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Instead of raising, call with pocket pairs for bigger pay
Published: 2005-12-25
 You are dealt pocket 4s. You raise because you are hoping to eliminate the many hands with overcards that can beat you. At least that's what many poker books and many big-name professionals tell you to do.
But not Phil Gordon.
With pocket pairs, especially small ones, you just want to call because you have the chance to make a lot of money if the field is bigger, said the author of Phil Gordon's Little Green Book.
"Before, I might've raised to limit the field," Gordon said, "but what I realized through some mathematical study is that you want as many people as possible when you have the middle pocket pair, and you want to get in cheap. You want to flop a set, and you want as many people in as possible so someone else flops something too."
The retooled Gordon found himself with pocket deuces in the small blind in a $1,000-buy-in World Series of Poker no-limit hold 'em event.
"A tight player raised from middle position," said Gordon, a prominent member of the FullTiltPoker.net Poker team. "I had to call about 1/12of my stack with pocket deuces."
Gordon called. It was heads-up. If the flop hit him, he could play the hand aggressively. If the flop missed him, he could get away from the hand. The flop came 2-Q-K.
Gordon led out with his set of deuces.
"He raised with his A-K all in," Gordon said. "I called. He was drawing nearly stone-cold dead. The only way he could win is go runner-runner full house or runner-runner straight. There's almost no way he can win."
The turn came a king, giving Gordon a full house of 2s over kings. Gordon's opponent was dead to the case king or one of three queens, which would've given him a better full house.
The river came a blank. Gordon busted his opponent and went on to finish eighth, overall, collecting $66,055.
Gordon would've liked a bigger field against which to play his set. But his point - what made his newfound respect for calling with pocket pairs instead of trying to run people out of the pot - is that it takes advantage of the way many novice players overvalue their hand when they hit top pair.
"When they flop top pair/top kicker, all the money's going into the pot," Gordon said. "When you flop a set and they have one pair, they're about 2 percent to win. In hold 'em, pocket aces vs. 7-2, that's 13 percent, so you're five times better off when you flop a set against one pair than any other situation in hold 'em."
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Behind The Scenes Of New 'King Of Vegas' Reality Show
Published: 2005-12-20
 An amateur gambler is competing heads-up against a professional bettor. Who feels more pressure? And who is more likely to let the pressure affect him (or her)? That's the conflict at the heart of the TV series "King of Vegas," which debuts next month on Spike. It concluded production last week in a temporary studio constructed in the parking lot behind Bally's.
"Just because someone is an amateur, or an 'unknown' as I like to call them, doesn't mean he's not a skilled gambler," Henderson-based TV sports prognosticator Wayne Allyn Root said on the "King of Vegas" set. "I'll take our unknowns, stack them up against the pros and give them a shot." Root, who conceived the concept for the show, will co-host with Max Kellerman, best known as a boxing analyst and TV sports talk show host. Root also serves as co-executive producer with Michael Yudin and Brian Gadinsky, formerly of "American Idol."
"King of Vegas" will air at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on Spike, the channel geared toward a male audience that runs programming such as "The Ultimate Fighter" and "Maximum Exposure." Billed as a gambling reality show, "King of Vegas" will premiere Jan. 17. There are 10 episodes, and the first episode will air seven times in the first week. It features 12 contestants -- a mix of unknown amateurs and professional gamblers, including poker players and blackjack tournament experts -- competing for a winner-take-all $1 million prize.
Among the games are craps, blackjack, roulette, baccarat, Caribbean Stud poker, pai gow poker and Red Dog, a variation of acey-deucey. A short-handed Texas hold 'em mini-tournament serves as a sort of grand finale. I raised the objection that most of those games rely on pure luck, leading to outcomes that are essentially random rather than an indicator of gambling skill. But Root countered by explaining the show is set up like a gambling tournament, with one player advancing and the others knocked out. A tournament requires a different but equally rigorous set of gambling skills.
It involves playing primarily against your opponents rather than the casino, monitoring how many chips each player has, and sizing your bets accordingly. "No. 1, you have to be aggressive," Root said. "You have to be willing to put all your chips in when the situation calls for it. And No. 2, you have to be able to play under pressure. "You might think the pros won't feel any pressure, but do they really want to be embarrassed by losing to an amateur?"
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