Legends of Poker
World Poker Tour - Legends of Poker
I watched the Legends of Poker tournament on the Travel Channel last night. Another very good tournament in the WPT series. If you haven't watched this or any of the other WPT tournaments, I highly recommend them on entertainment value.
Generally though, you won't learn any sound poker strategy for several reasons. The first is that out of a field of hundreds of players, you're watching the 6 player final table. At this point in the tournament it is a very different game than what makes up 95% of your tournament time. Patience, a high tolerance for boredom, and a love of folding make up most of a typical massive multiplayer tournament. Also the hands you are allowed to see are usually very carefully selected, with huge bluffs and all-in showdowns taking priority.
If you plan on watching the show and hate people ruining the end for you, you should stop reading now.
Spoiler Time
Kenna James played some very good poker, demonstrating his very accurate reading ability and his willingness to let go of big hands when there is a strong enough possibility that he is beat, no matter how good his hand looks. For example, he folded AK off suit to a junk board against the big blind, who could have had just about anything. That's discipline. Although I think he should have raised earlier in the hand to determine where he was exactly.
The final two came down to Kenna James and Alex Kahaner. Finishing in 1st place is worth $1,125,900 while 2nd is worth a mere $588,210. A difference of $537,690.
On the last hand Kahaner is dealt JT off while James gets A4 off. Now, forgive me a bit, I'm doing this from memory. But I believe James is first to act and he puts in a large raise. Kahaner thinks a bit and raises 1.5 million chips. James goes into the tank for a while and finally re-raises all in (the "I just got caught" look on Kahaner's face at that moment is priceless).
Now that's a very good read, to know your weak ace is good. He should also be pretty sure that his opponent can't call because he's represented such a strong hand. Yes, he is correct mathematically making this move (but only slightly). He's somewhere in the neighborhood of 54% to win the hand. His real value in this hand comes from being aggressive and putting a tremendous amount of pressure on his opponent.
I'll Flip You For It
Now Kahaner should fold if he's a typical professional player. He should wait for a spot where he's an overwhelming favorite. He should bide his time. However, he doesn't and I like it and I'll tell you why. Kenna James demonstrated his ability to read people and make correct, difficult decisions all night at the table. I think he was the best poker player there, especially considering several of the finalists were amateurs.
If Kahaner can just make the leap that James doesn't have two overcards or a pair higher than 9s, he really should just call the all in bet. Why? Because if Mike Tyson demanded I bet him a sum of money on either a) the outcome of a boxing match between me and him or b) the outcome of a coin flip then I'm going to have to go with option b. It's not just that he's going to beat the shit out of me, it's that I stand NO chance in the boxing match. At least with the coin flip I'm 50/50.
I think Kahaner was in a similar situation. Given enough time and enough hands, Kenna James was going to outplay him before and after the flop on a regular basis. Sure, Kahaner may have gotten lucky enough to pick up pocket aces in the big blind while James was being overly aggressive, but it's doubtful. More than likely he would just get bitch slapped around the table for 15-20 hands until he finally made a desperation move with something that looks like aces to short-stacked amateurs like me. I'd say without a coin flip situation his chances of winning are somewhere around 20%. If you'd like me to pull more numbers out of my ass, just let me know.
So, given that, I think he has to jump on the opportunity to flip a coin (or very close to it) for $500k.
And the Winner is
Kahaner flops an open ended straight draw. He then completes the upper end on the turn and the lower (completely unnecessary) end on the river. He wins over a million dollars on his "bad" move.
Kenna James was of course in disbelief at the call and the beat. However, unlike someone like Hellmuth, in his closing interview he complimented both the Bicycle Casino for putting on a great tournament and Kahaner for being a class act. He's becoming one of my new favorites to watch.
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