Interesting Negreanu vs. Chan hand from Bellagio Tourney

[Burno]

From Daniel's Journal:

"The new table was great as well. Not much threat, and I slowly builit my chips up to 340,000.

In level 9, Johnny Chan was moved to my table, two to my left. We have played a lot in the cash games as well as the tournaments so I knew it was going to be tough. I planned on playing carefully against him and avoiding any big pots.

With blinds at 600-1200 I raised it to 5500 on the button- 1500 more than I'd normally make it since I respected Johnny's post flop play. Johnny called.

The flop came 3-3-2 and Johnny checked to me- I bet 12,000, and Johnny called. The turn card was an 8, Johnny bet 15,000 and I made it 60,000, raising 45,000 more. To my surprise, Johnny made it 45,000 more, and I called.

The river came a 9 and Chan moved all in for 98,700 and I called. Johnny turned over 8-8 and I mucked...you'll notice this story is lacking some important information... my hole cards!

I like to think that I share a great deal of information with the public, but there are somethings about my game that I need to protect. This was a very important hand obviously, and I don't want Chan to find out what I had, or reveal it to anyone else for that matter. Hopefully you all can respect that."


Any guesses as to what Daniel's hand was, and why he would be so reluctant to make it known? I understand that him and Chan play in the big game together, but beyond that I am stumped.

[PoBoy321]

Honestly, I think that Danny N could have had any 2. Based on what I've read some of his other articles, he'll sometimes play junk hands (remember that Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] hand from the main event?) and just try to play the man. I think that that's he was doing here. I have a feeling that he had a 3, but it was a 3 in a very ragged hand, 93o or the like.

[college_boy]

I don't know why he didn't just mention his hole cards in this journal entry. If you look at prior journals he had no problem talking about hands he has played. Why even go through the hand if he's gonna refuse to share his cards? It doesn't make sense to me.

[Nagoo81]

I think DN had 55 or 66.

[Sluss]

You know my first thought when I first read this on Danny's journal was 93 sooooted.

Figure Daniel will raise Chan's blind with low cards. Because Chan will only call that raise with a premium hand. So if the flop comes 332, Chan probably has no piece of it.

Weak lead at the flop to build up the pot and maybe Chan will sense the weakness come over the top and Daniel has got him. When Chan leads out on the turn Daniel thinks that Chan thinks Daniel was weak on the flop so he can take this pot away here on the turn. Daniel tells Chan he can't by raising. When Chan min re-raises this he has to think that Chan has a big hand. I think in the hand Daniel took this up a few levels and figured that Chan would know that Daniel would figure this and played it that way to make Daniel fold. This is Daniel's big mistake on the hand and probably why he starts kicking himself after the hand.

When the river comes a 9 now it has filled up Daniel's hand. When Chan moves all-in Daniel now has to do the math. How much will he have left? How much will he have if he has the best hand? If he calls and has the best hand he will have such a big stack he can roll to victory. What if Chan called with A3, now he beat A3. If he is wrong he can still re-group and come back on a semi short stack. So he decides to call.

Or at least that's my read. Hell Daniel could have had aces for all I know.

[drewjustdrew]

maybe he is still at chan's table and doesn't want to unnecessarily give him any information for today. I'm sure someone friendly with chan would be reading daniels journal.

[amoeba]

that flop lead wasn't weak. It was almost pot sized.

I think that he either had 23 or 93.

[Yeti]

I also find it strange that he didn't mention his hand, it's kinda as if it was so bad he doesn't want to reveal it.

However, examining the hand I think he was pretty strong. Maybe A3.

[UMTerp]

It couldn't have been that bad, as he called Chan's sizable river bet. If he folds the river, he saves half his stack. I think it has to be kings at the very very minimum, though more likely a 3 or a smaller boat (22? 23?). You'd think if he had aces or kings, he'd have opened for his standard 2.5BB.

[That guy]

this hand is very interesting.

Negreanu tried to run over Chan and got nailed. This is so different than how he has played vs other top players.

Throughout the entire Plaza tournament, he played so conservatively when he had a big stack. He called with crap and he called with premium hands so you never knew what he had.

Here he raised big pre-flop. What does Daniel raise so aggressively with here?

When Johnny Checks & Calls the 332 flop, Daniel senses weakness and probably thinks Johnny has overcards and is taking one off.

The 8 hits and Johnny leads out -- excellent play by Chan --Make it look like he is making an obligatory play (bluff) for the pot and will fold to a raise...

Negreanu doesn't think Chan would play a 3 like this and obviously can't put him on 88 here so he raises to take the pot away from Chan.

But with Chan's re-raise, Daniel needs a big hand to call.

He must have a 3 here but what else? I doubt the 8 helped Negreanu. He could have 22 here. Would he really have raised so much pre-flop with 23 or A3?? who knows?

I think he had 22. Negreanu must have been ahead on the flop and lost the lead, that is the only way I see Negreanu losing so much on this hand.