Poker Hand of the Week: 10/28/16You 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
You are playing in a huge buy-in, super high roller tournament. The field is filled with wealthy amateurs, and although you are not technically a poker pro, you do have more experience than most at the table.
There are seven players remaining, but only six will make the money. The buy-in was €1 million, and everyone who makes the money will be guaranteed at least €1.5 million. The winner will take home €11,111,111.
With 21,050,000 in chips, you are in third place. The blinds are 250,000-500,000 with a 75,000 ante, giving you a comfortable 42 big blinds to work with. Of your six opponents, one is very short with just seven big blinds and two others are sitting with about 16 big blinds.
The action folds around to you in the small blind and you look down at J
7
. You raise to 1,400,000 and your opponent in the big blind, who is in second place with 27,700,000, makes the call.
The flop comes down 65
4
and after some thought, you check. Your opponent bets 1,000,000 and you call. The turn is the J, giving you top pair to go along with your open-ended straight draw.
You check again, and your opponent bets 3,000,000. There is now 8,325,000 in the pot and you have 18,575,000 remaining in your stack.
The Questions
Do you fold, call or raise? If raising, how much? Are you raising for value or as a bluff? If calling, what is your plan for the river if you fail to improve? What is your plan for the river if you do improve? What kind of range can you reasonably represent at this point in the hand? Given his opponent’s line, what kind of range can you assign to your opponent? How does the money bubble, and the presence of other short stacks, affect your decision?
What Actually Happened
At the €1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop Invitational in Monte Carlo, James Bord opted to just call the 3,000,000 bet from his opponent, Anatoly Gurtovoy. The river was the 8, giving Bord a straight.
He checked, and Gurtovoy checked behind, tabling 44 for bottom set. Bord showed his J7 and collected the pot.
Despite winning that pot, Bord was ultimately eliminated in fourth place, earning €2,303,700. Gurtovoy finished in second place, taking home €5,954,276. The eventual winner was Elton Tsang, who won his first recorded live tournament title and the first-place prize of €11,111,111.
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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