I’ve grown to enjoy the game of Poker over the years, and with the advent of televised pokers events, I’ve grown to enjoy watching poker pros play poker on TV. I don’t know about you, but if I’m observing any competition I like to choose sides. It’s makes the event more compelling if I have a rooting interest. Over time I’ve chose my favorite players based on their skill, style, and likeability. My favorite players in order are Phil Ivey, Joe Hachem, Eli Elezra, and Jean Robert Bellande. Bellande less for his poker acumen, and more for his demeanor and personality. I root for him because he’s an underdog. He’s not a very successful poker player, but he lives a lavish lifestyle based mostly off of the people he knows, and not the pots that he has pulled.
Bellande is the everyman poker player. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He updates his fan on his twitter account and lets us know, on a regular basis, what his current bankroll stands at. I’ve seen him take some very bad beats and would often think that if this guy could summons some good luck, he could be a very successful poker player. I believed this up until last week when I saw him make the dumbest poker move I’ve every witnessed in life.
Bellande was playing on NBC’s Poker After Dark in a 100K cash game. He was playing well above the level his bankroll would dictate. He had no real edge in the game. He was playing 6-handed against. Chris Ferguson (WSOP Main Event Champion) Mike Matusow (3 WSOP Main Event final tables), Michael Mizrachi (WSOP Final Table in ’10, and multi final tables in the WPT), Brandon Adams, and Peter Jetten, very good poker players in their own right. Phil Hellmuth 11 times WSOP champion also rotated into the game. In my opinion he was the 6th best player in a 6-handed line up. Everyone at the table knew that if Bellande got felted he didn’t have money to rebuy. So Bellande has at least three strikes against him before the first hand is dealt. This puts him at a huge disadvantage.
I understand that poker players have egos so Bellande probably thought he could outplay these guys or catch a heater, and run his bankroll up. I was pulling for Bellande, and then he did one of the most inexplicable things I’ve ever seen. Blinds are $200/$400. Jetten opens light for $1400, Hellmuth flat called with 44, and then Bellande flatted on the button with AQ offsuit. Ferguson in the big blind wakes up with AK, and raises to $6900, Jetten folds, Hellmuth flats again (looking to flop a set), and then Bellande totally misreads Ferguson for weak and sticks another $36000 in the pot. Ferguson correctly put Bellande on a weak-ish holding. The very best hand Bellande could have at this moment is JJ. No one in his or her right mind would overcall a $1400 raise in position with AA, KK, or QQ. Bellande made an amateur play. He thought that his raise looked strong, but it actually looked very weak. A call would have looked stronger in that spot.
Also Bellande didn’t properly analyze the hand. Ferguson hadn’t showed a bluff all night, and the worst hand he could have had in that position is AQ. Which he would be willing to gamble with if he puts Bellande on JJ. Bellande has very little chance of making Ferguson fold. So Ferguson does the right thing and 5 bets Bellande all in. Bellande has $50000 left. In my opinion he had enough fold equity to lay it down. AQ vs AK is a 27% favorite. He still has well over 120 BB’s left in the match. But because he hates himself he put all the money he has in life in the middle hoping that Ferguson had a hand like 88 or 99. Then he compounds the error by not running the board multiple times to improve his chances. Bellande proves in this hand that he will always be a losing poker player. The 4 bet, calling the 5 bet, and not running it twice are mistakes an amateur makes not a professional. I’m officially off the JRB bandwagon. I can’t watch people I root for choke so badly in these spots.
Bellande is the everyman poker player. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He updates his fan on his twitter account and lets us know, on a regular basis, what his current bankroll stands at. I’ve seen him take some very bad beats and would often think that if this guy could summons some good luck, he could be a very successful poker player. I believed this up until last week when I saw him make the dumbest poker move I’ve every witnessed in life.
Bellande was playing on NBC’s Poker After Dark in a 100K cash game. He was playing well above the level his bankroll would dictate. He had no real edge in the game. He was playing 6-handed against. Chris Ferguson (WSOP Main Event Champion) Mike Matusow (3 WSOP Main Event final tables), Michael Mizrachi (WSOP Final Table in ’10, and multi final tables in the WPT), Brandon Adams, and Peter Jetten, very good poker players in their own right. Phil Hellmuth 11 times WSOP champion also rotated into the game. In my opinion he was the 6th best player in a 6-handed line up. Everyone at the table knew that if Bellande got felted he didn’t have money to rebuy. So Bellande has at least three strikes against him before the first hand is dealt. This puts him at a huge disadvantage.
I understand that poker players have egos so Bellande probably thought he could outplay these guys or catch a heater, and run his bankroll up. I was pulling for Bellande, and then he did one of the most inexplicable things I’ve ever seen. Blinds are $200/$400. Jetten opens light for $1400, Hellmuth flat called with 44, and then Bellande flatted on the button with AQ offsuit. Ferguson in the big blind wakes up with AK, and raises to $6900, Jetten folds, Hellmuth flats again (looking to flop a set), and then Bellande totally misreads Ferguson for weak and sticks another $36000 in the pot. Ferguson correctly put Bellande on a weak-ish holding. The very best hand Bellande could have at this moment is JJ. No one in his or her right mind would overcall a $1400 raise in position with AA, KK, or QQ. Bellande made an amateur play. He thought that his raise looked strong, but it actually looked very weak. A call would have looked stronger in that spot.
Also Bellande didn’t properly analyze the hand. Ferguson hadn’t showed a bluff all night, and the worst hand he could have had in that position is AQ. Which he would be willing to gamble with if he puts Bellande on JJ. Bellande has very little chance of making Ferguson fold. So Ferguson does the right thing and 5 bets Bellande all in. Bellande has $50000 left. In my opinion he had enough fold equity to lay it down. AQ vs AK is a 27% favorite. He still has well over 120 BB’s left in the match. But because he hates himself he put all the money he has in life in the middle hoping that Ferguson had a hand like 88 or 99. Then he compounds the error by not running the board multiple times to improve his chances. Bellande proves in this hand that he will always be a losing poker player. The 4 bet, calling the 5 bet, and not running it twice are mistakes an amateur makes not a professional. I’m officially off the JRB bandwagon. I can’t watch people I root for choke so badly in these spots.
