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Doug Polks fold on Hight Stakes Poker **SPOILER ALERT**
Hey RecPoker!
I have been watching the new season of High Stakes Poker as it was one of the shows that led me into this great game.
So far I have been somewhat unimpressed with it compared to the older seasons. Obviously poker has changed a lot since 2006 so I wasn’t expecting the same old wild pots we seen back during the poker boom.
However with that being said I think that they have done a ok job telling the story of HSP and have managed to bring back at least a some of the nostalgia of the old days. And the latest episode certainly was a doozy. One hand in particular caught my eye and I have seen it in a lot posted on social media since the episode has been released. Keep in mind I’m an MTT player now so I’m curious to see what some of the more experinced cash game player think about this spot.
The hand start with one of my fav players of all time Phil Hellmuth raising UTG with QsTh with blinds at $200/$400 with a $100 ante. Phil started the hand with about 98k and raises to $1100. James Bord calls on the button with 2h2s (125k stack) and Doug Polk (200k stack) makes the call in the BB with Td7c.
Pot: $3900
Flop: As crazy as it gets: Js9s8h
As far as pre flop I think it is total standard and I even like Bord’s call with 22 in position. Post flop is when things get crazy.
Flop: Doug checks, Hellmuth checks, Bord bets 2000, Doug raises to 7000 and Hellmuth shoves the full 97200 in the middle with Bord quickly getting out of the way leaving Doug in a tough spot with the second nuts facing a MASSIVE 90000 bet.
The table talk during the hand has to be my fav part of this hand. I wont go into all the details (if you want PokerGo has a video of the hand on the FaceBook page) but Doug goes into the tank. He says to Phil “what do you have here Phil?” and Phil responds with “Well I can easily have…..” and trails off leaving Doug saying “What? What do you easily have here??” Phil says “I could have a set, or AT of spades” and Doug shuts him down by saying “Do you really have a set here Phil? Your so much better than that”
In the end Doug shows his cards, mucks and Phil doesn’t show.
The last few weeks I have been taking some time to read Modern Poker Theory and looking at this play from Hellmuth it seems really bad. From what I have been reading certain actions that put more money in the pot can actually be lower EV than others. For instance if Hellmuth just calls here his EV would be higher than shoving because he keeps Doug in the pot even if Doug can draw out on him on the turn or river. Additionally a smaller raise would be the best option because it not only charges all the draws but will keep Doug in the hand with all the hands that Hellmuth wants calls from including the exact hand that Doug has.
Curious to see what everyone else thinks!
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