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he Guardian Poker Column |
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Victoria
Coren |
Tues 13 Dec 2011 |
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My favourite hand of the Late Night Poker
series
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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. |
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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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