Poker: When folding isn’t an option

Playing against aggressive opponents can be a difficult thing because they apply pressure with bets and raises regardless of their holdings.

But if you have position, you frequently can control the pot to avoid getting bet off a hand that has showdown value, as all-time great Phil Hellmuth showed in this hand from the $25,000-buy-in World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio in 2010.

With blinds at $4,000-$8,000 plus a $1,000 ante, action folded to Hellmuth in late position.

“I looked at an ace (of spades) and I just raised it to $22,000,” said Hellmuth, who has a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, including the 1989 main event championship.

In the big blind, young, aggressive pro Yevgeniy Timoshenko re-raised $40,000 more.

“I figured Yevgeniy was going to play back at me soon, with or without a hand,” Hellmuth said. “We have a history, and he’s pretty aggressive. I’ve seen him play on camera, and I figured he was getting sick of (being raised when he was in the blind).

“I look at my other card and saw a jack (of hearts) kicker, and I asked him, ‘How much do you have left?’ He said, ‘$400,000.’ I had $900,000, $950,000, but I thought, ‘Nah, I don’t really want to commit it all here.’

“But I think I have him. I figured I had the best hand. I couldn’t fold. My options were call or raise. It was more conservative to call. He could have A-Q.”

The flop came Q-3-A, rainbow. Timoshenko checked. Hellmuth hit top pair but needed to find out how vulnerable his ace might be. He made it $35,000, a smallish bet that might prompt a move from Timoshenko.

“I know he’s going to call with any two (cards) there,” said Hellmuth, a pro from the UB.net online site, “but I also know he’s going to raise me with A-Q or A-K.”

Timoshenko only called. The turn came the 2 of clubs. Timoshenko checked again.

“Now, I don’t want to lose $200,000 or $300,000 here,” said Hellmuth, known as the “Poker Brat” for his childish eruptions at the table. “So I checked behind him and I thought maybe he has kings. We’d played a pot where he had K-Q and made two pair on me when I had an ace. For some reason, I just kept thinking that I didn’t want to see a king.”

Of course, the river came the king of hearts. Timoshenko bet out $105,000.

“Before getting too tied to not wanting the king to come, I could still beat A-10, A-9, A-8 or a bluff,” Hellmuth said. “I didn’t have a solid read, but it was only $105,000.”

Hellmuth called and showed his top pair. Timoshenko mucked his cards. Hellmuth might not have had a solid read, but his pot control on the flop and turn allowed him to call a reasonable amount on the river with a holding that had some value.

TABLE TALK

Rainbow: A flop of three different suits.