This hand happened last year, but Sky Poker just got around to airing this episode:

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When I first heard about this hand, I wanted to criticize Phil Ivey for losing so much money after hitting the sucker end of a straight.

But after watching it, I realized that after the turn hit, there’s no way both those players are going to avoid getting their stacks in.

For one, Tom Dwan’s range is infinite, which is why he’s such a tough no-limit hold ‘em player. But after Ivey made the flop bet and Dwan just flat-called, there are few people who would put Dwan on 7-6 there — even the best player in the world. Normally, Dwan raises big, putting pressure on his opponent especially if he has a powerful draw.

After Dwan 3-bets Ivey on the turn, Ivey figures his original read is confirmed and he’s just has to think about how much money he’s going to win from Dwan — and how he doesn’t want to see another card.

So what can we take away from this hand? Besides how crazy these two are. Dwan and Ivey make money by playing similar aggressive styles — they’re always looking for weakness in their opponents. And they make sure their opponents can’t put them on a hand. That way, when they hit crazy, longshot draws, they’ll usually get paid off.

Side note: Anyone else think it’s strange how deliberate Dwan is, considering he learned this game online?