Phil Hellmuth won his 17th WSOP Bracelet this week, but even the tournament G.O.A.T. makes mistakes. We analyze his biggest one from the $50K Poker Players Championship in our Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
This spectacular poker hand was played in the most prestigious tournament at the World Series of Poker, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
We are in the Pot-Limit Omaha Round and Ray Dehkharghani has Phil Hellmuth easily covered.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Blinds are 10k/15k with a 15k Big Blind Ante and they are playing PLO. Phil Hellmuth raises UTG with A♦K♥Q♣2♣ to 55,000 and Ray Dehkharghani calls from the big blind with 5♥4♥3♠2♠. Pot Size: 135,000
Flop:
Heads-up to a flop of 2♠J♦4♦, which gives Ray bottom two and an Open-Ended Straight Draw. He checks and Hellmuth checks behind with bottom pair. Pot Size: 135,000
Turn:
On the K♦ turn, the Poker Brat takes the lead by making a higher Two Pair. Ray checks over to Phil again, who bets 60,000, Dehkhargani check-calls. Pot Size: 255,000
River:
The 2♦ gives both players a Full House. Ray checks for a third time and the Poker Brat makes a tiny value bet of 50,000 (20% pot). Ray now check-raises to 370,000 putting Phil All-In.
Hellmuth goes deep into the tank. He has the fourth Nuts, but blocks Pocket Kings and still he does fold a Full House! Ray wins a 675,000 Pot with the worse hand.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
You don’t see someone folding a full house too often heads-up in a PLO tournament, so let’s see what happened here.
Phil Hellmuth makes a pretty lose UTG raise with AdKhQc2c, which is a mediocre hand in Pot-Limit Omaha and Ray Dehkharghani defends the big blind with 5h4h3s2s.
Percentage-wise Hellmuth is a tiny 53 to 47 favourite, nevertheless I prefer Ray’s hand as he has a rundown and is double suited, which means he can make much more strong hands than Hellmuth.
This shows on the 2sJd4d flop, where Ray makes two pair and an OESD, making him a 75% favourite over Phil’s bottom pair. Dehkharghnai checks to Hellmuth, who checks behind.
The odds jump in Phil’s favour on the Kd turn as he makes a higher Two Pair. Ray checks again and Hellmuth bets 44% pot, which gets check-called.
The 2d on the river is the money card for the Poker Brat as it gives both players a Full House, but Hellmuth has the bigger one.
Ray checks again and Phil elects a very small 20% pot sizing for his value bet. Dehkharghani believing that he has the best hand and check-raises All-in.
Phil Hellmuth goes deep into the tank and after 50 seconds folds a Full House and the best hand!
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Everybody knows that Phil Hellmuth’s poker strategy is based on survival and the success proves him right. Nevertheless, here he made a big mistake and a terrible fold.
Folding a Full House in a heads-up pot against the big blind after he checked to him three times is just horrendous.
On the one hand I know that it is all about survival in poker tournaments, on the other hand poker is also about winning the maximum with your strong hands and Hellmuth clearly misses out on a lot of value in this hand.
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Watch the Poker Hand of the Week here:
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