Brunson streak over, Dwan hits big

Typically when you are playing a hand of Texas Hold’em with Doyle Brunson and you are holding a pair of deuces when he makes a $60,000 bet on the river, you would muck your hand. Lex Veldhuis didn’t do that on High Stakes Poker and won the hand that brought Brunson’s winning streak to a stop.

Brunson had bluffed and lost a huge pot. On the other end of the table was Tom Dwan, who has played this season of High Stakes Poker very loosely. Dwan’s play for much of the season has been referred to as silly but his so-called silly play has started to pay off.

Dwan started off the night with a hero call gone awry. He called Daniel Negreanu’s $28,200 river bet on a board of 7-7-3-K-Q board with just 9-5, clearly putting Kid Poker on a missed straight draw with 4-5 or 5-6 after he called Dwan’s flop bet. But Negreanu had been floating the flop with K-10, and got maximum value out of a rare misstep by durrrr.

“I guess my call is terrible then,” said Dwan, after seeing Negreanu’s cards. “I made one of them hero calls.”

But Dwan would recover nicely, winning a huge pot off of Eli Elezra when he induced a re-raise to $173,300 from the Israeli cash game regular when he held an over-pair on a 9-7-3 flop. Dwan went over the top with his top two pair, and Elezra finally threw it way. With those winnings, Dwan finished the session up overall. He was a winner in all three sessions this season, as well as all three sessions last season.

Brunson, however, booked a rare losing session — thanks, in large part, to his failed bluff attempt on Veldhuis. The Dutch pro was back at the table to take Mike Matusow’s old seat and was hoping for a better performance than his last time there. Veldhuis made his High Stakes Poker debut earlier this season, but his aggression was turned against him when Phil Ivey five-bet pushed all in holding just 5-2 pre-flop to win $51,600 from the online pro.

This time, Veldhuis was on his game. He was pushing the action, and playing creatively enough to get his opponents to play out of character — no instance was more evident of that than when Brunson invested about $90,000 into a pot in a single hand, holding nothing but queen-high.

Brunson had limped into Veldhuis’ straddle with Q-9. Velhuis tried to bully him out with a pre-flop raise holding just 9-2, but Brunson defended. A 6-3-2 flop went check-check, and Brunson threw out $20,500 in chips when a jack came on the turn. When a 4 came on the river, putting four to a straight on the board, Brunson fired out an unusually large bet of $60,000.

Knowing Brunson’s range was so polarized that he probably either had the straight or nothing, Veldhuis made the call — much to the shock of his fellow tablemates.
“Wow,” Brunson said softly. “Hmmph,” Elezra responded. “Don’t try to bluff that guy,” Negreanu offered.

That great call was certainly a highlight of Veldhuis’ performance, but he also won a $130,400 pot off Elezra to put him up nicely for his short stay at the table.

Galfond put himself into a number of tough situations and had another tough episode financially, but viewers had to be impressed with his ability to get away from big hands on the river. On two separate occasions, he correctly mucked a full house to a large river bet.

The first time he did it, he had no business being in the hand in the first place.

David Benyamine had opened the betting to $4,200 pre-flop with pocket tens, and Galfond three-bet the action to $16,000 with K-5. Unfortunately for Galfond, Elezra, who had just moments earlier paid off Veldhuis in a big hand, woke up with a monster — pocket kings. Elezra four-bet it to $40,500 and Galfond surprisingly made the call after Benyamine got out of the way.

The flop was a disaster for Galfond: K-K-9. Elezra bet $33,000 into the $88,600 pot and Galfond made the call. A 9 turn appeared to seal Galfond’s fate, as the young pro now held a full house. But when Elezra checked it over to him, he showed great restraint (or perhaps was just trying to disguise his hand) and checked it as well.

A queen came on the river, a card that perhaps allowed Galfond to justify his next play. Although it didn’t appear to change much, Galfond knew that he was beat if Elezra held any of the three big pocket pairs (aces, kings, or queens). Elezra pushed out $110,000 into the $154,600 pot, and waited for Galfond’s decision.

“I have a full house,” Galfond said to no one in particular, as Negreanu laughed at the scene. “I would’ve called a small bet.”
He mucked his hand, prompting an amusing stretch of dialogue at the table. “Folded a king?” asked Benyamine, reading the situation perfectly. “I had a king,” Galfond confirmed. “I don’t believe you,” Elezra responded. “I believe it,” Brunson insisted. “You had a king?” Dwan asked incredulously.

Galfond would make another great laydown after Negreanu made a nearly pot-sized bet of $75,000 on a K-8-3-8-K board with top boat. Galfond had an eight, but declined to pay Negreanu off.

In other news, Bertand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier became the final victim of a season that saw many players hit the rail. He refused to give up third pair on a board of 8-6-4-Q when he held A-6 against the unpredictable Dwan, who had put him all in on the turn. ElkY called, and let out a few curses when he saw that Dwan was holding aces.

Perhaps it was fitting that Dwan, the season’s big winner, won his final hand with pocket aces after winning so many before that with such a wide variety of hole cards.

News Added: 10 May, 2010

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