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

A value bet is very important in poker, it determines your poker profits on the long term. It’s the act of getting your opponent to commit some more chips on the river because you’re convinced your opponent does’nt have you beat but possibly has a good ’second-best’ hand. But who can demonstrate this phenomenon better than the Big Papa of poker, Doyle Brunson, playing on High Stakes Poker (hand starts at 3′45″):

So Doyle calls preflop from the SB with A8 suited and hits middle pair. After it’s checked around on the flop Doyle probably knows his hand is best and bets on the (harmless) turn. The French billionaire Guy Laliberté calls with a draw and that’s exactly where Doyle puts him on. So when the river comes a blank, he knows Guy has either missed his draw or is calling an extra bet with the worst 8. Good play from Texas Dolly.