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Million Dollar Cash Game Review [Season 4, Episode 2]Aug 20 '10 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Re-cap of the Million Dollar Cash Game - Episode 2 The inaugural episode of 2009's Million Dollar Cash Game sure got the action rolling. Phil Ivey busted Andrew Feldman for his $100,000 when their two flushes collided; Chris Ferugson showed some true heart and 3-bet Mr. Tom Dwan with middle pair and Patrik Antonius got bluffed off the best hand by Phil Ivey's high-pressure moment. Let's see what episode 2 has in store. Notable Hand 1: Ferguson: God of Poker With the blinds at $300/$600 and an ante of $100, Chris Ferguson opens up to $1,800 with A-10 of clubs. Ivey calls on the button with J-10 off-suit and Feldman joins in with pocket 6s. The flop comes out 7-7-Q with two clubs. Feldman checks, Ferguson fires out $4,000 and Ivey, with Jack-high decides to float one off. Feldman folds his 6s and they head to the turn. The Jack of spades pairs Ivey but it also gives Ferguson a gut-shot to go along with his flush draw. Ferguson bets out $10,000 and Ivey raises it up to $30,000. Not to be outplayed, Ferguson pushes it up to $90,000 and gets Ivey to fold the best hand. That's the second time we've seen Ferguson play back with a fairly marginal hand and I've got to say, I'm liking this super-aggressive style. Notable Hand 2: Dwan Gets Paid As this particular hand showed; when you play poker as fast and loose as Tom Dwan, chances are you’ll be paid off big when you have a strong hand. Matusow straddles the $1,200, Feldman raises it up to $4,000 with K-10 off-suit, Cunningham calls with A-Q and Dwan puts in a huge over-raise with A-K, making it $47,000 total. Matusow and Feldman get out the way and Cunningham, perhaps sensing a squeeze play by Dwan, moves all in for his remaining stack. After all, there's only a few hands that has him crushed, A-A, K-K, Q-Q and A-K. Unfortunately for Allen, Dwan has one of them and instant-calls. With the $145,200 pot in the middle and no Queen coming to Allen's rescue, Dwan pulls in a huge win. Notable Hand 3: Slow-Playing Heaven Sitting down at the table with a fresh $100,00 stack, Gus Hansen opens up with a pair of Jacks, Dwan smooth-calling with a pair of Kings and Cunningham following suit with, a pair of Kings too! In any other given situation, you might have even seen 3 all-ins here, but with these 3 in the pot, things are bound to get weird. The flop comes out 4-4-9 and its checked to Dwan who fires $5,600. Cunningham calls with his Kings and Hansen, unexpectedly moves all-in for over $90,000. Dwan calls the raise, which forces Cunningham to fold and Gus Hansen is left praying for a Jack. The turn and river brings a 2 and Queen and Dwan scoops in $207,300 and Hansen, still smiling, rebuys for more. A strange, strange hand indeed. Notable Hand 4: History Repeats Itself (Kind Of) Allen Cunning opens up with A-A, Matusow calls with K-10 of spades and Ivey joins in with 10-5 of clubs. Matusow checks the 9-9-6 flop and Ivey leads out for $4,500 straight into Cunningham's Aces. Cunningham only calls and Matusow moves out the way. The turn brings the 4 of diamonds (there's 3 diamonds out there now) and Ivey leads out again for $12,000. Cunningham only calls and the river brings another 6. Ivey bets out $30,000 and Cunningham incorrectly, though understandably lays down his Aces. These two guys had collided a few seasons back when Cunningham managed to get away from his Aces against Ivey's set of deuces. Notable Hand 5: Another Hansen Hand Andrew Feldman opens up in first position with Q-Q, Cunningham calls with K-J of clubs, Hansen joins in 4-5 of diamonds on the button and Ivey can't resist, making the call with J-4 off-suit. The 9-3-2 flop with two diamonds flop gives Hansen a monster draw. He now has a flush and a straight draw, and can win with any Ace, any 6 and any diamond. Even against Queens, Hansen's a favourite and he bets $10,000. Feldman check-raises it up to $31,000 and Hansen comes over the top for another $76,600. Feldman deliberates for a while but eventually makes the tough fold. Notable Hand 6: On a Roll Cunningham, Hansen, Ivey and Ferguson all limp into the pot. It comes out Q-9-2, pairing Hansen’s 9-7, Cunningham’s 9-8, Ivey’s K-2 and leaving nothing for Ferguson’s K-5. Hansen leads out for $2,200 and Ivey calls with his bottom pair. The turn brings a 7, giving Hansen two pair and he leads out again for $6,000. Ivey calls again, and at this moment, I think there are two things going through Ivey's mind. One is his pair of deuces are the best hand and he's calling down a Gus Hansen bluff, or he knows he's behind and he's just calling to make a move on later streets. The river brings a Jack of hearts and Hansen bets out $18,000, pretty much confirming he's got an actual hand. Ivey deciding his deuces are definitely beat decides to put in a raise to $54,000. Hansen rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue out, but eventually makes a great call, taking down the $127,500 pot. Notable Hand 7: Old Man River Ferguson opens up with K-K to $1,800, Cunningham calls with 3-3, Dwan comes in with 4-2 and Antonius joins in with J-10 off-suit. It's a dream flop for Dwan, 4-2-Q, giving him two pair against Ferguson's over. It's checked to Dwan who fires $6,600, Antonius folds and Ferguson only calls with his Kings. I think with such a deep stack, Ferguson's exercising some pot control; he wants to avoid sticking over $200,000 with only a pair to show. The turn brings the 5 of hearts and Ferguson check-calls another bet of $16,800. The river's a devastating Queen, counterfeiting Dwan's two pair and giving Ferguson the best hand. Interestingly enough though, as much as the Queen killed Dwan's hand, I think Ferguson was scared of it as well. Dwan could have easily been betting with a hand like A-Q or Q-J, so the river may have put him in front. It's checked down and Ferguson takes down the $55,300 pot thanks to a good-looking river. Notable Hand 8: Well, At Least the Pizza’s Here What’s one of the worse things about playing poker? Having stuck all your money in with Kings against someone else’s Aces must surely top the list. Cunningham opens up for $2,000 with 3-3, Dwan raises it up with A-A to $7,200 and Antonius re-raises it to $19,000 with K-K. Cunningham folds and Dwan jacks it up to $47,600. Antonius now facing a large re-raise, goes with his guts and puts Dwan all-in for the rest of his stack. The pot stands at a whopping $505,400 and Antonius can only smile at his unfortunate luck. But the poker gods are smiling down at the Finnish superstar and the 8-5-K flop gives Patrik an overwhelming lead. The turn and river yield nothing for the young one and Antonius scoops the biggest pot of the season so far. With nothing but green felt in front of him, Dwan gets up and inquires about a re-buy - what can you do right? Now that I think about it, sticking all your money in with Aces against someone else’s Kings and having them flop a set against you probably feels ten times worse. That’s it for Episode 2 of the Million Dollar Cash Game. Join me next time as I re-cap Episode 3.  |
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