After finishing 3rd at the WSOPE, Ivan Demidov arrived at the WSOP final table full of confidence and soon made his presence felt with this bluff
Demidov: A♣-Q♣
Philips: A♥-K♣
The set-up: Play is nine-handed. Phillips limps UTG and the action folds to chip leader Demidov who raises to 1.025m in position. Phillips re-raises to 3.525m but Demidov comes back over the top for 8.225m total. Phillips calls and the flop comes 8♦-10♣-J♠. With 17.26m in the pot Phillips makes a tiny bet of 4.5m, prompting Demidov to shove…
Ivan Demidov
I went into the final table very confident, having finished third in the WSOPE Main Event in London and having made a few final tables in Full Tilt’s FTOPS series. So I was pretty sure I had a good chance of finishing in the top three. I was also pretty sure Dennis would play tight early on and he did. He’s also a little bit emotional – he’d lost a few pots just before the hand, and I think he’s the sort of player who can get affected by that. I also knew about his tactic of limping under the gun. He did that with Jacks against my friend so I knew he wasn’t only doing that with Aces. He limped with strong hands but not just hands that he was willing to go all-in with.
When I raised I thought he may re-raise me, so I was ready for that and had a plan. After he three-bet, our stack sizes were perfect for my move. By four-betting in this spot I only risk 8m, but it makes it really hard for him to move all-in. I am pretty sure he can only shove here if he has Aces or maybe Kings. When he just called, I was pretty sure he didn’t have A-A or K-K, partly because of the stack sizes but mainly because he had brought hundreds of friends and supporters with him. Dennis would never have risked slow-playing a big pair with all those people there. I put him on hands like A-K and Q-Q. He would have folded everything else.
When the flop came 8-T-J, it gave me a double gutshot and overcards. After he led out with such a small bet, I had to move all-in considering the pot odds and the huge chance that he would fold. His bet definitely assured me that he was weak. Even if he called me with something like Q-Q I had outs. It was a pretty easy decision to go all-in. It was definitely the most important hand of the tournament for me. Normally I don’t play like that and won’t make big bluffs. I don’t know how to explain it but I just felt like I had to do it.
I don’t think anyone will ever reach the WSOP and WSOPE Main Event final tables in the same year again. The field at the Las Vegas WSOP is really huge – about 7,000 people. Just to make one final table is near impossible, but two final tables? I don’t think so.
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