Phil Ivey against Brad Booth

Brad Booth makes the most of this nothing hand against one of the best high-stakes, cash-game players in the world. Following along with what transpires, remember the big blind is $600 in order to keep things in perspective.

There are tight aggressive players and loose aggressives at this table and just one slip you could be down about the cost of a new home.  David Williams makes a standard open raise 1800 but is reraised by Brad Booth to 5800.  I can see David making this raise but what is Brad thinking with this move?His hole cards are actually 2, 4 suited but Booth must have saw pocket aces instead.  Maybe he’s just looking to take the pot but for this small amount when they are sitting with 100’s of 1,000’s in cash behind it just doesn’t seem worth risking any for the return.There is also the other thought that he KNOWS his competition and can use the flop to his advantage.

He walks right into a monster though because Phil Ivey is sitting on KK or “Cowboys”.Naturallly, Ivey re-raises here forcing Williams out of the hand.

Brad Booth bravely asks Phil how much money he has left at the table, while realizing he himself is behind in the hand.  Phil has a couple hundred grand so Brad CALLS phils preflop last re-raise for implied odds.There is some reasoning to Brad in hoping to hit this flop big and win a monster pot.

The flop shows 3 of diamonds, 7 of spades and 6 of diamonds not giving much to either player.In terms of hand strength Booth is nowhere at all.  Phil is first to act and he bets out 23k.This is where Brad thinks to himself, “Do I want to go all the way with this play?”.Hitting the gutshot or some lucky 4th and 5th street cards he may very well land a monster pot, but that is a wild long shot.

Most people would fold here, instead he shoves in $300,000 to make the whole table start sweating!  He knows that Phil cannot call him if he has a big pp like AA or KK because Phil can put him on a small pp that just hit a set for him or even a 45s which though a radical choice is quite conceivable with these players on this level.  Phil made his move, put out the chips and got his answer.Just like in the old western days, Booth is saying you are going to have to kill me to win this pot.

Phil Ivey isn’t willing to risk that, but I have a feeling Gus Hansen just might have.

Brad gives us a perfect example of using position, stack size and opponent read coupled with selective aggression in poker to win a pot he would otherwise have lost.  Now this isn’t a move you can make in low stakes games as you already know some of the junk your opponents are willing to call your all in reraise with.  They can’t put you on a hand and most don’t care, they only care about the hand they hold.When the competition is this tough, but also – this thoughtful – this is how you might go about it!

This book is great, but because Gus’ name is on it, it really didn’t have to be. Gus has really opened up here and goes through every contentious hand he plays at the 2007 Aussie Millions, where he dominated the final table and kick-slapped an internet newcomer named Jimmy Fricke heads up to seal the deal. In showing how he strategizes right through that tournament he creates sincere value that we amateur players may have never before been exposed to because players like Gus are just so rare.

If you’ve ever seen some of the hands from this tournament on youtube, you will see that Gus was actually using a personal recording device and whispering into a mic throughout the Aussie Millions Poker Tournament. You have to wonder if it was a self check system for Gus, or if he had actually planned to use the information for this book ahead of time.

Either way, thie concept of going over your own recordings as a self check system put Gus in excellent position to analyze the hands for this book as he could easily review the chips counts, stacks, position and all the other important tournament factors. You get his detailed insight into the thought processes of one of the best tourney players in the world, while also learning about the different strategies of playing a full table and playing short-handed, and how important aggression is part of Gus Hansen’s multi-table tournament strategy.

Gus Hansen’s book should be read after Harington’s because you have two very different styles, but one could argue that Hansen is more successful than Dan Harrington. It is simply a matter of playing style, and both of these professional players have been very successful. Gus writes quite blatantly that most poker books are too theoretical and assert play that far too tight for tournaments.

The practical style poker books seems to carry more value as they are just that much easier to read, think about, and then take to the table yourself, trying to recognize similar situations you may have just soaked in. You can take these examples and really realte them to your own tournament experiences.

The explanations of these hands seemed a lot more rationale than you might think as Hansen relied on his dutiful recorder and his indepth knowledge of blinds, copmetition, and payouts that helped his aggressive style to even further exploit his competition.