Poker Hand of the Week: 11/20/14You 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.
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The Scenario
You are at the final table of the biggest tournament in the world and are playing for more money than you will ever play for again. The blinds are currently 250,000-500,000 with a 50,000 ante, and you have a stack of 24.5 million or 49 big blinds, good enough for third place overall. There is currently one short stack with 20 big blinds remaining.
The chip leader at the table opens for a raise from the hijack to 1.1 million and the cutoff, a player with 22 million who is in fifth place, makes the call. You look down at Q
Q
in the small blind and decide to reraise to 3.75 million.
The big blind and initial raiser fold, and the cutoff makes the call. The flop comes down J
42 and you continue with a bet of 3.5 million. Your opponent calls and the turn is the 4.
You check and your opponent bets 4.5 million. You make the call and the river is the J, double pairing the board. You check and your opponent moves all in for his last 10.2 million. You have him covered by just five big blinds.
The Questions
Do you call or fold? Is it possible your opponent can be holding a jack? Can he be holding a higher overpair? What bluffing hands are in his range? If you call and win, you’ll be the chip leader. If you call and lose, you’ll be crippled. How much does that factor into your decision? Do you regret not leading or check-raising on the turn? How do you feel now about your flop bet sizing? What sorts of tells will you be looking for to get a read on your opponent.
What Actually Happened
Facing a huge decision for what essentially amounted to his tournament life at the 2014 World Series of Poker main event, Will Tonking opted to make the call with his pocket queens on a board reading J424J.
His opponent, Mark Newhouse, could only show down pocket tens and was eliminated in ninth place for the second year in a row. Newhouse banked a $730,725 payday, while Tonking went on to finish in fourth place, earning $2,848,833. The eventual winner was Sweden’s Martin Jacobson, who picked up his first career WSOP bracelet and the $10 million first-place prize.
Take a look at the hand from start to finish.
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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