Phil Hellmuth's response to the Andly Black hand..

[MatchroomPoker]

Hi All,

We recently received this email in response to the Hand of The Week on Matchroompoker.com.

Hi Eddie - please post this.

To me, it's funny when players claim that they would have folded a
strong hand, in retrospect. And you know damn well that they
wouldn't, couldn't, and they look bad by even opening their mouths!
The biggest lay down of my life was when I folded Kh-8h after a
Kd-8d-3s flop, whereupon Chris Bjorn said, 'That was the worst lay
down I've ever seen in my life!' A mere ten seconds later Howard
Lederer then flipped up a set of threes, and Bjorn (whom is a class
act all the way) said, 'That was the best lay down I've ever seen in
my life!' Of course, two players at the table had the nerve to say
that they would have folded my hand as well!!! I couldn't believe it
(the best lay down of my life and they say they would have made it
too!), so I laughed to myself at how delusional people can get with
themselves, and their own poker talent. Now I find players saying
that they would have folded my A-5 in a heads up pot, with a board of
A-5-5-9-7, against Andy Black, who is capable of making huge bluffs
and blow ups, for a $40,000 re-raise (when i had at least $40,000 in
the pot already), and I cannot help but think, "Yeah right!." I bet
if you look on the net for less than five minutes, you'll find those
same players (the critics) calling off their money with much, much
weaker hands in many tournaments in the past. Be careful when you the
pot calling the kettle black!!""[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[Indestructable]

I think Phil made the right move and I would have played it the same way, what makes it look bad to the casual viewer is that he verbalised what he thought Andy Black had (and was right) and then still went ahead.
This gives the viewer the thought process of he has worked it out ,he is so clever, but then calls which makes no sense to them.
Still made good TV and he had a nice ride in a limo. :)

[EddieHearn]

This was a very interesting moment indeed. I have never seen a Poker player so emotionally distraught after a hand.

Many of the players in the League felt that Phil could have got away from the hand and that shocked me to hear. I think because it was Andy it was a particularly tough fold, as he had consistently made big moves throughout the tournament.

When Devilfish came out of the comm box, I asked him about the hand (there aren't many better to discuss a hand with) and he felt the big mistake that Phil made was not betting the flop. He said that he is going to get action if Andy has any piece of the flop (he could have well of had a bigger ace) and if not then he is just giving Andy a chance to catch a card, especially if he has a pocket pair.

I learnt a lot from this conversation (it may seem quite basic to some people) because I would check that flop every time hoping my opponent would bet.

Not anymore! ;)