Gigabet hand in WPT event.

Regardless of what gigabet actually held in his hand, this is a brilliant line taken by Harrington. He knows he's against an aggressive player, yet has represented tremendous strength on two streets. Additionally, he's informed his opponent with the turn raise that if he continues, his extremely comfortable stack will be at risk on the river.

In my experience, aggressive players, even world class ones, do not like having these things dictated to them. Harrington put his opponent to a huge decision with only a relatively small raise. In risking only 1/3 of his stack he forced his opponent to decide whether he wanted to risk all of his.

Full marks to Harrington.

I am not familiar enough with gigabet's play to comment whether or not he had JT. All I know in this situation if I held this hand, I would not lay it down.

[KneeCo]

Only live poker I've ever played is at home games that are as much about beer and pizza as poker, so I don't know about live poker reads and can't really say anything about the meaning of the conversation they had on the turn.

Ignoring that, I don't like folding top 2 in this situation. I would probably reraise the flop with a strong bet and be willing to put them all in the middle, since I wouldn't want to have a trouble card like a 3, 9 or Q on the turn.

In any case, congrats to GB on the 20th place finish.

[betgo]

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Come on, there is no way that Giga played this hand. He probably bet somebody $10k that he could post that hand in the forums and still have a majority of people agree with his laydown.


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I sort of agree. I remember thinking if just about anybody else posted this fold, all the responses would be...

"YSSCKY" "OMG Worst fold ever" "um, do you want to move up in the money or win?" "move down in limits." etc etc.


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I guess this post is a bluff by Gigabet, unless there is some deep point here that no one else understands.

It seems like the effect will be that his future posts have less credibility.

[ClaytonN]

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I guess this post is a bluff by Gigabet, unless there is some deep point here that no one else understands.

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Or, perhaps it's an interesting hand he felt was discussion worthy. It's not a "Look at my awesome fold" thread.

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It seems like the effect will be that his future posts have less credibility.

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I don't suppose his last dozen articles and hand postings could refute that?

[betgo]

A lot of people post hands where they make bad plays or unusual plays that may be good plays. I think we need more explanation here. Is there something everyone is missing? Was there something brilliant about the play that no one understands? Did Gigabet just make a really bad play and post it? Or did he just try to bluff at the pot and make up some BS that he folded close to the nuts in a limped pot SB vs. BB?

The whole presentation of Gigabet's logic for folding doesn't seem to make sense. You have one of the Internet's best LAGs and a world class TAG. Harrington is going to play back at Gigabet with various strong hands and sometimes with nothing. There seems almost no logical way Harrington could be ahead.

[TomHimself]

i dont see how he layed this down

[fnord_too]

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A lot of people post hands where they make bad plays or unusual plays that may be good plays. I think we need more explanation here. Is there something everyone is missing? Was there something brilliant about the play that no one understands? Did Gigabet just make a really bad play and post it? Or did he just try to bluff at the pot and make up some BS that he folded close to the nuts in a limped pot SB vs. BB?

The whole presentation of Gigabet's logic for folding doesn't seem to make sense. You have one of the Internet's best LAGs and a world class TAG. Harrington is going to play back at Gigabet with various strong hands and sometimes with nothing. There seems almost no logical way Harrington could be ahead.

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Ok, do this. Put Gigabet on hands from Dan Harrington's perspective. Now, with that range of hands, think about the action from Dan's perspective. What hands would he take what lines with. Say he has Aces, how does he play them given what he knows. If he raises, does he expect Gigabet to call with a worse hand? If he calls what are the chances of Gigabet betting the river with a worse hand? If he bets and Gigabet comes over the top for all his chips, does he still think his one pair hand is best?

When you do this sort of exercize, you should begin to see that raising here with a good but not great made hand is pretty reckless. It makes the pot one that could easily be played for his entire stack. Moreover, Giga is going to be folding a lot of worse hands he might bet on the river, so this play only really makes sense with a good hand if he has an easy decision if Gigabet pushes. He is in fact inviting a push with his bet size, and threating one if Gigabet does not push. That is very strong. He could be on air, but why would he do this with a hand that has showdown value but is marginal? If he has a really strong hand, one that can stand the heat, his bet give the wrong price to draws and he is comfortable getting his chips in against another strong made hand.

This is not a hand where DH just plays back at him, it is a deep (for tournies) stacked hand where there is a real chance of whole stacks going in. It could be a subtle bluff on DH's part, but I would not put those odds very high.

MLG's oppinion is that DH would feel strongly about any tens up or better hand. I think he calls down with a lot of two pair hands because I think it is higher EV. We agree, though, that the turn raise is damn scary.

I don't understand why everyone stops thinking at top two in blind v blind hand. Yes, that is a monster under normal circumstances, but you don't normally see Dan Harrington willing to stick in all his chips on an unraised blind v blind hand where the players started off with 100BB. Think about that: Unraised pot, deep stacks, blind v. blind and a very tight aggressive cautious experienced player is acting like he will commit his stack here. If it's a bluff, it's pretty damn slick and you have to give it up to him, if it is not, you just need to be sure of the range of hands he does this with and the frequencies he takes this line with the specific hands he will take this line with.

[ClaytonN]

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A lot of people post hands where they make bad plays or unusual plays that may be good plays. I think we need more explanation here. Is there something everyone is missing? Was there something brilliant about the play that no one understands? Did Gigabet just make a really bad play and post it? Or did he just try to bluff at the pot and make up some BS that he folded close to the nuts in a limped pot SB vs. BB?

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That's for us to discuss. That's the fun part

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The whole presentation of Gigabet's logic for folding doesn't seem to make sense. You have one of the Internet's best LAGs and a world class TAG. Harrington is going to play back at Gigabet with various strong hands and sometimes with nothing. There seems almost no logical way Harrington could be ahead.

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This is not necessarily about cEV, for starters. I would go back to his argument about blocks.

[fnord_too]

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Dan's raise could be a weak made hand like an overpair or AJ or something and have Giga on a draw. He may have the plan to check behind the riv.

-Jason

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I think raising in that spot is bad with a weak made hand. He is giving good odds to made hands, incorrect odds to draws (but only if he is going to fold to a river bed on a scare card, which isn't going to be easy with the pot size and an opponent who can move chips on a bluff), and folds a lot of hands that are drawing thin to dead which might fire on the river. Why play a pot for your whole stack with a marginal hand here when you can control the pot? That does not seem like something Harrington would be doing.

[FakeKramer]

Why in God's name did he fold that?!?