Poker Hand of the Week: 4/17/14You Decide What's The Best Play |
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Give us your opinion in the comments section below for your chance at winning a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
Ask any group of poker players how you played your hand and they’ll come up with dozens of different opinions. That’s just the nature of the game.
Each week, Card Player will select a hand from the high-stakes, big buy-in poker world, break it down and show that there’s more than one way to get the job done.
The Scenario
There are nine players remaining in a massive field, big buy-in tournament. You are already in the money and guaranteed at least $100,912 from your $3,500 investment. Even better, with 9,655,000, you are currently in second place overall.
The blinds are currently 40,000-80,000 with a 10,000 ante, giving you 120 big blinds to work with. There is one short stack with less than 15 big blinds, but everyone else is working with 30 or more.
The chip leader, with about 155 big blinds, min-raises to 160,000 in middle position. You look down at 7
6 and call from the cutoff. The button, a dangerous player currently riding a hot streak, reraises to 475,000. He started the hand with 6,325,000 in chips.
The initial raiser calls, as do you. The flop falls Q
10
8 and everyone checks. The turn is the 5 and the initial raiser checks. With your open-ended straight draw, you bet 840,000. The button calls and the initial raiser folds.
The river is the Q, pairing the board and putting four clubs out. Your opponent has 5,000,000 in chips remaining. The pot size is 3,315,000.
The Questions
Do you check or bet? If checking, why? If betting, how much? Given your opponent’s three-bet preflop, flop check and turn call, what kind of a hand might he be holding? Is the river a good enough scare card to attempt a bluff? How often does his range include a big club? What does your line say about your hand? How often does a bluff need to work in order to be profitable?
What Actually Happened
At the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown final table, Chance Kornuth opted to fire in a bluff of 1,500,000 holding 76 on a board of Q1085Q.
His opponent, Mukul Pahuja, tanked for awhile before finally calling. Kornuth showed his bluff and Pahuja turned over AA
to take the pot.
Kornuth went on to finish in sixth place, earning $247,954. Pahuja was eliminated in second place, banking $691,965. The eventual winner was Eric Afriat, who took home $1,081,184 and his first WPT title.
What would you have done and why? Let us know in the comments section below and try not to be results oriented. The best answer will receive a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
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