Harman vs. Zeidman WSOP 2005

» COLUMN

Harman vs. Zeidman WSOP 2005

from Unam1337

The hand I chose for this weeks analysis is one of the most spectacular
ones from the WSOP mainevent in 2005 although 5600 players took part
and nearly doubled the number of participants from the previous year
because there were many online-qualifiers.

Hence Joe Hachem could win the largest live tournament back then, when he won the last hand with 7 3 against Steve Dannenmann's A 3.

The flop came 6, 5, 4 and as the A hit the board, Hachems bet was raised by Dannenmann and Hachem consequently put him all-in and Dannenmann called. A 4 hit on the river. Hachem was a stunning 7.500.000 USD richer.

For Jennifer Harman and Corey Zeidman, the actors
in this hand, didn't have that much success in this tournament because
they both didn't make it into the money. However, they still managed to
play this very exciting hand.

After everyone has watched the video, I will try
to analyse this hand. If I am not mistaking completely, Dan Harrington
looked at this hand as well but unfortunately it has been such a long
time when I read the book that the following analysis is really one of
my own and is, at least not consciously, affected by this more talented
writer.

Harman raises 200 Q, Q
Zeidman calls 200 9, 8
Davis calls 200 A, 6

Harman raises from early position with her ladies.
This is nothing special and (hopefully) everyone does this. As we are
in the early phase of a deepstack-tournament, the call of Zeidman with
98s is not abnormal at all because you are getting very good implied
odds on such hands. If this is the case against a player of Harmans
caliber is the question though. The BB also calls with a baby ace,
surely a hand he doesn't like to play in this situation, but because he
is getting good pot odds and basically has position on the
preflopraiser with a check on the flop, his call is not bad.

FLOP T, J, Q

Davis checks
As mentioned before, it is just logical that
Davis checks but because he has hit nothing he will probably hope for a
freecard to comlete his gutshot and otherwise give up the hand.

Harman bets 500
She probably won't like the board too much
because apart from a top-set, many other drawing hands will have hit
this flop as well. Nevertheless she has to bet.

Zeidman raises 2000
The flop is obiously much better for
Zeidman as it is for Harman because he really flopped his 3rd
nutstraight, but - as 3rd indicates - he can't be over happy with this
situation, because if he puts Harman on a tight openraisingrange from
early position he can assume that she raised someting like 99+ and AQ+
(which is not even that nitty). If we have a look at this, we notice
that he is way behind against AK and all other hands still have some
outs, most of them are sets. He "only" has 53% against this range and
it is not unlikely that he is holding the best hand already. It is
therefore comprehensible that he raises because he has to protect his
hand against these draws.

Davis folds
He is holding a gutshot, noticing that there is
a lot of trouble in the air is not difficult, and therefore it is no
surprise that he folds.

Harman calls
As described above, the flop is not especially
great but she definitely has outs and implied odds if she does hit. It
could also be the case that Zeidman hit a 2pair, a smaller set or even
slowplayed an overpair and is now way behind, or is even bluffing. If
she puts him on a non-bluff-range, it would be hands like 98, TT+, AK.

I would eliminate 99 and AQ because he would have
rather called to try to complete his draw because we are still early in
the tournament and it is no likely that he would build a large pot with
a marginal hand.

And just like Zeidman, Harman is slightly ahead
against the range we are putting her opponent on, namely with 51.5%.
her call is therefore justifiable. Pushing or reraising here is
senseless in my opinion because 2pair or even smaller sets would then
fold and all hands that would call have got her beat.

TURN T

Harman checks
Nice card for her, but because Zeidman took the initiative on the flop, it might be a good possibility to checkraise.

Zeidman bets 1000

He won't like this turn much, but on the other
hand he has now got a flushdraw and even an open-ended
straightflushdraw. I think it is good to bet here because if we think
that Harman is holding AK, for example, it is possible that she folds
this hand now because she is giving him credit for the full house now.
But I don't like the size of the bet because it is only 1/5 of the pot.
However, I have to admit that I don't know these players and that he is
betting the same amount with a hand that is very strong and basically
cannot be outdrawn as with a medium strength hand.

Harman raises 3000
She has twice the luck. She is now
holding the 2nd nuts and is getting further action from Zeidman. Hence
she can make the pot so large that her opponent will have a very hard
time to find a fold on the river if he finds one at all, because we
shouldn't forget that he could have made the smaller full house with
this card just now.

Her bet, like Zeidmans bet, is very small but as I
said for him - if they have a history together with these kinds of
bets, it is totally comprehensible and even the right thing to do. It
would only become dangerous if you give away the strength of your hand
with these kinds of bets.

Zeidman calls 2000
I think this is the first mistake in the
hand because it is very obivous that Zeidman is beat here. If we decide
to put Harman on a range again, it would be QQ, JJ, TT and AK if she
decided to slowplay the nuts on the flop.

He even has the odds against this range because
there are 9000 in the pot with a 28.5% chance of winning against
Harmans range. BUT he is playing with his tournament life and has no
opportunity, like in the cashgames, to rebuy. Furthermore he only has 2
outs (he knows that his opponent is holding the Q)
with which he happily puts his chips in the middle on the river. As he
only has 3000 chips left, he is getting odds of nearly four to one.

This means that because he is not allowed to fold the river after the
turncall, Harman shouldn't have given him a decision for 2000 chips but
rather for his whole stack, namely 5000 chips on the turn. He wouldn't
have had the odds to call this bet with his 28.5%.

RIVER 7

Harman bets 3000

Effectively she went all-in with her hand on the
turn as well because she cannot fold on the river. As she can't fold
herself but make other worse hands call, it is an easy valuepush.

Zeidman calls and is All-In
What is there to say about this?^^ He hit his miracle card.