Big Hand in Atlantic City

I first heard about this hand from Scotty Nguyen in December, and most recently from Layne Flack. Scotty was pretty upset about it, and so was Layne. Erik Seidel was the only happy camper to emerge from this hand, because, incredibly, he won it with ace high - despite the fact that Scotty would have made four tens with his pocket tens.

By the way, I am writing about this hand with Layne at my side. I will let you know what Layne has to think of this hand as I write. Five minutes into the second day of the U.S. Poker Championship's $7,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em championship event, with the blinds at $300-$600 and the antes at $100 a man, Layne opened for $1,200 with 6-6, Tony Van called, and Erik Seidel made it $5,200 to go from the button with the A J .

Scotty (with $12,000 in chips) looked down to see that he had 10-10, and decided that folding was his best option. He would have made four tens, but folded because he thought it was the right play. I agree with Scotty's laydown in general, but I wasn't there to study Erik. If I studied Erik and felt weakness, I would have moved all in.

Interestingly, Layne did study Erik and smelled weakness (however, he didn't have two players yet to act behind him, including the initial raiser, like Scotty did). Layne says that he factored Tony Van out of the equation immediately, because he didn't think Tony could call the $4,000 raise; he read Tony as being relatively weak. Because of this, Layne reraised Erik $8,000 with his 6-6, and Tony folded. By the way, Erik must have smelled weakness in Layne to make the original $4,000 raise - and he was right (more on this later). So, as Layne puts it, "Erik and I sniffed each other out."

Erik studied for a while with $13,200 left, and decided to call the $8,000 and move his remaining $5,200 all in. Layne says, "Why the push-in? Clearly, I was pot stuck and was going to call $5,200 more, leaving me with $7,000." Layne believes that Erik made a bad play here by moving all in. His best option, according to Layne, was to fold and save $13,200, and his second-best option was to just call the $8,000 and look at the flop.

Layne called the $5,200, and Erik stood up, leaned over, and looked at Layne's hand and said, "Ugh, I thought you had ace-rag this hand." The board came down 10-8-9-9-10, counterfeiting Flack's 6-6 and giving Seidel the winner with two pair, tens and nines with an ace.

Did Erik play this hand terribly? In my opinion, he didn't, but Erik is too good a player to look for even money (6-6 is actually a 13-to-10 favorite to beat the A J ) for all of his chips. Although I say that Erik didn't play this hand terribly, I would say that he didn't play it well, either. Layne thinks Erik played it badly. The reason this hand sticks in Layne's mind is that he thinks Erik is a great player and can't understand how Erik could overcommit with the A J . Layne says that he has asked Erik about this hand many times, and Erik hasn't responded with anything more than a chuckle (Layne says he and Erik are good friends). Layne wants an explanation! And he has asked many other top players for an explanation.

Let me take a crack at it, Layne: Erik smelled weakness in you, and you smelled weakness in Erik; therefore, the money went all in. Layne responds thusly: "Phil, why didn't he save the $5,200 to bet on the flop no matter what came, or consider folding after the flop, or save the $13,200 knowing that I am overcommitted and will call anyway?" Good point; putting all that money in with A-J in this tournament with these blinds isn't the Phil Hellmuth way, but I still give Erik credit for smelling your weakness; after all, you only had 6-6.

Layne responds, "Phil, facts are facts; you cannot give him credit for smelling my weakness. I effectively made Erik a caller with the worst hand for all of his chips. That is not a position you want to be in in no-limit hold'em, period. No hard feelings, Erik, but don't let it happen again!" (Ha-ha!)

OK, Layne, but I wonder what Erik would say if he had the pen in his hand like you do now! Flack says he would like to know, as well - he always gets in the last word when I'm around! Layne really is a funny and good-hearted person. Congrats to Erik, who ended up finishing second to John "World" Hennigan; and I can tell you that they both played great.

Here's one last comment: If you told people that these raises and reraises happened before the flop, with these blinds, in this tournament, between Seidel and Flack, would they believe these players had only 6-6 and A-J?! (Wouldn't they guess Q-Q vs. K-K, A-K vs. Q-Q, or something similar?) Furthermore, does this make both of them great players, or what?! I'm not sure you could conclude that both are great players from this hand, but they are.

I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.

Editor's note: Phil can often be found playing poker at UltimateBet.com, table "philhellmuth." For more info about him or more Hand of the Week columns, go to PhilHellmuth.com.