Posts Tagged ‘Phil Ivey’
If needed be, Phil Ivey has once more demonstrated that he is at the top of the world of poker.
Phil Ivey won his 8th WSOP bracelet in the $3,000 HORSE event against a final table composed of other poker luminaries, including John Juanda his team mate at Full Tilt Poker who finished third.
The runner-up is Bill Chen, one of the most famous poker theoretician who earned two WSOP bracelets in the past, but not this time. He was close though, as he had the chip lead at the beginning of the heads-up confrontation with more than three times more chips than Phil Ivey. But Phil is not the type of player that will easily miss a chance to add a bracelet to his collection, and he got the best of it at the end.
Only three players have ever won more WSOP bracelets, Phil Hellmuth (11), Johnny Chan (10) and Doyle Brunson(10) (Johnny Moss won nine, but one was by vote). Phil believes that he can surpass these numbers and that he has a shot at getting thirty Gold bracelets in total during his entire career. This makes sense given that at the young age of 33 he has only been playing at the WSOP since 2000 and already has 8. Another 22 should take about 28 more years if he can keep up with the pace and he would only be 55 years old by then.
Phil Ivey is considered by many of his peers to be the best poker player in the world (maybe the best poker player of all times). There are many factors to make this judgment, so here are two.
Even before this latest victory, Phil Ivey had the record for the highest total live tournament winnings which now exceed $13,100,000.
Another of Phil’s traits is that he is highly well-rounded in poker variations, which is considered the hallmark of a great player. So he won a HORSE even which is in itself a mixed game involving five poker variations. In the past his other WSOP bracelets were in mixed game Omaha/Stud, PLO, SHOE, 2-7 Draw Lowball and 7 Card Stud. Very versatile. By contrast Phil Hellmuth has won 11 bracelets so far, but all in Texas Hold’em poker.
Phil Ivey does not need to be introduced and this recent victory is just one more step to become a poker god.
Nobody can win as much money as quickly as a loose aggressive player. He gets action because he overplays many hands. With good cards, he can win lots of money. Just take Phil Ivey as an example.
Nobody wins or loses money as quickly as a loose aggressive poker player, but nearly all of them lose in the long run. In fact, every very loose-aggressive player (8,8 or higher) is a big loser, but some of them lie about it. Poker rewards patience, discipline, and selective aggression, while LAGs are impatient, undisciplined, and promiscuously aggressive.
Any extreme style is rigid and predictable (except, perhaps, tight-aggressive), and the combination of looseness, aggression, and predictability can be deadly. This make them the target. People know much more about them than vice versa, and they can easily develop strategies to exploit their weaknesses.
The most obvious are check-raising, slow-playing, inviting them to bluff, and isolating them with hands that normally would be correct to fold (e.g., three betting with hyperactive words and gestures). Their opponents – especially the better ones – may learn he is bluffing when he forcefully throws in his chips, is weak when he says “check” loudly or stares at his cards, and is ready to raise when he sits erect.
Of course, you must always watch out for smart loose aggressive players who will send false signals. Unless they send out tells and telegraphs, they are among the hardest players to read, and maniacs can be almost completely unreadable. How can you put them on a hand when they will raise with garbage?
The complete maniac is often unreadable, but hardly anyone is that extreme. Reading the 7,7 or 8,8 player can be difficult, but it is certainly not impossible. The key is to remember when he does not raise.
Since he will raise with weak cards, not raising in earlier rounds let you exclude certain possibilities. For example, if the flop has two hearts, and he just called behind two players, he probably does not have a flush draw. Otherwise, he would have raised. If another heart hits, don’t be too afraid of a flush.
Or take a flop AJ9. If he did not raise before the flop and bets now, he may have a pair of aces or jacks and nines, but he probably does not have any set or aces up because he would have raised with AA, JJ, AJ, or A9.
These players are mostly beatable except the very best in this style, such as Phil Ivey or Gus Hansen