Final table, Bay 101, isolation raise.......with 55 !?!.....
 

I did'nt know where the hell to post this but the MTT forums
seems appropriate.

Phil Gordons wonderful Expert Insight DVD. This is the best
thing I've ever bought on a NL tourney, but it focuses on
final table play and Phil's thought process which is
extremely educational.

This one is tearing me up though:

Phil is UTG+1 while Butch is UTG. Butch comes in for a
20K raise while blinds are 3/6K. Butch has a big stack
and Phil has plenty of chips to play winning poker.
Butch has been raising and playing just about any 2 cards.
Phil wants to get heads up with Butch in this hand and
the fact Phil has position on Butch, Phil looks down and
sees 55, he says this is a perfect situation to get HU
with Butch so he puts in a 40K isolation raise hoping
everyone else folds and Butch will just call.

55 !?!, hell if Butch has any hand at all the best Phil
could be is a 55% favorite, and Butch has enough stack to
break Phil, so why so gung-ho to get it in with 55?

Small PP are so damned vulnerable.

Thoughts? Thanks

Re: Final table, Bay 101, isolation raise.......with 55 !?!.....
 

Phil is one very aggressive player. How many at the table? What's the UTG guy been like?

Re: Final table, Bay 101, isolation raise.......with 55 !?!.....
 

I think Phil re-created the final table at Bay 101,
which he won, the DVD has 6 players, and the hands
played and analyzed are hands from his win.

Butch has been playing way too many hands, Phil comments
on this several times. Butch and Phil have stacks in the
top three of five players left.

But....putting all that aside, to want to get heads up
with anyone.....at anytime.....in a tourney, with a small
pocker pair (in this case 55), is at best a 55 percent
hand, this being pre-flop.
Earlier in the DVD, Phil folds 99 and ATs in a heartbeat,
but the dynamics were much different.
I can't understand wanting to get heads up with a maniac
with 55 when you are at best only slightly better than a
coin toss to win the hand.

Re: Final table, Bay 101, isolation raise.......with 55 !?!.....
 

Ahhh, you didn't mention it was 6 handed. That changes things a lot. I haven't seen the DVD. I think I might need to see it to get a better idea what Phil is thinking. Sounds like he thinks he can outplay his opponent acting after him.

It doesn't make complete sense to me, but I don't know enough about the context.

Re: Final table, Bay 101, isolation raise.......with 55 !?!.....
 

you have a coin flip if you see 5 cards. With 3 cards and position this is far better than a coinflip.

That being said, i think exact stack sizes here are very important.

Re: Final table, Bay 101, isolation raise.......with 55 !?!.....
 

whenever i see someone quoting preflop all in percentages when both players have deep stacks, I know that this player has much to learn.