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13/12/2011 No. 118
he Guardian Poker Column
 
   
 
 
Victoria Coren
Tues 13 Dec 2011
 
 
 
My favourite hand of the Late Night Poker series

Rob Okell bet his whole tournament on the conviction that he was being bluffed

What an amazing year it's been for Sam Holden. The 22-year-old Englishman made the World Series of Poker final on his first attempt (finishing 9th for a fat $782,000) and has just been revealed as the winner of Coral Late Night Poker. This nets him another $150,000 to help with the Christmas shopping, along with a trophy from the most famous poker series on TV.
 

Another chap to keep your eye on from Late Night Poker is Rob Okell, the online qualifier. My favourite hand of the series involved this guy.

They were seven-handed in the final; the prize money would start (at $15,000) once they were down to five. I was starting to explain from the commentary box that viewers might expect Okell to care least about min-cashing, because he had won his seat for only $100 when all the others had paid $10,000. But it's usually counterintuitive: those who have paid in full gun hardest for first place, while qualifiers hold on to make the money because it's a bigger percentage return on their small investment.

Thus, I explained, you could expect to see Okell playing tight until they were down to five. The words were barely out of my mouth before Okell had check-raised Luke Schwarz with QJ on a flop of 2 9 3. Bang went that theory. But Schwarz, a great player with phenomenal table sense, re-raised holding an even worse QT. That was the end of that, we assumed. But Okell paused … and thought … and shoved! He was one step ahead: knowing that Schwarz might assume exactly what I did, he bet his whole tournament on the conviction that he was being bluffed.

Perfect psychology and fearless gut: that's what the game is all about. I'll remember this hand as an inspirational poker moment from 2011.
 
 
 
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