Daniel Negreanu: What Would You Do vs Phil Ivey?

D aniel Negreanu takes us into the PokerStars Shark Cage to analyze a hand between Phil Ivey and Jennifer Shahade.

Viewers get to play along with Jennifer and against the Tiger Woods of Poker because her hole cards are revealed while Ivey's remain unknown until after the betting concludes on the river. And what betting it was!

Mix Up Your Play

The blinds are 8,000/16,000 and Ivey raises UTG to 38K pre-flop, prompting folds around the table until it's Shahade's turn to act on the button. KidPoker advises to avoid being predictable when playing your hands.

"You always want to make sure that a hand like ace-queen suited is part of your calling range and your three-betting range," DNegs informs. "You don't want to be 100% either way because then it becomes very, very easily read."

Got it. We make the call with Jennifer. Not gonna three-bet Phil Ivey on this one.

Post-Flop Action

A pair of snowmen and an ace hit the board on the flop, giving us two pair with aces on top and a respectable kicker. Ivey checks. We bet 50K.

Checking was also an option, but a bet might seem more plausible to some. KidPoker leans toward a check, but is OK with either move. He does, however, impart a morsel of wisdom gleaned from decades of experience playing high stakes poker.

"You have a hand that has value but you're probably not going to get three streets of value" in such a situation against a player of Ivey's caliber, Negreanu said. Don't expect Ivey to simply call your bets on the flop, turn, and river.

Ivey makes the call, and now we have to really wonder what he's holding.

A brick on the turn. Ivey checks, and so do we and Jennifer. After all, it's Phil %*@ Ivey, he might have a set or better, and plus, we can't expect to get value on all three streets, as Daniel said.

The river card comes and Ivey checks again. Time to get some value on the river, right?

Let's see what Negreanu did when he played against Ivey in Shark Cage: