POKER HAND #17

POKER SUPERSTARS UNITE: Like the Thunderbirds of poker, someone finally had the idea to put on TV what I'd love to see: 8 of the best players in the world going at each other. Here's who they included:

Between Eric Drache and me, we knew every poker player who had passed the test of time and every newcomer who had won the respect of the legends. In short, we were interested in poker superstars, not shooting stars (since the latter come in bunches and the former are few). We quickly came up with a list of about 20 players. The hard part was narrowing the field to only eight. We consulted with some of the players and came up with a game plan. First, we had to have some cash-game players, people who have been successful in megagames for many years. The names Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan are synonymous with such high-limit side games. Then, we had to add the player whom those three respected as being one of the toughest megacash-limit players for the past six years, so we got Barry Greenstein. Next, we decided to add players who had made the biggest splash in both tournaments and cash games in recent years. These players were the fresh faces, Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen, and the veteran, Howard Lederer. Finally, we wanted to pick one tournament player who had won the most tournaments, T.J. Cloutier, and see how he could hold up against this kind of firepower. We had assembled our superstars, tried and true, not passing fads or lucky Internet newcomers. These people were the best. And to the remainder of the great players who didn't get picked, we have to say: Your turn will come … soon, we hope.

What an awesome assemblage of poker players. Thinking of how these player's styles will mesh gives me a headache. I'd pick Chan as the strong favorite here because of his unpredictability, while Gus Hansen is and will always be my favorite poker player.

Meanwhile, here's an interesting article on how people overplay combination hands:

You have a combination hand when you flop a pair along with either a straight or a flush draw. A typical example (which I'll use throughout the column) would be the 8c 7c with a flop of Qc 8h 2c. You might have the best hand with a pair of eights, but even if you don't, you can still hit your flush and win that way. I think too many players get overly excited when they flop such a hand. If they stopped to think about it, they would realize that they could go broke by playing the hand incorrectly, which should make them more worried than excited.

Too often, players instinctively get far too aggressive when they flop a combination hand. They figure they don't want to be moved off their hand, so they either move all in or overbet the pot. There might be $50 in the pot, and they bet more than $100. They don't stop to think that no sensible no-limit player is going to call them with a drawing hand — the pot odds just aren't there. Most of the time, they will win the pot uncontested, but when they do get called, they are almost certainly up against a better hand. In all likelihood, their opponent has at least two pair, and maybe a set. So, once someone calls, their pair is usually worthless. Their combination hand has been reduced to merely a drawing hand. Now, they've overbet the pot, and the only way to win is to hit their draw. Not only are they getting horrible odds on their flop bet, but if they didn't put themselves all in, a smart opponent will make it expensive for them on the turn if the next card off does not make their hand. All in all, this is a pretty lousy situation.