Gabe Kaplan was the chip leader in his match up in this hand of the National Heads Up Championship 2009, round of 64 in the Spades bracket. He was not sitting at the featured table – that was Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth and Mike “the ambassador of poker” Sexton – but he was facing one of the world’s toughest opponents – Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.
In this hand Chris, holding an interesting:
raised it up to $1,500, seeking to control the pace and action of this game.
Gable, holding:
made the call, hoping to catch something nice on the flop.
The Flop hit air for Gable:
but he was the one reaching for chips under the gun. He bet out $3,200. Chris, naturally, called.
The Turn was:
which brought out a check from Gabe and a bet of $8,000 from Chris. Gable folded.
In this situation Gabe tried to shut down the action with that bet, meaning to get control of the game back from Chris, who was slowly eating away at Gabe’s chip lead. While not the right time, it was the right action to take.
