Brad Booth’s $250,000 Bluff of Phil Ivey
by Jatinder Dhoot
instructionalhand-booth-buy.jpgOne of the most effective ways to learn how top players approach the game is by observing how they play actual real-world, high-stakes hands. In one of the biggest bluffs witnessed on television, “Yukon Brad” Booth pulled off a slick move against Phil Ivey in Season 3 of the GSN high-stakes cash-game show High Stakes Poker. It’s a hand Booth still gets quizzed about daily by aficionados. Booth made news by buying into the game for $1 million, while Ivey entered for $300,000. This hand was very early in the session that day.
Blinds: 300-600
The Action:
• Daniel Negreanu folds
• David Williams raises to $1,800 with J-9 offsuit
• Brad Booth raises to $5,800 with 4-2 of spades
• David Benyamine folds
• Phil Ivey raises to $14,000 with two kings
• John D’Agostino folds
• Williams folds
• Booth calls
• Flop comes 3-7-6
• Ivey bets $23,000
• Booth goes all in
• Ivey folds
What were your thoughts on the preflop raise by Williams and reraise by Ivey?
David Williams had raised and it seemed like there was nothing special about the raise, it was a bit of a weak raise so I reraised him just to narrow the field. Phil Ivey then reraised me. I had bought in very deep ($1 million) and he was in for $300,000, so we were both sitting with pretty deep stacks, so I knew I could afford to see a flop.
David folded, and I did a tactic that I don’t normally do and that was a bit of a delay-call. I made sure everything I did was methodical in my mind before I carried on with the hand. Once I got re-reraised, a lot of things are spinning in my head. Right away I know that this is going to be on international TV and that I’m up against one of the world’s best poker players.
Initially, my thoughts were that if this hand hits, I am going to get paid, because I know he’s got queens, kings or aces. I also know that any time I need to get away from this hand, I can get away from it because I know what he has. If I need to manipulate position on the spot where I can get him off a hand, I should be able to do so because we’re deep enough stacked. I also know that when taping for TV like we were, it’s going to be difficult for Phil to make a bad call when you’re acknowledged to be one of the greatest poker players in the world. One is more conscious of people watching your play and analyzing your every move when it is on TV. So that part was definitely in my head.
I asked how much he was playing and delay-called. What I don’t like about that is that this kind of question on an advanced level of poker generally indicates suited connectors, but it also may not because there’s a lot of other stuff going on in the hand. It’s completely situational.
What were your thoughts on the flop?
The flop comes 3-6-7 with two diamonds. I haven’t hit my hand, but a three-way connected flop, double-suited, gives me a lot of bluffing power. And on this particular day the mouse in my head was spinning on the wheels and my mouse wasn’t on crutches. Some days it’s definitively on crutches, but today all the mental juices were flowing and everything was in sync. In my mind I know there are TV cameras and it’s going to be shown and one of my deepest thoughts was, “OK, Brad, I’m an overbettor of pots. If this works as it should, I’m going to have implied odds for the rest of my life.”
So when I sit down in every cash game from then on and there’s a $13,000 pot and Yukon Brad bets $28,000, guess what will happen? I’m going to get called. I had all this stuff going in my head saying, “This is your spot, this is your moment, you came to play, hence why you bought in for a million dollars and you’re ready to rise to the occasion.”
I checked the flop and Phil bets out and I decided to stick the rest of my chips in so he’d have to call with one pair for a quarter of a million dollars.
What do you think Phil was thinking?
Smart poker players, like Phil is, think like this, “Even though I probably have the best hand, I’ll just find a better spot to get this guy. You take this one and I’ll take the next one” is the sort of thing he is thinking and what I would be thinking if I were in his position.
At our level we all sort of think the same type of thing. I simply thought there are too many hands here that beat Phil and this might sound silly but I’m pretty sure he had kings or queens. But after I check-raised and put all those huge bundles of bills in the pot, the whole time I kept saying this in my head, “Phil, don’t you dare put me on queens or jacks here.”
What is going on in your head?
On my left I have David Benyamine, and this is pretty good because I’m able to use David as a shield – the last thing I want to do is make eye contact with Phil, because in all honesty I just check-raised him for 300 freakin’ thousand dollars. That’s real serious money. Now there was a little bit of chatting in the hand that was getting to be a little bit too much chatting at a poker table. So in my head I’m trying to keep my composure with my deliberator under my chair in case I need to get my heart going again, and I’m thinking, “Guys, just let the hand play out please.”
Then David B. decides to sit back and here I am like a deer in the headlights saying to myself, “Holy s—t, s—t, s—t!!” You’ve seen those scenes on TV where you see the deer and here comes the truck and they just stand still and get rolled over, well, I was starting to feel that way…
I did some very uncharacteristic things, such as clicking my chips beside my head. I never click my chips; never in my 14-year career did I click chips – ever! (laughs) My wheels are still going, my confidence level is still there, and I’m thinking, “Phil, you can’t call, you can’t call. Don’t put me on queens” and “Brad, if you do win this hand, do not show. If I show the hand it’s confirmed. Tell him you had deuce-four, tell him whatever you want, but nothing is confirmed until the footage is shown.”
I’ve played at those levels hundreds of times and many times with Doyle [Brunson] and Chip [Reese] and Barry [Greenstein] and of course Antonio [Esfandiari] and Phil [Laak] and both Davids [Benyamine and Williams]; we play all the time, nearly every day. But for whatever reason Phil and I had never sat down at a table. I definitely had that going for me in that he didn’t know who I was. I wouldn’t have done this to any other person because I have a very aggressive, fast style of play and he was the one player at the table who was unaware of my style.
What happened after the hand?
Phil finally lays the hand down and I, of course, muck the hand and we immediately go to break. I am at the side table getting my Caesar salad or whatever appetizer it was, and then Phil comes over and says, “OK, Yukon, what did you have?”
I replied, “Phil, what did you have?” He counters, “You tell me if I tell you.” I nod and he says, “I had two kings with the king of diamonds. You had me beat?”
And I said, “No. I had the deuce-four of spades.”
And he exclaims, “You’re a sick f—k.” and laughs. He then said, “Are you serious?” and I said, “Yeah, yeah, I’m serious.” Because you’ve got to understand at this stage I’m just telling him, it’s not confirmed, and we’ve still got four or five hours left to play.
We’re still on break while Phil calls Barry Greenstein and asks, “Hey, Barry, I’m in a hand with this guy Brad Booth and I don’t know who he is and I’m wondering...,” and Barry says, “Ha ha ha...Philly, you shoulda called.”
So Barry knew because he and I are buddies and he knows how I play. Phil didn’t even finish his story before Barry blurted it out, so that was hilarious when Phil and Barry both told me this independently of each other.
Ahhhhh, good times. After the show, I got back to the Bellagio ready to play a cash game because I’m a sick gambler and play poker 15 hours a day, so even though I just did 12 hours on the set, I’ve still got a few hours left in me to play poker.
I go in there and Barry’s sitting there and asks, “Brad, what did you have in that hand?”
I reply, “I had the deuce-four.”
He laughs and says, “Wow, you’re a sicko.”
To which I reply, “What did Phil put me on there?” and Barry said Phil put me on aces. Phil put me on aces and I guess what helped me with his read there was the delayed preflop call. It was just an all-around great day because I think I made 160 or 180 thousand that day.
What has the feedback been from fans on the hand?
I still wake up with 50, 60, 80 or even 100 e-mails every day of people appreciating me representing Canada and those kind of sentiments. One poker magazine ranked this bluff as the fourth best televised bluff in history. People seem to really value the balls I had, the courage I had, and all the confidence in myself to go with what I knew was correct and what I knew I could get away with. The feedback that I’ve received from fans is so incredible, and I am so thankful for all their support. It’s been great. To be honest, a day doesn’t go by when the hand doesn’t get brought up in conversation or e-mail – at least 20 times a day. I’m not kidding. It’s still so sick.
Thanks go out to Mori Eskandani and Henry Orenstein for having me on the show and to my fellow players at one of the toughest cash games ever assembled.
Life is Goooood.
: nervous as hell, balls of steel. Brad you're the man.
