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Poker Talk
By Steve Rosenbloom
The Art of Poker
Premium cards aren’t always the best
You won’t always be dealt premium cards, and you won’t always have the best hand at the end.
But you still have to win chips, whether you’re playing a cash game or a tournament, and that’s where some of the
art of playing poker is found: buying pots with lesser holdings. In the $25,000-buy-in World Poker Tour
Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2008, respected pro Eli Elezra figured out that his cards were
probably bad but his bet probably would be good.
With blinds at $500-$1,000 plus a $100 ante, Elezra drew 4-7 offsuit in the small blind. A player in late position only
limped, so Elezra called the extra $500, hoping to hit the flop, and the big blind checked his option.
The three players took a flop of 6-4-8, two hearts. Elezra hit bottom pair and a gutshot straight draw to the 5.
“I bet $3,500 (into a $3,900 pot),” said Elezra, a top cash-game player who also has won a World Poker Tour title
and a World Series of Poker bracelet. “I figured $3,500 would let me know where I’m at. If he comes over the top of
me, then I’ll let it go. If he just calls me, I probably can buy it.”
The big blind folded. The original limper indeed only called.
The turn came the ace of hearts.
“That was a bad card because it put the third heart up there, and it’s an overcard,” Elezra said. “I checked to see
where he was at. He checked immediately behind me, which told me he didn’t have an ace and he didn’t have a
heart. I did think that he had me beat, though.”
The river came the ace of clubs, adding a full house to the possible big hands that could beat Elezra’s pair of 4s.
He didn’t believe he had the best hand, but he still thought he could win the pot.
“On the river, I tried to figure out some kind of number that he wouldn’t be able to call,” Elezra said. “I figured if I bet
$9,000 (into the $10,900 pot), he’ll call me with a pair of 8s (if he held the 8s over aces underfull). So, I fired
$17,000.”
Elezra’s overbet might portray a player with only trip aces who’s worried about bigger hands. It might be a straight
trying to get a small flush or an underfull to fold. It might be a made hand hoping a calling station would read it as a
bluff.
Or it might be what it was: an attempt to buy a pot.
“I thought the bet was big enough for him not to call,” Elezra said, and he was right, as his opponent folded.
“I told him I had a straight, but obviously I didn’t,” Elezra said with a smile.
TABLE TALK
Underfull: A full house where the three of a kind rank lower than the pair; for example, three 8s over two aces.
Steve Rosenbloom is a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the author of the book The Best
Hand I Ever Played, now available in bookstores. He can be reached at srosenbloom@tribune.com.
© Tribune Media Services
Premium cards aren’t always the best
You won’t always be dealt premium cards, and you won’t always have the best hand at the end.
But you still have to win chips, whether you’re playing a cash game or a tournament, and that’s where some of the
art of playing poker is found: buying pots with lesser holdings. In the $25,000-buy-in World Poker Tour
Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2008, respected pro Eli Elezra figured out that his cards were
probably bad but his bet probably would be good.
With blinds at $500-$1,000 plus a $100 ante, Elezra drew 4-7 offsuit in the small blind. A player in late position only
limped, so Elezra called the extra $500, hoping to hit the flop, and the big blind checked his option.
The three players took a flop of 6-4-8, two hearts. Elezra hit bottom pair and a gutshot straight draw to the 5.
“I bet $3,500 (into a $3,900 pot),” said Elezra, a top cash-game player who also has won a World Poker Tour title
and a World Series of Poker bracelet. “I figured $3,500 would let me know where I’m at. If he comes over the top of
me, then I’ll let it go. If he just calls me, I probably can buy it.”
The big blind folded. The original limper indeed only called.
The turn came the ace of hearts.
“That was a bad card because it put the third heart up there, and it’s an overcard,” Elezra said. “I checked to see
where he was at. He checked immediately behind me, which told me he didn’t have an ace and he didn’t have a
heart. I did think that he had me beat, though.”
The river came the ace of clubs, adding a full house to the possible big hands that could beat Elezra’s pair of 4s.
He didn’t believe he had the best hand, but he still thought he could win the pot.
“On the river, I tried to figure out some kind of number that he wouldn’t be able to call,” Elezra said. “I figured if I bet
$9,000 (into the $10,900 pot), he’ll call me with a pair of 8s (if he held the 8s over aces underfull). So, I fired
$17,000.”
Elezra’s overbet might portray a player with only trip aces who’s worried about bigger hands. It might be a straight
trying to get a small flush or an underfull to fold. It might be a made hand hoping a calling station would read it as a
bluff.
Or it might be what it was: an attempt to buy a pot.
“I thought the bet was big enough for him not to call,” Elezra said, and he was right, as his opponent folded.
“I told him I had a straight, but obviously I didn’t,” Elezra said with a smile.
TABLE TALK
Underfull: A full house where the three of a kind rank lower than the pair; for example, three 8s over two aces.
Steve Rosenbloom is a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the author of the book The Best
Hand I Ever Played, now available in bookstores. He can be reached at srosenbloom@tribune.com.
© Tribune Media Services