Poker Hand of the Week: 5/8/15You 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
There are 11 players remaining in a huge buy-in international tournament. The field is elite and you are one of the best players left. Only nine players will make the money
With a stack of 1,871,000, you are in third place overall. The blinds are 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 ante, giving you almost 78 big blinds to work with.
A young, up-and-coming poker pro who is just behind you in fourth place with 1,845,000 and doesn’t have a lot of experience in high roller tournaments raises on the button to 55,000. The small blind folds and you look down at A
A
in the big blind. You decide to three-bet to 185,000.
Your opponent calls and the flop comes down Q
J
7. You fire in a continuation bet to 180,000 and your opponent calls. The turn is the 7 and you bet another 382,000. Again, your opponent calls.
The river is the 4. Your opponent has 1,095,000 remaining in his stack and the pot size is 1,521,000. You have your opponent covered by just one big blind.
The Questions
Do you check or bet? If checking, what do you hope your opponent does? Are you looking to get a cheap showdown or induce a big bet? How likely are you to have the best hand in this situation? If betting, how much? In hindsight, do you like your bet sizing on the flop and turn? Should you be playing this big of a pot on the bubble against one of the players who can cripple your stack?
What Actually Happened
At the 2015 €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event at the EPT Grand Final, Ole Schemion was holding pocket aces on a board reading QJ774.
After some thought, Schemion moved all in, putting his opponent Dario Sammartino to the test for the rest of his 1,095,000 stack. Sammartino agonized over his decision for several minutes going back and forth before making up his mind.
After a few more minutes passed, Schemion called the clock on his opponent. Sammartino eventually called and Schemion confidently turned over his pocket aces. Sammartino, however, revealed JJ for the third nuts, allowing him to double up to the chip lead.
Schemion was left with one big blind and was eliminated in 11th place shortly afterwards. Sammartino went on to finish in fourth place overall, earning a career-high €709,500. The eventual winner was Erik Seidel, who banked €2,015,000.
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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