Ninetime World Champion of Poker Phil Hellmuth, author of Play Poker Like the Pros, offers an instructive and entertaining tableside look at the world of highstakes poker. Bad Beats and Lucky Draws is a blowbyblow narrative of many of the pivotal poker matches between today's top players. Phil provides every gory detail, includes Phil's own take on what they (and in many cases what he) should have done differently, from the hand that won him his recordtying ninth bracelet at the 2003 World Series to the heart breaking play that knocked him out of the a??g One." Sections include A?ash of the Titansa??ands that pitted champion vs. champion, key hands at the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, and the best bluffs, calls, and folds that Phil has played or witnessed. In addition, many top players, including Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, and Annie Duke contribute their own guest Hand of the Week columns. This is the perfect followup to Phil's Play Poker Like the Pros, as it outlines advanced strategies and includes exciting reallife examples from players approaching celebrity status.

Acknowledgments

ix

Introduction

xi

1. Against All Odds

1

(30)

2. World Series of Poker Hands

31

(38)

3. World Poker Tour

69

(26)

4. European Poker Tour

95

(22)

5. Reading Other Players' Mail

117

(16)

6. From the Other Side of the Table

133

(48)

7. Poker Hollywood Style

181

(14)

8. Cheesehead Poker

195

(14)

Appendix 1 A Golf Story

209

(4)

Appendix 2 An UltimateBet.com Hand

213

(4)

Appendix 3 Champion of the Year Award

217

(4)

Appendix 4 My Top Moments in Poker

221

(2)

My WSOP Wins

222

(1)

Appendix 5 The Next Poker Wave

223

(2)

Index

225

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Bad Beats and Lucky Draws
Poker Strategies, Winning Hands, and Stories from the Professional Poker Tour

Chapter One

Against All Odds

As I read through these amazing hands, I realize I rememberthem all -- and some all too well! Many of them I wouldlike to forget, like the one titled "The Weirdest and BiggestPot of My Life -- So Far," which talks about a key $1.5 million potthat I lost at the final table of the 2001 WSOP (World Series ofPoker). Another couple of hands that I would like to forget are thetwo titled "Wow, Are You Serious?" and "Phil Misreads His Hand,Too," where T. J. Cloutier and I both misread our hands in key pots,one of them on Fox TV! Others, like "Spooky Hand," I rememberfondly. Whatever else might be said about them, these are all remarkablyodd hands.

The Shirt Off My Back

Very superstitious, writing's on the wall ...
When you believe in things you don't understand ...
-- Stevie Wonder, "Superstition," 1972

You often hear about the superstitions of sports figures: some refuseto shower or shave before a big game, others only wear a certain pairof socks, and some may take a certain route to the ball field, beingcareful to avoid the baseline. In fact, Michael Jordan always wore apair of sky-blue North Carolina shorts beneath his NBA shorts inevery pro game he played, and don't try to tell me that they helpedhim fly higher! Whatever works, right? If it ain't broke, don't fix it,and all that.

The same may be true for some of the professional poker playersI know. In future tournaments, will John Duthie wear the same luckyblack shirt he was wearing when he won the 2000 Poker Million -- and a million pounds?

(That's my shirt, by the way, John. Is there any chance you'll begiving it back to me someday? You told me quite clearly, when I literallygave you the shirt off my back, that my black UltimateBet.comshirt was the only one you'd be willing to wear. Afterward, you toldmillions of television viewers that you were wearing my shirt, so it'shard to believe you don't remember that it's mine. Ultimate Bet.comand I certainly appreciate the exposure, but can I get the shirt backnow? Or do you intend to wear it again soon? I guess I can't blameyou. If I had won in 2000, I'd be wearing the same shirt, too!)

Will past Shooting Star winners John Bonetti and Huck Seedfind themselves in the same accommodations when they go to SiliconValley to play in Bay 101's Shooting Stars event?

(That was my house, by the way, Huck and Bono. Of course,someone staying at my house will win again. Maybe I shouldn't haveinvited you to stay again. Oh yeah, that's right, you invited yourselvesto stay at my house! Even if I did pay for my house by stakingBono in the past, a man's got to make a living. Do I want to give away a percentage of what I have to win by having the two of you,and, geez, Andy Glazer as well, stay with me this year? Well, neverlet it be said that I'm not a man of my word. Sure, come on and stayover. I'll just have to make do with only a 25 percent chance of winningthe Shooting Stars, along with Huck, Bono, and Andy!)

Wait a minute, I think I see a trend! Maybe I'm the good-luckcharm! After all, I'm burdened with my own superstitions as well. Ialways wear black at major championship events, and you have toadmit that my success is better than average. But does this make anysense at all? As a game theorist, I know that my chances to win arethe same whether I wear black or white, but I have to admit to beinga bit superstitious. And I believe only in good luck (not bad), andthat should count for something.

Anyway, wearing my trademark good-luck black shirt (yes, thesame type that John Duthie wore at the 2000 Poker Million), I attackedthe $1,000 buy-in HOSE tournament (Hold'em, OmahaEight or Better, Stud, and Stud Eight or Better) at the CommerceCasino's Los Angeles Poker Classic in 2002. (The Commerce Casinoshould be applauded for putting on a terrific poker tournament!Their room is the best one we have in poker today. And, the hugenumbers of players have made for big prize pools.)

Even though I showed up for the tournament an hour late, I hada huge chip lead by the end of the second hour of play. I was runningred hot! By the time I was heads-up with Tommy Huffnagle (agreat player who was playing awesome poker), I had $65,000 inchips to his $50,000. Sometimes in poker we make deals, and becauseI respected Tommy, we did make one. In this way, we couldboth have a nice payday -- whereas first-place money is usuallydouble what second-place money is. We would play for only $1,600and the trophy (there is a lot of luck in heads-up limit poker). Atthis point in the proceedings, it was 4:30 a.m, and the no-limitHold'em event was to begin the next day at 3:30 p.m. With an eyeto getting some sleep and playing the next day -- plus, we werenow only playing for $l,600 -- we doubled the limits, and set out togamble!

I must say that I did covet the trophy, and when a key handcame up at 5:00 a.m., I could taste the victory ...

Bad Beats and Lucky Draws
Poker Strategies, Winning Hands, and Stories from the Professional Poker Tour. Copyright © by Phil Hellmuth. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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