This week, the NBC franchise “Poker After Dark” is airing “My Favorite Pro.” The unique winner-take-all sit and go format pits Chris Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth against a quartet of qualifiers. Ferguson lasted all of one episode.
Each player began with 20,000 in chips and blinds of 100-200. Premium pocket pairs were the name of the game, as tens, jacks, queens, kings, and aces were involved in 11 hands shown within the one-hour episode. Early on, James Ashby, who hails from Alabama and has been playing poker for less than a year, picked up aces, but did not receive any action.
Then, Steve Bartlett, who won his seat on “Poker After Dark” through a charity tournament at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas, called pre-flop with pocket queens and Hellmuth, a UB.com pro, raised the action to 500. Bartlett called and the flop came 7-8-9. Bartlett check-called a bet of 400 from Hellmuth, who asked if the qualifier held jacks.
The turn was an ace, giving Hellmuth aces-up, and Bartlett once again check-called a bet, this time 700. When a jack hit on the river, Bartlett led out for 1,200 and Hellmuth called, shipping the 5,900-chip pot to the 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner. Hellmuth and Bartlett were at each other’s throats throughout much of Monday’s kickoff episode.
Ferguson’s stack took a hit when the Full Tilt Poker pro raised to 700 pre-flop with K-10 and Bartlett smooth called with pocket kings. The flop came an intimidating A-A-5 and Bartlett check-called a bet of 700 from Ferguson. The turn was a six. Bartlett took control and fired out a bet of 1,200, but Ferguson wisely got out of the way. The pot totaled 4,150.
On the next hand, Australian poker player Craig Ivey raised to 800 pre-flop with A-10 and Bartlett once again woke up with a premium hand, this time pocket jacks. Bartlett just called and Hellmuth, in a squeeze play, raised to 2,800. Ivey got out of the way, but Bartlett made it 7,800 and Hellmuth deliberated before folding. In a rather comical exchange, Bartlett told Hellmuth, “I’ll tell you what I had after the show.” Hellmuth, in blunt fashion, responded, “I don’t care. I really don’t.”
Ferguson rebounded in a limped pot after firing out a bet with 4-3 of diamonds on a flop of 6-5-K, all diamonds. Hellmuth came along with K-10 for top pair and the turn was an offsuit six. Ferguson bet 2,000 and Hellmuth once again called to bring an offsuit three on the river. The action went check-check, shipping the 7,600-chip pot to the man simply known as “Jesus.”
In the defining hand of the night, German qualifier Jens Voertmann picked up pocket rockets, raised to 1,100 pre-flop, and Ferguson bumped the price of poker to 3,100 with A-J. Voertmann called and the flop came J-7-2, giving Ferguson top pair, top kicker and Voertmann an overpair. Voertmann check-raised all-in and Ferguson coughed loudly before calling for his tournament life. The turn and river were a deuce and three, respectively, sending Ferguson out as the first casualty of “My Favorite Pro” week on “Poker After Dark.”
Hellmuth owns an overall record of 3-12 on “Poker After Dark,” but has been blanked in his last five appearances. Ferguson fell to 2-9 on the NBC series and is one of only three players to have ousted all five of his opponents on the show. “Poker After Dark” airs at 2:05am ET nightly on NBC. A special “Director’s Cut” episode will hit the airwaves on Saturday at 1:00am ET following the comedy staple “Saturday Night Live.”
