Phil Hellmuth's Fantasy Final Table

• March 2008
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• Phil Hellmuth

Johnny Chan is just a great player – one of the greatest in our game today and one of the greatest in history. He may be my toughest opponent. He’s just really good at reading people. With Chan, I’m hoping he might get impatient against me and start to push with some hands he’s not supposed to push with. I am trying to “out-patient” him. He might make a move with sixes, sevens or eights. He might just make a stand earlier than I might make a stand, so I’m hoping to take advantage of that. The guy is just great at Reading people, great at playing his hands and I just have to pick off a Chan bluff.

 

Doyle Brunson

Doyle and Johnny are probably the two greatest players, and Doyle’s been a great player for 50 years. Recently Doyle bluffed me on Poker After Dark and then, when we played in the Book Author’s Tournament on the World Poker Tour, I got him all in when he bet 400,000 into 150,000. The board was K-7-3 and I called him with King-Ten. We were playing three-handed and he had A-5 and he hit an ace. So again I have to wait for Doyle to make a big bluff. He smacked me about in Poker After Dark and bluffed a bunch of pots because I was giving him too much credit for playing the same patient game I was playing.

 

I saw this on TV, so now I have the tell on him. Now I’m ready! I am fully armed against Doyle, so I have to be incredibly patient with him and wait for him to get impatient. Like he famously said, “When you’re having bad luck and you can’t get in through the front door, you have to go through the windows.” I’ll be waiting for him to go in through the windows. So I’ll keep giving him chance to bluff me and get impatient.

 

Eric Seidel

Eric is just… the guy. He has eight bracelets. He’s there, year in, year out. He’s always a threat. I can’t seem to bluff Eric, he always calls me. He’s great at making calls. I have to wait for him to play a hand he’s not supposed to play, like the J-9 he played on Poker After Dark against TJ (that’s Cloutier, not ten-jack – Ed.).

 

I’ve tried to set up Eric lots of times. I’ve tried to wait patiently for him with strong hands but I’ve had problems catching him.

 

One year, it came down to Eric Seidel, Daniel Negreanu and me for a bracelet, and Eric was just running us over. Eric is super-supersuper- aggressive, so you just have to beat him in one big pot. But because he’s super-aggressive, he’s the one guy who’s going to run me over and win a lot of small pots. I’m hoping he wins, he wins, he wins, and BOOM! I win it all.

 

Chris Ferguson

Chris is not a natural born Hold’em player, while the others I have mentioned so far are. They play on guts and instinct, in addition to mathematics and game theory. Chris Ferguson has perfect mathematics and perfect game theory. Also, he’s really good

at reading people, but not as good at reading people as a Chan, a Seidel or a Brunson. The way I have to beat Ferguson is through deception. In the NBC Heads UP, I limped in with two queens and after limping and limping and limping, I finally raised with A-Q and he took that as weakness and moved in with A-J. He’s so tough, so mathematically and game theory sound, that I have to trick him.

 

Phil Ivey

Phil may end up becoming the greatest player of all time. Full Tilt Poker has anointed him as the greatest already, but he’s too young. Well, no matter what they say about the others, Texas Hold’em is my game! I have eleven bracelets in Hold’em, so I know what to do. Ivey has stepped up his game, though. He was way too aggressive for about two years. He got a lot of chip leads, and he also got eliminated early a lot, and then he kept over playing A-Q in these tournaments. He couldn’t get away from A-Q or A-J late and

it cost him some titles.

 

Now he seems to have every gear. He’s re-raising weak when he’s right, he seems to be slow-playing a lot of hands and he’s become very deceptive. I think Ivey’s a smart enough guy and he’s paid attention to what I do. He hasn’t just decided he’s the greatest; he knows he has a way to go. I personally think he’s learned a few things from me. Not that I taught him anything or talked to him about it, he just paid attention.

 

I think, at this table, Ivey and I are not likely to play a big pot because he’s not going to want to get it in bad against me, and there’s no way in hell I’m getting in bad against him! I think Daniel and Phil will play some big pots.

 

Layne Flack

Layne earned his way onto this final table through having five bracelets. Recently, he’s not been quite as confident as I would like to see. The lack of confidence might hurt him

here. Layne and I have a mutual respect so we usually don’t play big pots against each other. The last big pot we played, I had kings and he had queens, so it would have to be two pretty big hands.

 

I see Layne and Doyle getting tied up. Doyle’s bluffed Layne a few times, and the last time it got under Layne’s skin a little. I see them going at each other in a friendly way.

 

Daniel Negreanu

Daniel’s going to sit back for the first few levels when there are no antes, but then he’s going to start picking up pots, and he’s going to increase his stack 20% or 30%, just by running us over. That’s a really big strength of his. I just sit there and  I wait because beating Daniel in one pot  is going to keep me even or up 3% to 5% in chips.

 

Now, if there are these aggressive players at the table, Daniel will step back, but usually he likes to be the table bully, the table leader. I don’t mind that. Whoever wants to be the table bully, I’ll let them go because I know one big pot’s going to be coming and I’m going to be in there trapping. Daniel might raise it up with 9-7 and I might smooth call with aces.

 

TJ Cloutier

TJ Cloutier can show up in one of two moods: he might be steady, and then he’s tough to beat. He’ll have a hand every time. But some days when he shows up he’s at the height of his power, and when he’s at the height of his power he knows when people are weak, he knows when people are strong, and he doesn’t need cards. If he turns up in this mood, he’s finishing in the top three, probably top two.

 

TJ and Layne may end up playing a big pot. They’ve done it before, when the blinds are small. They’ve put their money in there with A-K against nines. If TJ’s at the height of his power, then he figures to still make the top six. He’s not going to give me anything.

 

Jennifer Harman / Annie Duke

Well, you know what? I am going to chicken out and go with half Jennifer Harman, half Annie Duke. They’re both great players, but Jen has been playing more poker than Annie the last year or two. Annie’s been more Hollywood and Jen has been more poker. I don’t want either of them mad at me, so I am mentioning both.

 

Annie Duke would be pretty aggressive and she’ll make a stand with a medium pair whether she’s right or wrong, whereas Jennifer Harman is a bit wilier. Jennifer might muck two jacks before the flop when they’re the best hand or when they’re the worst hand, and Annie probably won’t muck jacks before the flop, ever. They’re both great players. Annie is liable to play a big pot, Jennifer isn’t.