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www.pkr.com – This is a hand I saw recently between Phil Hellmuth and Gabe Kaplan, and involved Phil calling a raise preflop to defend his blind with (Kh,Jh). The flop then falls (9h,6c,Jd) with Phil having already checked in the dark. Gabe with (Ad,9c) raises $2,400 an with around $11,0000 remaining, Phil calls. The turn card is terrible for Phil as it brings the (As) and he checks to Gabe. Gabe bets out $4,300 and after much consideration, Phil calls the bet. The (5d) on the river is no help to Hellmuth, and he checks, with Gabe putting him all in for his last $4,900. Eventually Phil calls partly as he has so much commited already, and he is elminated.

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Phil is a great player in my opinion, but I feel he plays this hand badly. First of all, I think when he makes top pair and Gabe raises, he has to reraise. Gabe mentions to him that if he had a Jack he should have reraised on the flop, and the fact that Phil says he had (K,9) at the end and mucks his hand, hints that perhaps he knows that too.
As soon as he flat calls on the flop, any Ace or Queen is bound to leave him unsure of where his hand is, and if he reraises, he probably takes down the pot on the flop.

If he reraised and was called, he would probably think his opponent might have him outkickered with (A,J) and he can fold to the $4,300 bet when the Ace hits on the turn.

Afterwards, Phil says that he ‘had Gabe trapped’ on the flop. Personally I do not know how you can feel you have someone ‘trapped’ when you only have top pair without top kicker, and this seems a strange way to see things to me.
In my opinion, he should have ended the hand on the flop and never allowed Gabe to see the turn card. pkr.com

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