Poker Hand of the Week: 9/18/14You 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
It’s day 2 of a major tournament, but you are still a few hundred spots from the money. The blinds are currently 1,000-2,000 with a 300 ante, meaning your stack of 142,600 is worth 71 big blinds.
A players raises from under the gun to 4,200 and the small blind, a young, but experienced tournament grinder, calls in the small blind. He started the hand with 132,800.
You look down at A
A
in the big blind and raise to 16,800. The original raiser folds and the small blind calls. The flop comes down 987 and the small blind checks to you.
With such a coordinated flop, you check behind. The turn is the 5 and your opponent bets 18,000. You call and the river is the J. Your opponent checks. You have 107,500 remaining, your opponent has 97,700 and the pot size is 76,500.
The Questions
Do you check behind and take the free showdown? Do you bet? If betting, how much? Are you betting for value or as a bluff? Given the fact that your opponent called an initial raise and three-bet out of position and fired on the turn, what kind of hand is he likely to be holding? Can you get called by worse?
What Actually Happened
At the 2014 WPT Borgata Poker Open main event, Jeff Papola checked the river on a board of 9875J. His opponent, Zo Karim, checked behind holding AA.
Papola could only show KK
and Karim raked in the sizable pot.
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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