[Ed Note: To watch the hand... click HERE]
Many people have asked me about this hand, so here are some thoughts, from my perspective, about what went on.
It has been said that I could and maybe should have won the hand and that I would have won the hand had I pushed all in on the flop facing any of Phil Ivey’s bets and that many other options that I could have taken would have been 'more effective', all of which is quite true. There are many other 'more effective' options that I could have taken such as:
-- fold without making up the blind
-- fold to the initial pre flop raise
-- fold to the first reraise
-- fold to the 2nd reraise
-- move all in after the first bet
-- move all in after the 1st reraise
-- move all in after the 2nd re raise
-- have a seizure before the first call and fall off my chair
-- expose my hand before the 1st call and have my hand declared dead.
I am sure there are more but I am sure you get the point.
We can all look at any hand knowing both hands and knowing in hindsight how the hand played out, particularly with multiple actions, and suggest a course of action that would probably have resulted in a more preferable result for either player.At the time of my 2nd reraise, I had committed a large portion of my chips to the pot and was intending to make my bet look the strongest possible. So I flat raised which I thought looked stronger at the time than an all in bet. (I am not one to move all in on the basis that 'I hope my opponent won’t call') and indeed everyone that I spoke to that was present at the time all thought that I had a full house and I strongly believe that 99% of players if switched into Phil Ivey’s seat after my 2nd reraise facing that betting pattern with his hand would simply fold, I know I would. To be honest I did not even consider the possibility of him moving all in with no hand after my second reraise as I did not consider that as a viable move under the circumstances.
All of the explanations as to how he made the final move; I answered his question as to my remaining chips, I acted weak when talking, I covered my mouth etc... are probably best answered by the man himself.
He came drinking with us the night of the final and after initially saying (without explanation) that 'it was a little something you did', he eventually explained that he made the final move on the basis of 'value'. With what was in the pot and what I had left he felt that my final move was very strong but that it represented a very very strong hand or no hand at all and, although the chance seemed slim, it was worth taking the chance that I had no hand because if he was wrong and doubled me up he would still have a healthy chip lead anyway. He had deduced (for the wrong reason as it turned out) that I was not going to lie down and let him walk all over me and that I would be making moves and attempting to bluff him. This was primarily based on two earlier hands where I had bet, been called, then checked, and then reraised him. He felt sure that I had bluffed him both times. As it happened I had QQ on a Jack high flop the first time and I had checked the flop, was sure he would bet the turn regardless and he did and I reraised and he folded. The second time I hit an ace on the flop, checked the turn, then re aised on the river
(I believed a check on the turn would entice a bet regardless of the river card. As it happened though, it was a three to give me 2 pairs).
It was unfortunate for me that he did not try his all-in play on either of these hands.
