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Friday 4th July 2008
Welcome to Hold or Fold - The UK's only Poker E-Letter dedicated
to
helping YOU become a better player!
In this week's E-Letter -
*Watch this - WATCH THIS -
WOWWWW !!
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Hiya there and how have you been this week??
I have just had THE most frustrating week playing poker - I hate
to whinge and whine on
about bad beats BUT...
No - I'm absolutely NOT going to bore you with my bad beat stories
except to say that
IT HAS BEEN A MOST FRUSTRATING WEEK and I haven't yet qualified
for the Sunday
Tournament - I'll have another go on Saturday and see how it goes...
Having said that - I mounted a big campaign on Facebook this week
to find poker-buddies
and I was totally made-up as to how many people added me as their
friend !
I've made a 'friend grid' and if you want to join in the party -
please search for 'Meg Arana'
and ask to be added - It'll be nice to see the faces of some of
my readers !
I would also like to add a personal note of thanks to Vicky Coren
- I sent her a link to my
e-letter about the commentary she gave on the EPT in Monte Carlo
all about Handbags and
she messaged back to say that it was a really nice write-up ! Not
that I'm star-struck or
anything - but it did make my day !!
One other mention, if you don't mind - is to Nikki Dove who gave
me alot of encouragement
- so many thanks to her too.
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Watch this - WATCH THIS - WOWWWW !!
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This week's hand comes from the PartyPoker Premier League final
table - I was going to write
about Tony G finally losing a race and getting his aces cracked
- but this hand was just SO
amazing - I felt impelled to write about it.
There are five players are left and the blinds are 5,000/10,000.
Roland de Wolfe is first to act and he folds JC and 10H.
 
(woulda-coulda-shoulda! - you'll see what
I mean at the end of the hand)
Tony G folds his hand.
Alex Kravchenko is on the button and he picks up KH & 7D and he
folds too.
 
Jesse May commentating asks Phil Hellmuth: "You think
Kravchenko has to make a raise
at some point on the button?"
Phil Hellmuth replies: "Look - he laid down a King on
the button and I just don't like that play
- you see if he had been raising every hand then lay it down but
otherwise, call although I'd
rather see a raise there."
Andy Black is next to act in the Small Blind. He picks up JH & 6H
and calls.
 
Next is Marcel Luske in the Big Blind - he picks up 5C & 2H and
he is happy to check so there
is 20,000 in the pot.
 
The Flop comes down: AD JS 7C.
 
Andy Black immediately says: "Check" and Marcel
Luske also says "Check" very quickly.
Now, I think that is rather unusual, normally players like to take
their time and think about how
they are going to play, what they have versus what the other player
has versus what you think
the other player thinks you have etc etc - so to check very quickly,
to me, shows absolute
weakness or disguised absolute strength.
Jesse May laughs: "Andy's strategy is to just wait and
wait and wait for Marcel to bluff."
Phil: "He is just trying to trap Marcel and it's worked
well so far."
The Turn comes down: KD
Again - Andy Black checks instantly and then he turns to study Marcel.
Marcel is just a very cool character. He is always turned out well
in an, obviously, expensive
suit - and today he is wearing a pastel-yellow tie and is wearing
those amazing shades which
contain a sound system. How cool is that??
Anyways - he casually reaches out for some chips and doubles the
pot making it now stand at
40,000.
Without a moment's hesitation, Andy throws in 20,000 chips so the
pot is now 60,000.
Both Jesse and Phil laugh out loud !
Phil: "Andy is playing Marcel."
Jesse: "Luske is drawing dead here but there are bluffing
cards."
The River comes down: QS
Phil: "And that's one of them."
Andy thinks for a couple of seconds and then taps the table to check.
Marcel doesn't hesitate and he reaches for chips.
Phil: "Awwwww - that would be a strong bet there - if
he could bluff this pot, that would be
strong."
Jesse: "I mean, Andy could easily have an Ace here."
Marcel takes his time to decide how much he's going to put in the
pot and after a few moments,
he puts in 50,000. He then sits back and folds his arms in a very
defensive position.
Phil is impressed: "Wow - What a strong bluff - WHAT a
STRONG bluff that he made there !!
I don't see how Andy can call this."
Jesse: "He can only really beat the Deuce-Five!"
Andy stares over at Marcel who is looking away. I also see Roland
de Wolfe staring hard at
Marcel, trying to absorb the body language and remember it for future
use.
Andy looks down at the cards and mulls the hand over in his head.
Phil: "I think Andy has to lay this down and that would
be one heck of a bluff ! Marcel's made
a great bluff and now if Andy can make a great call here...."
Andy stares over at Marcel again and then announces: "Call"
Phil exclaims: "WHAT a GREAT CALL !! That was some kind
of FANTASTIC call - Maybe the best
call I've seen in this match."
Marcel points to the board and declares that to be his hand.
Andy is mighty relieved and turns over his pair of Jacks.
Marcel lifts his shades up to check Andy's cards and it's quite
funny to see as he can't
quite believe it: "Wowwwwww"
Jesse: "Watch this - WATCH THIS - WOWWWW !!"
Phil: "Andy Black with an absolutely BEAUTIFUL call there."
Marcel is gobsmacked - he turns towards Roland and says:
"Wowwww - he must have had
inside information. I cannot see anybody calling that."
Jesse: "This is Andy - he loves making genius calls."
Marcel looks into the glass and speaks to the commentators: "We
have to look at that
part of the video Phil - verrry carefully - I want to see that hand
on the video in slow motion -
because - I want to look at something special."
I'm not sure that Marcel hasn't lost some of his cool here - I think
he's trying to imply that
Andy Black saw his cards - or possibly cheated in some way - I can't
really understand what
he is trying to get at...
Tony G is very impressed: "That was the call of the Premier
League!"
Marcel is now talking to Roland - he points towards the glass
and says: "That is why I
don't like this glass-play"
By now, the next hand has been dealt and has started to be played...
Phil: "All I can say about Marcel is this - Marcel thinks
that Andy saw his cards."
Jesse: "It's not true Phil"
Phil: "Noo no no no no - this is great - I think, Marcel
thinks that Andy saw his cards but
Marcel made a great bluff and Andy made a great call and that's
all there is to it - I don't
think there was any of 'that' involved!"
Andy was obviously not too pleased about Marcel's insinuations but
I was impressed by the
way he didn't retaliate or get involved in any way.
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Post Mortem
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I looked back at the beginning of this hand but it doesn't show
Marcel looking at his cards -
so it's not possible to see if he lifted them in a way that another
player could have seen them
- I'm sure if there is/was any hint of a tint of cheating - then
we would have heard about it.
So we have to assume that Andy made a perfectly legitimate call.
Think about it for a moment - As Marcel checked in the Big Blind
- he could absolutely ANY
two cards -
But what can Andy beat??
He loses to an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack with a higher kicker
and a Ten (for the straight,
poor Roland). So Marcel would have to be holding two cards of which
none is higher than a 9 -
I think that Andy read it totally right - he understands Marcel
very well as he has played him
many times - and he knows that Marcel can't resist having a go if
he thinks he can win - so
he assumed that Marcel had absolutely nothing and for 50,000 chips
- he was happy to put
his money where his convictions were !
Had Marcel gone all in - I don't think Andy could have called at
all!
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Well I hope you have a good week - may the cards be with you and
I'll see you again next Friday.
All the best
Meg Arana
Hold or Fold
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