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Is Phil Ivey the Best Pocker Player?

June 8, 2006

Every sport has their 'best player'. Most of the time, the choice is clear. Not so in pocker. We ask, "is Phil Ivey the best Pocker Player?" Many people think so.

Just because this hand may be playable in a tame game doesn't mean that you must play it. The ideal way to play speculative hands such as this is from late position, with a large number of opponents, and in a pot that has not been raised. This is when a hand such as this is worth a shot. After all, and you should always check pocker links, you always can throw it away whenever the flop is unfavorable. When should you raise?

Then, the fifth and final community card - known as the river - is placed in the center of the table, and is followed by the last round of betting. The best five-card poker hand using any combination of a pocker player's two private cards and the five communal cards is the winner. That's all there is to the play of the game. Yet, within this simplicity lies an elegance and sophistication that makes Texas Hold'em the most popular form of poker in the world.

I've always wanted to play poker in Las Vegas against Daniel and I got plenty of time this year. Of course Daniel is a lot of fun at the table. Some of the spectators truly treat him like a Hollywood star. My only complaint with Daniel was having to watch him eat this purplish cabbage which smelled up the table! My best finish came in the $2500 Pot-Limit event where I finished in 12th place. It was quite disappointing as two other players were knocked out immediately behind me.

Some players with excellent pocker skills don't do well in the long-term because they let short-term results impact their play and strategy. You don't necessarily have to go on full tilt for emotions to have a big impact on your results. Just playing your B game rather than your A game can be detrimental in the long-term. Stay focused and remember that poker is a game...have fun!

First, he called my preflop raise so this ruled out a holding like a premium pair. Even if he slowplayed a hand like AA, betting out the flop just wouldn't make sense. A flop of all rags was unlikely to help an opponent like Andrew calling a raise out of position. If he managed to flop a set on this flop it also wouldn't make sense to bet out. His act of betting out indicated that he was worried about free cards and/or he was trying to get a sense of where he stood.

It is those payoffs he gets when he has a real hand that makes him such a successful pocker player who is always shuffling chips. If you never bluff you won't get paid off very often while a frequent bluffer will often be challenged. So it is the combination of the immediate profit gained and the advertising value you receive that makes bluffing profitable when done in the right spots. Realize however that the internet pocker game is very different than live play. Bluffing on the Internet doesn't have the same advertising value online as it does in a live game.