Wow I started watching the Main Event ‘09 yesterday and it is indeed THE GREATEST TOURNAMENT OF THE WORLD! I was very happy to see that Eli Elezra, one of my big heros, was immediately at the first feature table. But it happened to be another player who ‘made’ the first episode.

The always pollied Alan Cunningham was also on this table but all my attention went to the dutch player Lex Veldhuis. Let’s warm you guys up with a first fragment (starts around 3′30″):

Now he first makes a modest bluff with 97 against the master himself, but this is still fooling around in comparisation with what follows. With a value-bet bluff with King high he gets Simon Muenz off a hand for the first time. The episode continues here, where Lex (boyfriend of poker pro Evelyn Ng) continues to push around the table by overbetting his rivered straight flush against Can Hua. Even Elezra can’t watch it anymore after Veldhuis bluffs Muenz AGAIN for a big pot and shows him for the second time. And it goes on and on, with Veldhuis kicking out this Muenz AND Allan Cunningham later on. I love the Main Event so much.

Wow, I just saw a huge three way pot on Poker After Dark, on the same table as last time. Before you look at the fragment, remember to watch at the terrible body language from the amateur Dee Tiller. He really has no clue between those pros, who are all kinda laughing with this guy. He doesn’t even know what’s going on when they have to split a pot. Let’s watch, starting around 2′15″:

Eli had a huge winning streak last time, but on this episode he experiences the opposite: he loses almost every pot he’s involved in. But of course he’s not going anywhere in this pot with this typical Eli-hand: low suited connectors. Eli flops the absolute nuts and makes a good check behind Kaplan, because he knows exactly that Tiller made a continuation bet in EACH pot he raised preflop. But it’s Gabe Kaplan who check-raises and Eli + Dee both call. When the turn comes the ten of hearts, everybody knows all the money goes in with Dee and Gabe having the nuts and Eli adding a flush draw to his straight. It’s kinda typical for a losing streak that Eli insta calls here, maybe he knows he’s beat but he just doesn’t wanna believe it. And there’s the flush draw of course. G-r-e-a-t pot.

Last time I showed you one of the best single plays I’d ever seen on television. This time I ‘ve one of the greatest ‘on a roll’ sessions from a single player who’s sitting down and playing with the pros, from Eli Elezra on Poker After Dark.

Eli is ruling the table for about half an hour long in this show, starting after about five minutes in the fragment below, where he busts Lederer’s toppair by spiking a set of fours on the turn. Btw, it’s funny to see how the players (and Elezra and Brunson in specific) are trying to start a round of live straddles each time and Howard Lederer being the only one who constantly resists

After that hand , Eli wins about 80% of the following hands, which you can see in the fragment right here, where the episode continues. What Eli does very well is not showing his big hands (because he’s hitting reasonably good), but showing his bluff with the 86 of diamonds for example. The consternation on the face of Howard Lederer is priceless

I didn’t write a lot about one of my heroes Eli Elezra yet, but today I have one fantastic move from this poker phenomenon. It dates from the first episode of High Stakes Poker Season 5.

Now first of all, what an impressive personality is this guy on a poker table? I mean look at that leather jacket and that magnificent accent. You can place this guy without any problem right next to Silvio Dante in the Soprano’s . His appearance also plays an important role in the following hand (first hand to play completely):

As Gabe Kaplan already mentions, this is great body language by Elezra. After he has raised the straddle from Tom Dwan, he acts very artificially distracted on the flop, like he has indeed flopped top pair top kicker, two pair or a set. You can perfectly see the reaction on Durrrr’s face: he thinks he immediately figured out this hand and folds quickly. But Tom’s still young and has a lot years in front of him to learn from this guys .