Hellmuth on his top pair nut flush draw fold - 20/03/2009

Another great hand from the PartyPoker.com Premier League III as Phil Hellmuth and Tony G get stuck into each other in heat 11 of the Channel 4 series - to watch the action click on Hand of the Week on the left hand side of the homepage.

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Tony limps with AK of diamonds and Phil calls with A2 of spades - Hellmuth hit an ace and a flush draw on the flop, bet 5k and Tony moved all-in... which is where the fun began as Phil explains:

"This is a hand that I absolutely love!!! Earlier in my career in the 1980's, whenever I flopped top pair of aces, and the nut flush draw, I couldn't wait to get all of my chips into the pot. After I went broke to a set, two pair, or aces with a better kicker I would tell myself, 'You had to go broke there.' Then one day - after going broke one more time with that hand - I asked myself, 'Why do I have to go broke in this spot? If I feel strongly that I'm beat, then why can't I fold, use my skills to build up my chips, and then play a big pot when I had the set, or the two pair, and they had the drawing hand?' In this hand I was fairly certain that Tony G had at least A-Q, if not two pair or a set. I sensed that Tony G limped in big (I studied him pre-flop as I was ready to raise it up with my ace high) and it doesn't surprise me now to see that he had A-K. I only bet $5,000 on the flop, thinking that everyone else would probably fold, and maybe Tony would call me with K-K, or Q-Q. I bet small because I didn't want to lose Tony! Of course, I only showed my hand after I knew 100% that I was folding, that's why I wasn't upset when they made me fold my hand."

"I believe that anyone that calls a clock before one minute passes is doing the wrong thing. They are trying to use the rules to their advantage, when the rules aren't designed to work that way. If this happened to me at the WSOP I would tell the floor staff what happened, and that player would then be warned - and it would affect his reputation. Of course, as it turns out, the fact that Tony G asked for a clock gave me the key information that I was looking for. With all of his posturing I sensed that Tony G was super strong, and thus I made a great fold."