I can’t get enough of Phil Ivey. Like Jordan, Gretzky, Pedro Martinez or Pete Sampras, I could watch the guy do his thing all day and night. I recently caught him on TV in a game of high stakes poker in Vegas, where the man himself faced a tough decision.
You wouldn’t think a pair of red kings pre-flop would lead to many tough decisions down the line, especially when Ivey who endorses FullTilt Poker was controlling the betting early with an aggressive $14K raise to the table. He gets everyone out except a guy named Booth, who was sitting on a 4, 2 spaces believe it or not. That put him at an 80/20 disadvantage.
The flop is 3, 7, 6 of spades, which leaves Booth with an inside straight draw and a back-door flush draw…two really nasty positions to be in facing a powerful pair. The percentage of winning doesn’t change much, though, leaving Ivey with a 79% advantage.
Ivey, who represents Full Tilt Poker can sense he’s working the best hand between the two of them, and certainly doesn’t want Booth to catch on the turn or river, so he bets a convincing $23K. Booth, now, proves he has some balls. He swirls his tongue around his lips a few times, and about a minute later you almost can’t believe your eyes as he raises the bet to $300K. Yes, you read that right. Great poker excitement, it’s what all of us fans of the game just live to watch.
Ivey counts his chips, thinks quietly, stacks his chips some more, peeks at his cards and finally hands them over to the dealer. Man, would I have loved to see him call and find out what would’ve happened in that hand, because if Booth didn’t pull that straight, he would’ve been done for.
The commentators made a good point while FullTiltPoker.net pro Phil Ivey was thinking, though. They said, win or lose, Booth was advertising. What this means is he was putting himself out there as a maverick, someone who couldn’t be predicted, a move he hoped would pay dividends later in the tournament. Those reputations are hard to build and even harder to shatter.
There’s a bit of chatter between the players who folded earlier after the hand, but Ivey just sits there with arms crossed, staring down Booth with a furious look in his eyes. I would not have wanted to be the next guy to bluff him that night.