Up here near Toronto, Canada, we’ve been getting a lot of broadcasts of classic poker matches. My feeling at first is one of being a bit cheated. But the truth is, like watching old football or hockey games, there’s something to be learned here. You can definitely learn something from watching these pros, especially their facial gestures. Who knows? One day you might go up against one of them yourself. And since they won’t know you from Adam’s left oxen, you’ll have the upper hand, if you play your cards right, literally speaking. Here’s a short summary of the the Texas Hold’Em match I watched last night
The 2 Ds – David Williams and Daniel Negreanu – squared off heads up at the World Poker Tour’s 2004 Borgata Poker Open, taped on Sep 22/04. Josh Arieh’s reckless play still took him to third place. DW (David Williams) was sporting dark sunglasses. These must have given him super-human psych strength, because he played a great Cbetcasino psychological game against DN (Daniel Negreanu), who had his cards written all over his face most of the time. Dude, get a pair of glasses. Your baby face and eyes give you away too often. You and Phil Ivey need lessons to achieve the granite-composure of Doyle Brunson.
Negreanu couldn’t even win on A-A (post-flop), beat by Williams ace-high straight. When Williams wasn’t getting great pairs pre-flop, he was psyching Negreanu out. What great play. Certainly more interesting than watching someone unplug a toilet. But DN’s K-K didn’t fail him, taking him back to the chip lead with a $3.4M pot. DW even removed his sunglasses before the turn and river cards.
The match see-sawed back forth. Then Negreanu got another A-A, but this time preflop. Except it only got him a $720K pot because Williams sensed DN’s excitement. Two hands later, DN’s got another A-A. The flop gives DW two Ks. Negreanu goes all in, Williams calls. After they count their chips, Canadian Daniel Negreanu is indeed the winner, and he’s over-joyed.
The moral of the story is that getting a lot of great Cbetcasino cards (Williams) isn’t always enough to win the match. And sometimes, slow-playing pocket aces and wearing your poker heart on your sleeve (Negreanu) is exactly the right thing to do. An exciting match overall.