I said that he shouldn't go broke.

Meanwhile, I love his $1,500 lead out bet on the flop, into $3,500.

When called, and after a 3d fell off, Hair led out again for $1,500, and then folded when Darryl moved all in instantly for his last 45,000 or so. The fact that it was an "Instant all in" or "Snap all in" from Darryl tells me that Darryl was super strong. I give Hair credit for getting away from this hand, and I like his undersized bets on both the flop and the turn. If Hair checks the flop, then it would be hard for him to get away from A-Q! Well played Jon!!

Annie Duke comments.

Jon called a raise out of position with the AQ. By leading out he completely announces his hand. If he had a set or two pair he would check to the raiser to check raise. By leading out he defines his hand as a hand that is trying to find out information. Hands that want information are not strong. They are usually a weak one pair, by definition. In fact, when a player leads into the raiser on the flop in a hand like this the lead is called a “weak lead” because that kind of lead out almost always means the player has a weak hand.

So the issue is that Jon was trying to get information. But by leading out it is too easy for a good player to pound on that and take the pot away from him. I would have checked the hand and called. Then checked to check raise or fold the turn depending on my read on the turn. By check raising the turn you often can get a stronger hand to fold like a weak king, as an example. I am not saying Daryll would have folded AK there but on that board he might have. And if Jon reads Daryll well he can check fold the turn on the play. The way Jon plays it he gets no information and has no chance of getting his opponent to fold.