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Doylespoker.com. This is one of my favourite hands to watch, a true demonstration of the skill involved in the game of poker, and it took place at the Monte Carlo Millions event in 2005.

The tournament was down to two players, Phil Ivey and Paul Jackson, with Ivey in the chip lead, Ivey is dealt (Qh,8h) and Jackson (5d,6s).

After a flop comes down of (7c,Jc,Jd) Ivey thinks for a moment before putting in a small raise, it’s a pretty basic "feeler" type of bet as neither player has hit the flop. Jackson, after thinking for a while, raises, this is a good play because he can expect that with Ivey having more chips he might bluff at this flop. It’s also a good show of strength on Jacksons part to put in a reraise which would perhaps make most players in Iveys position a little worried.

Not so in this case, as Ivey sits and ponders for a while before bravely reraising again, after this second raise you would certainly expect Jackson to fold, once you have reraised and effectively asked your opponent if he really has somthing, and they come up with a strong answer, it’s usually time to think about folding. Amazingly Jackson finds the courage to trust his instinct and comes out reraising yet again.

At this point, you think the hand must be over, both players having shown strength and Ivey sitting there with nothing and having been reraised twice, I for one would have to fold my hand every time in this position because my opponent has simply shown far too much strength with his betting pattern. www.doylespoker.com

As Ivey sits there deep in thought, you hear the commentator say the words "I don’t see how he can possibly continue in this hand" just a few brief seconds before Ivey declares "all in". This of course isn?t just an act of desperation to force Jackson to fold, players of this calibre are far too sophisticated at the game for that, it is in fact a man that has somehow read his opponent to be incredibly weak, despite all the evidence seeming to show the complete opposite to us mere mortals of the poker game.

To be faced with such answers when you try and bluff someone out of a hand is enough to shake almost anyones resolve in their read that an opponent is weak, but although we must give credit to Jackson too for playing the hand very well, Ivey trusted his read with absolutely everything he had, and made a truly first class play.

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