Quote:
Originally Posted by dingdongdonkey
Doyle Brunson (incorrectly) folding a Ten high flush against Jamie Gold.
I always cite the Brunson fold and Hellmuth raise/folding QQ as examples of how an old-school player's reliance on live reads can betray him. Brunson spoke about that hand on PokerRoad Radio back in the day.
Bart Hanson broke down the action in the interview: Doyle had T
8
late, Jamie had 9
7
UTG. Limped, six-handed pot. Flop came down K
4
J
with $8K in the pot. Action checks to Doyle, who bets $6K. Everyone folds except for Jamie, who calls. Pot is now $20K.
Turn is the A
. Jamie checks, Doyle bets $25K, Jamie raises to $125K. Doyle thinks for a bit, then folds.
Quote:
Bart: You seemed to think Jamie was obviously very, very strong. And he thought he was very strong, and that–
Gavin: Hard to tell, when the man thinks he has the best hand.
Doyle: I knew he thought he had the best hand, I know that.
Gavin: Right.
Doyle: I don't usually hold people like I held him, but I wanted to see. 'Cause it wasn't just $100,000, it was $500,000. I wasn't just gonna throw my hand away. I've got $33,000 in there, and I'd have to put $500,000 more in. This guy thinks he has the best hand, and there are two flushes that can beat me, the queen flush and the jack flush. So I said I'd look for a better spot.
Not for nothing, that interview ends with one of my favorite Gavin Smith quotes from PRR: "I just called Doyle Brunson 'bro,' how cool is that??"
The Hellmuth preflop fold with QQ is another such case. He was up against an amateur qualifier, Paul Featherstone. Hellmuth raises, Featherstone shoves, then (if memory serves) goes into a spot-on Hellmuth impersonation, which he did a few times at that table.
Featherstone had AQ, and shoved with the confidence of someone who rates to have the better hand. Hellmuth's white magic clearly picked up on that confidence, and it got him to fold reluctantly. Any time he speaks about his reading ability, Hellmuth talks in terms of the binary states of "weak or strong," and the mathematical side of poker gets tossed out the window. Forget stack sizes and ranges, I think his brain devolves into "kid weak, must call" or "kid strong, must fold."
I've sometimes wondered: as Hellmuth tanked, did Featherstone grow even more assured this his AQ was in good shape, which in turn convinced Hellmuth that his own hand was beaten?