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he Guardian Poker Column |
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Victoria
Coren |
Wed 23 February
2011 |
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Folding a
full house? An astonishing play from Neil Channing
In the £1,500 high roller event at the
UKIPT Nottingham, I watched an astonishing play from Neil Channing, MD of
BlackBelt Poker. If you ever bump into one of those sceptics who still refuse
to believe that poker is a game of skill, tell them about this hand.
The blinds were 150-300, we all had around 30k. Somebody limped early
and Owen Robinson raised to 750. Channing called from the button. I called from
the big blind with 6 7 . What the hell; I was priced in to play a multiway pot.
The limper folded. |
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The flop came A A 9 . No good for me, obviously, but they both checked behind so I saw
the turn card: 5 . I checked, Robinson checked and Channing bet 1,800. I folded
immediately; this was no time to be drawing to an inside straight. Robinson
called.
The river was 10 . Robinson checked and Channing bet 3,300.
Robinson raised to 10,000. Channing thought. He thought and thought. He thought
some more. Then he folded . . . face up . . . A 5 !
Folding a full house? The third nuts? Who does that?
Channing told me later: "I knew Owen had a lot of backers from the internet,
scrutinising his every move. He wouldn't let himself lose half his stack with a
massively funky bluff. He had a hand. When he checks the flop, I know he
doesn't have a pocket pair he has an ace or he's missed. When he flat
calls the turn, I know he definitely has an ace, and it's not A9. He now knows
I have an ace, he'd check-raise with his own house. But suddenly he's ready to
check-raise the river? A10. It can only be A10."
People talk a lot
about putting opponents on "ranges". Sometimes it's about putting them on
hands. Robinson flashed the A10, and we all went to the break.
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