AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker TITLE: Power poker is way to go DATE: 2:52 AM ----- BODY: Power poker is the way to go. So say most pros. They stress the value of a
controlled aggressiveness that pressures opponents into hard decisions,
sometimes for all their chips. But sometimes, even the man who wrote the
book on power poker misses a chance to run an opponent out of a hand. In the
Intercontinental Poker Championship at Las Vegas' Palms in April 2006, Doyle
Brunson, author of the wildly successful "Super/System" and "Super/System 2"
that are considered bibles among the pokerati, drew J-10 offsuit. Playing
five-handed with blinds at $3,000-$6,000 plus an ante of $300, Brunson
raised to $37,000 from early position. Action folded to Tony Guoga in the
big blind. Holding 9-8 offsuit at a short-handed table, Guoga called. The
flop came A-K-8, two spades. Guoga checked his bottom pair. Brunson checked
behind him with a gutshot straight draw. The turn came the 7 of hearts.
Guoga checked again. Brunson bet $42,000 on his double-bellybuster, needing
a 9 or a queen for a straight. "I was surprised Doyle didn't bet the flop if
he had the ace," said Guoga, a soft-spoken man away from the table but one
who's often reviled at the table for his trash-talking outbursts. "I figured
I had the best hand and I called him." The river came the 4 of diamonds.
Guoga checked again. "Doyle went all in for another $120,000 or so," said
Guoga, winner of the World Poker Tour's Bad Boys of Poker II event. "I had
exactly the same stack. It was for all my chips. I was thinking. But I knew
my hand was good. I was feeling that Doyle had Q-J, and I said it on TV. I
told him I would call. I would look terrible if I was wrong, because the
board's scary." But Guoga's measly 8s took the pot and busted poker's
grandest figure. "The key was Doyle checked the flop," Guoga said. "That's
why he lost. He checked on the flop. He was second to act. He checked. But
if he bet, he would've won the pot. Even if I had called and he bet again on
the turn, I would've folded. --------