Interesting Hand from Poker After Dark (1 Viewer)

chipsncoffee

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I know that this sub-forum is generally meant for personal hands, but I wanted to post this hand from an episode of Poker After Dark from 2017, give my thoughts, and ask for yours! I thought it might be fun to hear what other people thought about how this hand was played, and how they might’ve played it differently!

It’s a $100/$200 game, and it’s currently 6-handed. Phil Hellmuth literally just sat down with $20k. Jennifer stilly is UTG and straddles for $400 with $16k behind and Hellmuth is directly to her left. He raises to $1200 with :jh::jc:. It folds around to Keating who calls with:qd::3c:, and Tilly sees:kc::qs: and calls. Pot is $4900.

The flop comes:kd::ts::9s:. Keating checks, Tilly checks, Hellmuth checks.

The turn is the :3s:. Keating checks, Tilly bets $3k, Hellmuth snap calls, and Keating folds. Pot is ~$11k.

The river is the :th:. Tilly bets $5k and gets snap called by Phil Hellmuth and sees Tilly turn up the K and kind of loses it (not a surprise).

My biggest question is: how do you not let go of JJ here?? I don’t think Tilly’s range is not at all polarized here, and she took a fairly standard line by checking to the aggressor post-flop, then betting the turn and river for value. What does Hellmuth think she has that he can possibly beat? He’s blocking straight draws with JJ, he can’t beat a flush, and he can’t even beat a flopped T! The only thing I can think is that maybe he put her on some sort of Ax hand with :as:? JJ is only a bluff catcher here, and he loses almost half of his stack on the first hand.

I just thought that, even though this hand was played in a fairly standard way, calling with JJ is pretty ridiculous. Again, I’d love to hear anything that you guys have to say about this!
 
Helmuth C-betting the flop is the only way he loses less $$, assuming that Tilly check-raises. Unless he still doesn't believe her....

His biggest problem is lack of respect for other players, and he lets it negatively affect how he plays hands.
 
Helmuth C-betting the flop is the only way he loses less $$, assuming that Tilly check-raises. Unless he still doesn't believe her....

His biggest problem is lack of respect for other players, and he lets it negatively affect how he plays hands.

And it’s not as if Tilly isn’t capable of just barreling here. However, I feel like we’d see a bigger river bet from her if that were the case.
 
Very standard lines and play here, made interesting by Hellmuth's snapcalls (and whatever Jennifer was wearing) due to a lack of respect regarding other pros. I watch him play understanding that I'm watching a performance for the cameras rather than an astute tourney legend play the game.
 
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen Hellmuth fare too well on a televised cash game.
 
I think the bigger question was what the hell was Keating doing calling the preflop bet? Q3 might be worth a call against the straddle but aint playing that hand when its be raised 3X.
 
I think the bigger question was what the hell was Keating doing calling the preflop bet? Q3 might be worth a call against the straddle but aint playing that hand when its be raised 3X.

The guy will kind of play anything from any spot.
 
Helmuth C-betting the flop is the only way he loses less $$, assuming that Tilly check-raises. Unless he still doesn't believe her....

His biggest problem is lack of respect for other players, and he lets it negatively affect how he plays hands.
This was my thought. He probably thought Tilly was incapable of checking a flop where she hit top pair second kicker. And who can blame him? She’s not good.
 
He looked deep into her soul and read her for :as::qd: and since he has 2 of the straight blockers he knew he was correct..........until he was wrong.:ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
 
Oh, no doubt
Well, cash ain't touney, as he learned on poker after dark
Oh, no doubt. From what I’ve gathered, his home game is usually $5/10. He’s not the best cash player, and he’s not stupid.
 
I think the bigger question was what the hell was Keating doing calling the preflop bet? Q3 might be worth a call against the straddle but aint playing that hand when its be raised 3X.
I figure he figured Tilly plays ABC and Hellmuth seems to like to portray himself as table captain by being overly aggressive as soon as he sits, so he could maybe take advantage of them both post flop.
 

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