John Juanda’s Aggressiveness Backfires

I don’t get John Juanda’s name in this blog as much as I should. He’s a bit of an unknown to me, but from what I’ve seen he’s got a very nice game based on intricate moves with a great feel for when to push and when to slow down. Not in this clip though.

In this clip, John Michael Murphy reads Juanda’s desire for the pot as a blind attempt to steal and is correct. Juanda fires twice after Murphy checks on the flop and on the turn. Finally on the river, Murphy pushes all-in and Juanda is exposed and doesn’t even pretend to struggle over the decision to fold.

The annoying aspect of the clip is the announcers way over selling Murphy’s play. I grant that Murphy made a nice play that he should feel good about, but I would have felt pretty confident about my hand with A10 and the flop coming out 22Q. Think about it, Juanda’s either got to have a queen, a deuce, a pocket pair or AK to beat him on the flop. That’s against the odds and good knowledge by Murphy but there was no need to anoint John Michael Murphy on the hand.

PreWarning: There is a rap song on the advertisement in the last 20 seconds of the clip.