Poker After Dark Week 4 Recap

by Dennis Oehring

First of all, congratulations to Phil Ivey on winning! He showed how to play the game when you have a big stack to perfection. Ivey would often enter pots with marginal hands because he could afford to, and then outplay his opponents with a weak board on the flop. Ivey showed how important accumulating chips in the early stages of a match is, and that he is one of the best at putting pressure on his opponents when he has that advantage.

But Ivey could just as easily have been out in 6th place were it not for Lady Luck, who arrived in the form of a queen on the turn and on the river. Sam Farha was the early chip leader, having $33,000 in chips to Ivey's $20,000, when Phil called Sammy's all in reraise after a flop of 6 9 8 with 2 spades. Farha held the 5 7 of spades for a made straight with a flush draw, and was a decided favorite over Ivey's set of sixes. But consecutive queens on 4th and 5th street gave Ivey sixes full, crippling Farha, and more than doubling up Ivey. Farha went from the big stack to the short stack, and wound up being the first player eliminated.

It's hands like this that help me understand how both proponents of poker being a game of skill and detractors who say it's just another game of chance feel about their respective positions. But in the final analysis, I don't see how either player could have played the hand any differently.

I enjoy watching Hellmuth and Matusow play against one another, and especially how they are always trying to put each other on tilt. Whether you are fans of theirs or not, it's hard to deny the tremendous drawing power that they have in terms of ratings. At times, I find myself pulling for them, and at other times against them. Some of the things they say make me laugh and some make me cringe, but maybe this is one of the reasons I love watching them. Anyhow, Phil could never get his game strategy in gear and finished a disappointing 5th.

Andy Bloch provided an element of balance to this table of talkers and big egos. I like to watch Andy play, because he is disciplined, humble, and I've never seen him rattled. He plays solid poker, and makes sound decisions. Holding pocket 10s with the short stack, Andy called an all in preflop reraise made by Phil Ivey, who had pocket 9s. Bloch was a 4:1 favorite to win the hand, but another 9 on the flop sent Andy to the rail in 4th place.

With three of the more verbal players in Tony G, "Mike the Mouth" and the "Poker Brat" all seated at the same table, I expected anything but peace and quiet during the match. But I admit to being somewhat surprised at Tony G's demeanor. I've seen Tony play a few times, and this was about as well mannered as I've ever seen him on television. For the most part, he came across exactly as he does when he isn't involved in a game at all, which is friendly and very respectful of others. Unfortunately for Tony, he was card dead throughout most of the match, and didn't get paid off for the good hands he did have, and found himself out in 3rd place.

That left Mikey heads-up against Ivey, and Matusow wasn't in that bad of shape as Ivey only held a 3:2 chip advantage. But the start of heads-up play was about as close as Matusow ever got to catching Phil, as Ivey systematically whittled down Mike's stack. On the final hand, both players made top pair when a queen came on the flop, but Ivey's king kicker was better than Matusow's once both players were all in, and Matusow couldn't pair his kicker on the turn or river to give Ivey the victory.