Poker Hand of the Week: 3/11/16You 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 21 players remaining in a $1,500 buy-in tournament and you are already in the money and guaranteed at least $14,404. You have 2,100,000 in chips, which is good enough for second place overall. The blinds are 20,000-40,000 with a 5,000 ante, giving you more than 52 big blinds to work with.
The chip leader, an accomplished player with 2,495,000 in chips, raises to 80,000 from the cutoff. You look down at K
10
and make the call from the small blind. The big blind comes along as well and the flop is K
K
5.
You check, as does the big blind, and the cutoff bets 110,000. You call and the big blind folds. The turn is the A and you check again. The cutoff bets 200,000.
The Questions
Do you call or raise? Is the ace on the turn good for you? How do you extract the most value from your trips? Given your opponent’s line, is it best to call and then check the river or raise on the turn? Are you worried about any potential draws? Would you play the hand differently against a shorter stack?
What Actually Happened
At the World Series of Poker Circuit main event at Bally’s in Las Vegas, Michael Rocco opted to just call a 200,000 turn bet from Jason Wheeler holding trip kings on a board reading KK5A.
The river was the 8 and Rocco checked again. This time, Wheeler checked behind, and mucked when Rocco showed his hand. Despite taking the chip lead, Rocco ultimately busted in seventh place, earning $50,806.
Wheeler rebounded from the hand to win the tournament, along with a WSOPC ring and the $323,236 first-place prize.
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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