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Million Dollar Cash Game Review [Season 4, Episode 1]Aug 19 '10 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Re-cap of the Million Dollar Cash Game - Episode 1 Introduction GSN’s High Stakes Poker has always been one of my favourite poker TV shows. Gabe Kaplane and his (ex) co-host AJ Benza made a great pair, blending in comedy and in-depth hand analysis and the calibre of players have consistently been top-notch. But in terms of intensity, nothing beats the annual Million Dollar Cash Game. Hosted by Full Tilt Poker and held in London, the latest season of the Million Dollar Cash Game – season 4 in 2009 – featured top players from all over the world; including the three online monsters Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius, TV favourites Gus Hansen and Mike Matusow, steady tournament grinders Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson and Allen Cunningham and a couple of new faces Andrew Feldman and Cyril Mouly. With 6 hours worth of TV time (edited from 24 hours of actual play), there were a lot of steaming, tilting, all-ins and did I mention, the largest pot in television history? Here are the notable hands. Notable Hand 1: Passive Patrik After a few hands into the game, Phil Ivey limps in with 10-4 of diamonds; Patrik Antonius raises it up to $2,700 with K-9 of spades, everybody else folds and Phil calls the raise. The flop comes out 5-3-6 with two spades – Ivey has an open-ended straight draw, while Antonius has the flush draw with two over-cards. Ivey checks-calls a bet of $5,100 and the turn’s the 4 of hearts, pairing Ivey. It goes check-check to the river which brings a Queen and they both check again. Ivey scoops the $17,000 pot and I’m left wondering why Patrik didn’t bet the turn with such a monster hand. He must just be warming up. Notable Hand 2: Feldman Felted! Andrew Feldman, who’s been kind of quiet so far, raises it up with A-K off-suit. Ivey calls with A-3 off-suit and they take the flop heads up (Note: Feldman has the King of clubs and Ivey the Ace of clubs). The flop is J-Q-8 all clubs, giving both players flush draws, Ivey with the nut draw and Feldman with a gut-shot as well. Ivey checks-raises a bet of $3,000 to $9,000 and Feldman calls. The turn brings the 4 of clubs – the ultimate action card – both players now have flushes. Ivey bets $20,000 and Feldman calls. The river’s an meaningless 5 of clubs and Ivey decides to put Feldman all-in, betting roughly $65,000. Feldman ponders the decision for a while before making the call and is dismayed to see the Ace of clubs. Ivey scoops the biggest pot on the season so far – over $220,000. Notable Hand 3: Don’t Mess with Jesus Chris Ferguson opens up with 8-7 of hearts and only Tom Dwan calls with A-Q off-suit. Ferguson pairs his 8 on a board of 10-8-5 and leads out for $3,000. Dwan with only Ace-high decides to $11,300, putting the pressure back on Ferguson’s middle pair. Undeterred, Ferguson 3-bets it to $26,000 – a very bold move against Tom Dwan – and it works! Dwan mucks his hand before the dealer can even count out the raise and Ferguson rakes in a little under $40,000. A brilliant read by Ferguson, who’s reputation as primarily a tournament player has impressed a lot of watchers. Notable Hand 4: Only a Matter of Time Dwan raises it up with 3-5 of diamonds, Matusow calls with J-10 of clubs and Ivey with A-Q off-suit. It comes out J-8-Q, all diamonds and Dwan checks his flopped flush over to Matusow who decides to fire $4,200 with middle pair. Ivey calls with top pair and the nut flush draw and Dwan check-raises it up to $17,900. Matusow gets out the way and Ivey puts Dwan all in for the rest of his stack – about $70,000. The turn and river are blanks and Dwan takes in the $158,100 pot, doubling up against Ivey. At this point in the game, Ferguson is on top of the leader board with about $50,000 profit, Dwan following close behind with a little over $45,000 and the big loser so far is Andrew Feldman, who's stuck abot $117,700. Notable Hand 5: Clash of the Titans Pt. II Antonius raises it up with K-10 off-suit, Ivey calls with A-4 off-suit and they take the flop heads up. It comes out 10-5-2, pairing Antonius and giving Ivey a gut-shot. Ivey check-calls $5,100 and the turn brings the 7 of diamonds. Ivey checks, Antonius fire $13,000 and Ivey raises it up to $33,000. Antonius calls the extra $20,000, swelling the pot up to $83,000 and they see the river. The 6 of diamonds doesn’t help Ivey who’s now left with Ace-high and the only way for him to win is to bet. Well, that he does. Ivey moves his $101,700 stack all-in with Ace-high – an incredibly gutsy and high-pressured play. With only a pair of 10s, Patrik’s placed in a difficult spot – he knows Ivey’s very capable of this move, but he also knows Ivey could play a set or two-pair this way as well. After much deliberating, Antonius folds and Ivey picks up a little over $185,000. Notable Hand 6: A Typical Ivey-Dwan Pot Dwan raises it up with Q-6 of hearts, only to have Ivey re-pop it with 8-6 off-suit. Everybody folds and Dwan calls the raise out of position against Ivey. The flop comes out 5-7-2 giving Ivey an open-ended straight draw but Dwan in front with Queen-high. Dwan leads out for $12,200 and Ivey calls. The turn brings a Queen for Dwan and it goes check-check. The King of clubs on the river fails to improve Ivey’s hand and Dwan value-bets $23,800 into a $65,000 pot. Ivey with no way to win except by getting Dwan to fold begins to contemplate a raise. Reaching for the black chips ($25,000 each) I really thought he was going to make a massive raise but Ivey eventually gives up the pot and concedes defeat (for the moment). Well that’s it for notable hands in Episode 1. I’ll be back with more reviews for the remaining 3 episodes of the Million Dollar Cash Game. See you next time.  |
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