Poker Blog

Two huge announcements by online poker room Ultimate Bet. Both Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth are leaving the online poker site. It could be that both their contracts ended at the same time or they were bought out of their contracts. It’s hard to speculate at this time and they most likely have confidentiality agreements about the severance.

Annie Duke posts this statement on her blog:
It’s bittersweet, but I’ve decided to leave UB.

Annie

Ultimate Bet posts in their marketing news:
The poker pro who is famous for his grand WSOP entrances is making one final exit.

Until then, Happy Holidays.

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Isaac Haxton screen name philivey2694 won 40k and the inaugural Superstar Showdown Match VS Viktor Blom screen name Isildur1. Apparently Isildur1 felt Isaac was a weak player:

“I want to play this guy again, because I didn’t feel he was so good,” “I dont think he deserved to win.”

You know what, I have to agree with Isildur1 on this one. Not that Isaac is weak but instead that he played poorly in that match. I feel that small ball style is a weak form of poker strategy and that
Isildur1 countered it effectively.

Isaac said of Isildur1:

“No one has ever more consistently made me miserable when playing against them,”

“I guess I’d put (Phil) Ivey in second for that, but it’s honestly not that close. Isildur’s brand of over the top–but carefully balanced–aggression is unlike anything I’ve played against and really takes me out of my comfort zone in a lot of situations,” “As someone who’s probably played half a million hands of high stakes HUNL, that’s saying something.”

“I’m not saying he’s definitely the best I’ve ever played, and I’m not saying he definitely isn’t, but, damn, is he a pain to play against,”

Isildur1 went on to say:

“(Haxton) is too passive and a weak player. He did get lucky,” “He never had the guts to play me higher limits before either.”

Haxton:

“One thing I noticed which was probably hard for railbirds to spot was just how frequently and dramatically Isi’s game plan shifted,” “He would do one thing for a few hundred hands, I’d make a call that made it clear I knew what was up, and suddenly his bet-sizing and frequencies were different on every street.”

“I was on the defensive a lot of the time–a lot more than I’m used to–but that had been my plan going in,” “I think I did a fairly good job of neutralizing his strengths and exploiting his weaknesses.”

Isildur1 clearly wants a 5k hand rematch:
“He ran too good and I want re-match in a game for 5,000 hands,” Isildur1 said. “I would beat him easily. I am certain.”

If Pokerstars were to do a Isildur1 Vs Philivey2694 rematch, I would put my money on Isildur1 for sure. I wonder if Haxton will stick to small ball or change it up this next time?

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The Micros – Holiday Special

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The first match of the Superstar Showdown Match on Pokerstars kicked off on Sunday with Viktor Blom screen name Isildur1 facing Isaac Haxton screen name philIvey2694. The two players played 2,500 hands at $50-$100 NL Hold’em and played four-handed.

Isildur1 took the lead and held the lead through about half of the match. He tried using a combination of small ball and trapping to try and keep Haxton reeling, but as the match drug on, it was Haxton that was taking down the majority of the large pots. In fact, Haxton took 9 out of 13 pots $10,000 and over.

Haxton ran insanely well in the big hands against Isildur1. In the following 26k pot, Haxton flopped both a straight and flush draw. Isildur1 flopped top pair and the a lower straight draw. Unfortunately for Isildur1, the river brought him his straight at the same time that Haxton caught his flush. Haxton shoved and Isildur1 made the call to give the sizable pot to Haxton.

Isildur1 did take a pair of 20k pots, but unfortunately, they were after the point where it appeared that Haxton had the match locked up. The first 20k pot came in a pot that saw Haxton shove while dominated. On a king-high flop, Haxton moved all-in with K-7 of hearts and ran into the K-9 of clubs from Isildur1. The board failed to produce a seven and Isildur1’s nine played to give him a 20k pot.

The other sizable pot for Isildur1 came in another hand where Haxton was dominated. On a flop of Kd-5d-2c, Haxton check called a $600 bet from Isildur1. On the turn 8d, Haxton again check-called a $1,800 bet. When the river fell the As, Haxton checked to Isildur1, and he moved all-in for $7,916. Haxton made the call and showed Ks-Js for a pair of kings. Isildur1 showed Ah-Kc for top two and took a pot worth $21,232.

The largest pot of the evening saw Haxton min-raise to $200 and Isildur1 re-raise to $1,000 pre-flop. Haxton called and the flop fell 5h-9d-3d. Isildur1 bet out $1,500 and was called. The turn fell the 2c and Isildur1 bet out $3,800. Haxton made the call and the river fell the 2h. Isildur1 moved all-in for $15,932 and Haxton made the call. Isildur1 showed Jh-9h for top nines-up and Haxton showed Kh-9h for the same two pair, but with a better kicker.

For the session, Haxton took $41,701 off of Isildur1 over 2,500 hands. Had Haxton not went on somewhat of a heater, this match would have turned out differently. Of course, Haxton will not be the first to try their hand at Isildur1, so he will have plenty of chances to rebound.

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