William Chen playing 20-40 with me

[Michael Emery]

Last night when beermoney left the 1 seat in the 20-40 we were in together I got to play with a world class player in William Chen. His screen name on party (as it is on all sites he plays on) is wchen. For those of you that dont know him he was ranked on Sklanskys list of the "smartest poker players in the world". Oh ya, and he was ranked #1! I got to jokingly tease him about that and ask him a few questions about stud and his thoughts on hold'em. He was very nice and answered them all. He told me he just was playing to get some practice for the stud WSOP. He played for about two hours and I wanted to give him a bad beat, but he only played like one hand. I posted the hand he played below. As you can see I (hero) folded but Chen told me what he had after the hand. Guesses welcome.

Mike Emery

7 Card Stud High ($20/$40), Ante $2, Bring-In $5
(hand converter (http://www.geocities.com/greenage22/7StudConverter.hta.txt))

3rd Street - (0.60 SB)

Seat 1: xx xx 2/images/graemlins/club.gif___brings-in___raises___calls
Seat 3: xx xx 9/images/graemlins/heart.gif___calls___folds
Seat 4: xx xx Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif___calls___raises
Hero: 6/images/graemlins/spade.gif K/images/graemlins/club.gif J/images/graemlins/spade.gif___folds
Seat 7: xx xx 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif___completes___calls
Seat 8: xx xx 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif___folds

4th Street - (9.85 SB)

Seat 1: xx xx 2/images/graemlins/club.gif 4/images/graemlins/spade.gif___raises___calls
Seat 4: xx xx Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif___bets___raises
Seat 7: xx xx 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif___calls___calls

5th Street - (9.43 BB)

Seat 1: xx xx 2/images/graemlins/club.gif 4/images/graemlins/spade.gif A/images/graemlins/club.gif___raises
Seat 4: xx xx Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif___folds
Seat 7: xx xx 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif 7/images/graemlins/club.gif___bets___calls

6th Street - (13.43 BB)

Seat 1: xx xx 2/images/graemlins/club.gif 4/images/graemlins/spade.gif A/images/graemlins/club.gif 9/images/graemlins/club.gif___bets
Seat 7: xx xx 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif 7/images/graemlins/club.gif 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif___checks___folds

Total pot: (13.43 BB)

[Roland]

My guess is 2xAc2c. Wild guess, I know. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[bigredlemon]

The only hand he could have on fourth is kings or aces. He wouldn't race kings on fifth against an obvious two pair, so I'd say he had aces and made trips.

[berya]

pocket aces, rolled up dueces.

[bigredlemon]

I doubt he will give his monster hand away so easily on 3rd with rolled 2s. It's all the more unlikely given a dead 2.

[Bartholow]

Chen used to post a lot of good stuff on RGP if I recall correctly. Haven't played with him online since the old heyday of Paradise.

Seems like buried aces to me in this hand.

[Bartholow]

Did he really only play 1 hand in 2 hours? I hope the ante structure is tight as heck in the WSOP...

[TheShootah]

pocket aces seem consistent. Maybe... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[timmer]

I played Stud High against billy chen a few yeaars ago. It was a team tourney at BARGE . I started calling him Machine gun after he machine gunned half of his teams chips off in one 15 minute round. Billy is a game theory expert so his range of hands could be large. I also sweated billy a few days ago at the WSOP stud hi lo event where he drove two players all in with open 5's. they chopped up his checks at the showdown. His hand was a pair of 5's K hi.

I could say billy was on at least a middle pair there with a decent redraw. But I could be wrong.

timmer

[beta1607]

I would just like to point out that the smartest poker player plays stud.

Also, I could see him playing his very live flush draw this way- assuming he is a respected commodity in the 20/40 circles.

[bigredlemon]

I didn't think anyone would play a flush draw like that on third. After some thinking though, he's playing burried aces in a very obvious way, so a tricky player might not play aces so straightforwardly. Great insight. Presuming he's tricky very often, he might indeed probably not have aces. But that makes me wonder whether playing randomly... like a really bad player might play... is really profitable.

[vintage_sara]

rolled up deuces...

[Luv2DriveTT]

[ QUOTE ]
I would just like to point out that the smartest poker player plays stud.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know (not well) Bill, he plays all games, and from what I hear equally well. Last time I saw him he was playing NL, and 20/40 Limit.

TT /images/graemlins/club.gif

[BeerMoney]

Mike, can you please explain your fold on 3rd?

[BeerMoney]

[ QUOTE ]
He told me he just was playing to get some practice for the stud WSOP.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's cool, did you end up being seated at the same table as him?

BTW, I met Ted Forrest this week. Seems totally regular. (not in the constipated/ unconstipated way.)

[bigredlemon]

a complete and a raise to Hero, who has live outs to hit one pair. Maybe I'm missing here but it looks like the easiest fold in the world?

[blumpkin22]

It wasn't completed before Hero folded. But I still fold here even for the bring-in.

[beta1607]

[ QUOTE ]
As you can see I (hero) folded but Chen told me what he had after the hand. Guesses welcome.


[/ QUOTE ]

Resutlts?

[Arnett23]

(3c4c)2c would be my guess, pocket aces and rolled 2's close second.

[BeerMoney]

[ QUOTE ]
He told me he just was playing to get some practice for the stud WSOP.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this says a lot about the 20/40 game on party.

[Bartholow]

If he never plays there otherwise, how would he know enough that it would say anything?

Maybe this is just my pet issue, but I was playing this afternoon with ponchoo and nappori... The game is good.

[Roland]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe this is just my pet issue, but I was playing this afternoon with ponchoo and nappori... The game is good.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can’t you just say „two mega fish”? /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[Bartholow]

Well, I'm almost always playing with 2 mega fish, which is exactly the point. Just figured it would have more direct impact if I mentioned these two /images/graemlins/wink.gif.

PS There aren't always 2 mega fish, but there generally are if I play. I don't mean to imply the game is ALWAYS good, but often it is.

[PokerProdigy]

2 aces in the whole /images/graemlins/grin.gif