Phil Hellmuth loses heads up NBC tournament in 3 hands against Tom "Durrr" Dwan
This is the NBC National Heads-Up Championship where Phil Hellmuth was faced off against Tom Durrr Dwan, and Internet poker playing phenom that has one over $1 million online. Some of those winnings have been from Phil Hellmuth room in their earlier online clashes challenged each other to the point of having no love loss as the two of them sit down at their first match in this highly popular televised tournament.
Even when the match started, Phil Hellmuth was basically telling Tom Dwan his strategy that he was going to use beat the young internet star. Phil came right out and said "I'm going to limp most of the time", giving indication that he was all about trapping Dwan and moving to the next level.
The blinds in this hand really are not relevant because the tournament is just underway. With virtually equally large green mzoned stacks it is only the third hand of this contentious heads-up match. The players have not even seen a flop yet when Phil Hellmuth is dealt pocket aces and surely he must be thinking that he can get Tom Dwan's stack into the middle as he knows how aggressive his opponent is.
Phil Hellmuth actually limp calls his small blind of $150 making the pot $300 in total. He obviously wants to induce a bet from Dwan. After Tom Dwan looks at his pocket and is that's exactly what he does raising the pot by $1100 making it a total of $1400. That was actually a good bet by Dwan, as he has to figure he has the best starting hand. However, Phil Hellmuth then rather quickly raises another $3600 making the pot $4700.
Is Phil Hellmuth at tight poker player? Pretty much anybody who has watched any televised poker over the last few years knows that Phil Hellmuth is basically super tight but is one occasion capable of making moves. So Dwan has to figure that either Phil Hellmuth has him beat already or he is making a move. Either is possible. Tom Dwan's job here is to find out which it is. Normally that would take another re-raise. So if Tom is unsure he is beat right now a good bet would probably be a pot sized bet of about $5,000. If the Phil Hellmuth we raises him again, he can cost us tens if he wasn't convinced already, which a lot of pros may very well have been at this point.
Instead, Tom Dwan pushes all in and an immediate call is made by Phil Hellmuth and all the $40,000 in chips are in the middle with Phil Hellmuth as dominating four to one favorite. Well as Phil's luck would have it attend shows on the turn and Tom Dwan eliminates Phil Hellmuth in the third hand of this heads-up confrontation. Phil Hellmuth goes off on his a usual rant, with particular this taste for the likes of successful Internet players like Tom Dwan.
A lot of professionals don't like to let their tournament right in the early stages but with pocket aces you really can't blame the Phil for letting it roll against the guy he knows he's a huge favorite over and is eager to send to the rail. Phil didn't make any mistake here he successfully got his opponent to commit his whole stack pre-flop he did his job at the table and there is no arguing the skill in which he did it.
On the other hand Tom Dwan made a grievous error by shoving his stack into a situation where he thought the Phil Hellmuth without properly thinking through the hand, or devising a strategy to better ascertain what Phil Hellmuth was actually holding in hand. Some players may have even through the hand away once Phil Hellmuth re-raised the first time to $3600. The right play after last could have either been to call and hope the flop a set, or reraise and see what Phil do. If Phil once again came over the top you've got to know your beat and its fold.
Tom Dwan, after the hand explained to fill that his move was standard for Internet poker, and in a cash game scenario he's probably correct but this is a tournament and he completely misread one of the tightest players in the history of professional poker. As I often say to my opponents online between hands like this, "It's dumb to be lucky."
