[oaktoon]

Ok-- it's not the "in your face" razzing of Brother Phil, which was clearly over the top.

It was the actual poker played last night. Hellmuth complained at one point to his father that it was "all-in", "all-in", clearly unsettled by facing do or die decisions too often.

At one stage when Hellmuth made a big raise with AQ offsuit, and Matusow responded with a push, Phil said "Is this your Matusow blow-up moment?", then folded and saw Mike turn over 8c3c. Which was only a 37-63 dog.

And that's the point, isn't it? Once you realize your opponent (opponents, actually, because Corkins was pushing a lot, too) is willing to push with a lot of hands, then you can't really respond unless you have a big pair. A strong Ace-x hand is only in a dominant position of the other guy pushed with a lesser ace. The fear of a race against a pair or simply a garden variety 60-40 situation like the confrontation above makes it almost impossible to call, particularly when you are short or second short stacked, as Hellmuth was most of the night.

Hellmuth had to hope for post-flop action, and Corkins and Matusow were able to avoid a killer confrontation. Maybe Corkins did get lucky with a couple of monsters, but my sense about Matusow is that he flat outplayed Hellmuth with a better strategy.

Which, come to think of it, is what he was pretty much saying in his objectionable manner all night long. But 3+ hours of 3 handed poker was a pretty amazing thing to watch, if only by cardplayer's reporting.