Poker After Dark - The Much Maligned Shawn Sheikhan

  One player that causes a lot of controversy whenever he sits down at the table is Shawn Sheikhan. Shawn started to appear at final tables during the World Series of Poker and almost immediately ran afoul of Mike Matusow. After their initial blow up the two became friends and appeared together often on Poker After Dark. During Hecklers' Week of season three, when Mike was already busted Shawn was still in the hunt.  While Shawn was prone to making mistakes and letting his temper get the better of him, there was no question that he could play poker. In this particular hand he showed how to win with position. Shawn started things off with a raise to $700 while holding big slick: ... Gavin Smith, showing great poker instincts, folded his hand: ... Sam Grizzle stuck around with a pair of sevens: ... as did Jean-Robert Bellande with Fish Hooks: ... The flop came down as: ... and Shawn was first act. This position, called Under the Gun, is often considered the weakest position when playing No Limit Texas Holdem poker. This is because the player that is under the gun has to act first without the benefit of information that later positions get. Because of this, it is commonly thought the player would need a stronger hand to make a play from early position than he would if he was in a later position. Shawn is a pro player, so of course he knows this; he also knows how to use this against his opponents.  With $2,200 in the pot Shawn needed to make a statement if he wanted to represent a great hand. While Big Slick is a great hand pre-flop, post flop it all depends on what cards hit the board - in Shawn's case nothing was helpful. He put out a bet that looked otherwise when he pushed forward $2,200.  By using the weakest position and acting strong he effectively stole the pot as both Sam and Robert folded their better hands to Shawn.