Poker Hand of the Week: 4/8/16You 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 three players remaining in a mid-stakes regional tournament. The blinds are 80,000-160,000 with a 20,000 ante, meaning your stack of 2,605,000 is worth 16 big blinds. You are the short stack, with the chip leader holding 10,585,000 and your other opponent sitting on 5,815,000.
You are first to act on the button and are dealt J
7. You limp in and the chip leader completes from the small blind. The big blind checks his option and the flop comes down 8
76.
Your opponents check and you check behind with middle pair. The turn is the J
giving you two pair. The chip leader checks and the villain bets 250,000. You raise to 625,000 and the chip leader folds. The villain tanks for about a minute before calling.
The river is the 2 and the villain checks. You have 1,800,000 behind and the pot size is currently 1,790,000.
The Questions
Do you bet or check behind? If betting, how much? Do you regret your turn raise? Given your opponent’s line, what is his range of hands? Can you get a worse hand to call a value bet? Can you get a better hand to fold?
What Actually Happened
At the World Series of Poker Circuit main event at Horseshoe Baltimore, Matt Bond opted to check behind with his J7 on a board reading 876J2.
His opponent, Alex Rocha, showed J8
for a better two pair and took the pot.
Despite the hit to his stack, Bond rebounded to finish in second place, earning $180,750. Rocha took third and the $133,140 prize. The eventual winner was Joe Cappello, who took home the title and the $292,500 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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