Today is Friday, March 12, 2010

Legendary Poker Hands

Texas Holdem No-Limit WSOP 1997

$10,000 Main Event: What a Bluff


Stu Ungar   Ron Stanley
Queen of Spades Ten of Clubs VS Nine of Diamonds Seven of Diamonds
The Flop The Turn The River
Ace of Spades Six of Spades Nine of Hearts Eight of Clubs King of Diamonds

The Result

When this hand came up there were four players remaining at the table. Ron Stanley was the small blind and he limped in with the 9Diamonds7Diamonds and Stu Ungar had the QSpades10Clubs and he checked from the big blind. The flop produced the ASpades6Spades9Hearts which did not help Ungar and gave Stanley a pair of nines. The two players checked and waited for the turn. The turn brought the 8Clubs which gave Stanley an open ended straight draw as well as a pair of nines and Ungar now had a gut-shot straight draw along with two overcards. Ron Stanley bet $25,000 and Ungar re-raised $60,000 on a semi-bluff, in hopes that Stanley would fold. Stanley eventually called. The river card brought the KDiamonds, which did not help either player; however the K was a card that would frighten Stanley since there were now two overcards on the board to his pair. Stanley decided to check and Ungar got aggressive and bet $220,000 into the pot. Stanley had to make an important decision and he folded. Ungar made the decision to show his bluff to the table as he was raking in Stanley's chips.

analysis

Stanley probably would have taken the pot if he had of bet on the flop. He tried to trap Ungar with a weak hand instead. Stanley should have either moved all-in or folded when Ungar raised on the turn. Ungar set Stanley up for this play as he must have sensed weakness in Stanley when the turn came and he realized he would have a chance to bluff him.



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