A hand from the World Series of Poker
Event No. 3 of the World Series of Poker was $1,500 pot-limit hold'em. There was one particular hand I played that had a lot of interesting twists and turns.

The blinds were 50-100. I had about 7,800 in chips remaining. Everyone folded around to the button, who limped for 200. He had 4,650 remaining. This was not the first time he had limped, and he previously had folded to a pot-size raise after limping from the button. Dewey Tomko folded from the small blind, and I checked my A-8 from the big blind.

The flop was A-Q-5 rainbow. I checked, and my opponent made a small bet of 200. At this point, I was very confident that I had the best hand. It was unlikely that he would limp with A-X. Most players would raise with A-A in pot-limit hold'em to start building the pot size; 5-5 was a possibility, but was only one part of a very wide range here.

'The River Rule'
I have a rule on the river that I follow religiously, which I appropriately call "The River Rule": Never try to make a good laydown on the river in limit hold'em. 

Given this rule, it isn't easy to get opponents to fold on the river, due to the size of the pot; however, there are situations here and there that arise that will give you an opportunity to try to steal the pot. The most common example is when you are on a draw and you continue to bet the river, hoping that your opponent will fold a busted draw or weak pair. 

Matthew discusses some key concepts regarding bluffing on the Internet

Every great poker movie and almost every great poker story revolves around a great bluff. When talking with someone who doesn’t play poker, one of the first questions they inevitably ask is, “Do you bluff a lot?” The next time you are watching the World Poker Tour, look at how excited the announcers Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten get when someone tries a bluff. Bluffing is glamorous and dramatic and as a player there probably is nothing more thrilling than taking down a big pot with a nice bluff.

Most people know that all of the great Hold'em players play their opponents and not their own hands. Most players believe this is just a matter of sensing weakness in their opponent and then exploiting this weakness by stealing a pot. They believe it is just a matter of sensing when their opponents are bluffing. But playing your opponent works on many levels. Sometimes you can be absolutely confident that your opponent has a reasonably strong hand and still find a way to steal a pot. Let's look at an example to demonstrate this concept.

One of the great things I love about the World Series of Poker main event is the big stacks you get to play in relation to the blinds. When starting out with $10,000 in chips, you can find spots to make plays that would be difficult to make in other types of events in which you start out with a small amount of chips.

In this column, I am going to discuss a couple of key hands from my play in this year’s WSOP main event. And we’ll look at a couple of other hands next time. The hands are from different days of play. This year I finished 331st out of a field of 5,619, making the money for the second year in a row. It was a great tournament and a lot of fun, but at the same time, I was looking to improve on my 33rd-place finish in 2004, so I fell a little short.

My last column looked at a couple of bluffs that I made during the World Series of Poker main event. One of them was successful and one of them cost me some chips. We will look at two more bluffs in this column. One of them took place at the end of day two and is a good example of bubble play. The other involves two players going at each other in a small blind versus big blind situation.

On the very last hand of day two, there were 569 players left in the tournament, and 560 would be paid. Most of the players at my table were doing everything they could not to be knocked out this close to the bubble. Many of them were already thinking about going home and being able to tell their family and friends that they cashed in the “big one.” This tournament, more than any other, has lots of players playing with the goal of simply cashing.

The check and delayed bluff can be a powerful poker weapon

There are certain hold'em situations against unknown opponents in which you can make the same play with a high level of success. One of my favorite plays is a version of a delayed bluff. A delayed bluff is typically defined as calling a bet with the intention of bluffing on a later street. You also can delay a bluff by checking a scary flop with the intention of stealing the pot on the turn.

The following situation occurs occasionally and is a great time to try a check and delayed bluff. You raise before the flop and get one caller from the blinds. A high pair comes on the flop, such as A-A-X, K-K-X, or Q-Q-X, and your opponent checks. If you check behind him, the first thought that often comes into his mind is that you are slow-playing your hand. Generally, your opponents will check the turn and you'll frequently win the pot by betting.