Power poker is the way to go. So say most pros. They stress the value of a controlled aggressiveness that pressures opponents into hard decisions, sometimes for all their chips.
But sometimes, even the man who wrote the book on power poker misses a chance to run an opponent out of a hand.
In the Intercontinental Poker Championship at Las Vegas’ Palms in April, Doyle Brunson, author of the wildly successful “Super/System” and “Super/System 2” that are considered bibles among the pokerati, drew J-10 offsuit. Playing five-handed with blinds at $3,000-$6,000 plus an ante of $300, Brunson raised to $37,000 from early position.
Action folded to Tony Guoga in the big blind. Holding 9-8 offsuit at a short-handed table, Guoga called.
The flop came A-K-8, two spades. Guoga checked his bottom pair. Brunson checked behind him with a gutshot straight.
Doyle Brunson
JACK OF SPADES
10 OF CLUBS
Tony Guoga
9 OF CLUBS
8 OF HEARTS
The flop
ACE OF SPADES
KING OF DIAMONDS
8 OF SPADES
The turn and river
7 OF HEARTS
4 OF DIAMONDS
The turn came the 7 of hearts. Guoga checked again. Brunson bet $42,000, about 60 percent of the pot, on his double-bellybuster, needing a 9 or a queen for a straight.
“I was surprised Doyle didn’t bet the flop if he had the ace,” said Guoga, a soft-spoken man away from the table, but one who’s often reviled at the table for his trash- talking outbursts. “I figured I had the best hand and I called him.”
The river came the 4 of diamonds. Guoga checked again.
“Doyle went all in for another $120,000 or so,” said Guoga, winner of the World Poker Tour’s Bad Boys of Poker II event. “I had exactly the same stack. It was for all my chips. I was thinking. But I knew my hand was good. I was feeling that Doyle had Q-J and I said it on TV. I told him I would call. I would look terrible if I was wrong because the board’s scary.”
But Guoga’s measly 8s took the pot and busted poker’s grandest figure.
“The key was Doyle checked the flop,” Guoga said. “That’s why he lost. He checked on the flop. He was second to act. He checked. But if he bet, he would’ve won the pot. Even if I had called and he bet again on the turn, I would’ve folded.
“He missed one bet. If he had bet the flop and moved in on the turn, he would’ve won it, 100 percent. He made the same move later. It’s a good hand that he had, so he could’ve bet on the flop. He still had chances to draw. The check told me he was weak.”
Table talk
Gutshot straight: A straight draw that needs one of the inside cards to make the hand, such as 3-4-X-6-7.
Double-bellybuster straight draw: A straight draw where two cards will make the hand; for example, if you hold J-10 and the board comes A-K-8-7, then a 9 or a queen will make a straight.
