Poker Hand of the Week: 6/5/15You 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.
The Scenario
There are eight players remaining in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em tournament. You are in the money and guaranteed at least $48,137. You are in second place with 1,667,000. The blinds are 12,000-24,000 with a 4,000 ante, giving you 69 big blinds.
You look down at J
J
in early position and raise to 55,000. The action folds around to the big blind, a player who started the hand with 997,000. He reraises to 155,000 and you decide to call.
The flop is A
KJ and your opponent continues for 250,000. He has 588,000 behind and the pot size is currently 604,000.
The Questions
Do you call or raise? What’s the best play to get maximum value? If calling, what is your plan for the turn if your opponent checks? If your opponent didn’t connect with the flop, what’s the best play? In hindsight, should you have four-bet preflop?
What Actually Happened
After seeing a bet of 250,000 on a flop of AKJ by Long Nguyen, Greg Merson just called with his set of jacks. The turn was the J
, giving him quads.
Nguyen moved all in for 588,000 and Merson instantly called and tabled his hand. Nguyen couldn’t believe his luck, showing AA for a full house. The river was the K and Nguyen was eliminated in eighth place, earning $48,137.
Merson went on to finish in fourth place, picking up $152,126. The eventual winner was Michael Wang, who scored his first career gold WSOP bracelet and the $466,120 first-place prize in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em event.
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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