The Online Poker Pro

This is the first in our series of notable poker hands from TV shows. This hand is from the Game Show Network’s  High Stakes Poker:

The hand begins with the blinds at $400/$800 and $200 antes.

Barry Greenstein is dealt the ace of hearts and the ace of clubs under the gun and opens the pot with a bet of $2,500. He gets called by Tom Dwan with queen of clubs and 10 of clubs, David Benyamine with the 3 of diamonds and the 3 of clubs, Eli Elezra with the jack of diamonds and the 9 of spades, Ziigmund Sahamies with the 7 of hearts and 6 of spades, Daniel Negreanu with the king of diamonds and 4 of diamonds, Peter Eastgate with the 4 of hearts and the 2 of diamonds and Doyle Brunson with the ace of spades and the 9 of clubs.

Barry Greenstein	Tom Dwan	David Benyamine	Eli Elezra

Ziigmund Sahamies	Daniel Negreanu	Peter Eastgate	Doyle Brunson

The pot is $21,600 and on the flop comes the 2 of clubs, the 10 of diamonds and the 2 of spades.

Peter Eastgate (with the best hand: three deuces, 4 kicker) checks. Doyle checks and Barry bets $10,000 to try to find out where he is in this 8-handed pot. Dwan raises to $37,300 and everyone folds to Eastgate who calls. Barry also follows with a call. The pot is now $133,500.

The turn is a 7 of diamonds. Eastgate and Greenstein check and Dwan, with a 5% chance to win the hand (as he is dead to a 10), bets $104,200. Eastgate with the best hand, folds his three deuces with a weak kicker (no doubt concerned that Dwan might have with pocket 10s and a full house), which now leaves Barry with his pocket aces and a 95% chance of winning the hand. But with seven other players originally in the hand on the flop, he knows that poker odds indicate that the chance of someone hitting trips was very good and he also folds.

Dwan makes a tremendous play to win this hand. High Stakes Poker announcer Gabe Kaplan was so impressed that he remarked that about the only other player he would expect to see that kind of poker strategy from was the late Stu Unger.

Playing card clip art courtesy of Dave Schloss

Check out these other High Stakes Poker hands:

• Phil Ivey, David Williams and Brad Booth
• Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari