Poker Guy | 'You can't just wait for hands all day'
AGENT 86 Maxwell Smart might say: "It's the old value-bet-bluff-on-the-river trick." The phrase doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, but in this era of loose-aggressive play, it's a shot that more players are taking.
AGENT 86 Maxwell Smart might say: "It's the old value-bet-bluff-on-the-river trick."
The phrase doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, but in this era of loose-aggressive play, it's a shot that more players are taking.
At the World Poker Tour's $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic at Las Vegas' Bellagio in 2006, Joseph Hachem drew J-8 offsuit in early position.
With blinds at $6,000-$12,000 plus a $2,000 ante, Hachem raised to $35,000.
"You need to make plays," said Hachem, winner of the 2005 World Series of Poker main event. "You've got to get chips. You can't just wait for hands all day."
Keith Lehr called on the button, as did the big blind, and the three players took a flop of A-Q-Q, two hearts.
Acting as if he had a big hand with big cards on the flop, Hachem bet out $80,000. Lehr called. The big blind folded.
"I'm thinking he's either got an ace or a pair, maybe a flush draw," Hachem said of trying to put Lehr on a hand.
The turn came ace of clubs.
"When the second ace comes, the chance that he had an ace to start with is less likely now," said Hachem, who endorses the PokerStars online site.
"I'm putting him on a different hand now - a pocket pair, maybe 10s, 9s. He might've called the flop with a king-high flush draw. At best, he had a queen and he felt sick.
"I check to make him think. He checked behind me. I've got a fairly good feel for where he's at with the hand just by playing with him and knowing him.
"He doesn't really like his hand anymore. He's thinking that even if he has a pocket pair and he hits his hand on the river, he's probably drawing dead."
The river, remarkably, came a third ace, for a full-house board of A-Q-Q-A-A.
"When the third ace hits," Hachem said, "I thought, 'I've got nothing to lose. I can't win unless I bet, or I can split the pot [if he gets called and both players play the board]. And if he bets, I can't call.' "
So, with J-8 offsuit and the advantage of one of the biggest stacks at the four remaining tables of the tournament, Hachem bet $100,000.
"I risked $100,000 to win $300,000," he said. "It looked like a really good value bet."
Hachem's aggressive move prompted Lehr to fold. Beside Hachem's gutsy move, the key was Hachem's willingness to change his idea of his opponent's holdings.
"You can't look at someone's hand and say, 'It's this hand,' " said Hachem, who would go on to win the event and more than $2.2 million. "It has to be a range of hands, and as the hand progresses, you eliminate the possibilities.
"You have to know where you're at with the player."
Table talk
Value bet: A smallish bet that is sized to lure opponents into calling when you believe you have the best hand. *
Send e-mail to