Sometimes Even Kings Must Bow

Two years ago at the inaugural Tournament of Champions, a hand that was played at the final table caused quite a stir in the poker press. Two kings of the tournament circuit, one holding pocket kings and the other with pocket aces, were trying to ace each other out of the tension-filled arena when the widely heralded play took place. Louis Asmo raised all in and (Gasp!) David Chiu mucked his pair of cowboys faceup. As though to prove the wisdom of Chiu's fold, Asmo graciously flashed his pocket rockets. The crowd was a buzz with comments such as, "Did you see that? He folded kings!" as if no one in the history of no-limit hold'em tournaments had ever done it before. To Chiu's credit and his incredible ability to read his opponents, it was a superb play and it helped him become the first TOC champion, with Asmo finishing second. But it wasn't the first time in big-league tournament history that an eventual champion folded kings. (Stay tuned – at the end of the next few strategy paragraphs, I'll tell you about another classic laydown with two kings.)

In most cases, when I am playing no-limit hold'em, I am not willing to risk most or all of my chips unless I hold a premium pair. But even a pair of kings can be a vulnerable hand, because lots of players these days are slow-playing pocket aces. Let's suppose that you're playing the $5,000 main event at the Four Queens tournament. You start with $5,000 in chips and the blinds begin at $25-$50, which makes them very small in relation to the number of chips that you start with. This means that you have more incentive to try to trap your opponents for extra bets with a hand such as pocket aces. On the downside, you also take the chance of getting yourself eliminated with your slow-play tactics by a player who comes in with a hand that he wouldn't have played against a big raise and then catches a lucky flop. But tricky players often are willing to take that risk (a risk that Asmo did not take against Chiu).

If you hold pocket kings and are up against a deception artist who has limped in from an early position, you have to be very careful if he raises or reraises. You will have to make a delicate judgment in deciding what to do with your hand. And if you think you're beat, you'll have to lay down your kings, as Chiu did in 1999 – and as an eventual world champion did in 1992.

Only six players used to advance to the final day's action at the World Series of Poker, and at this particular point in the tournament, seven players remained, with Hamid Dastmalchi the clear chip leader. Mike Alsaadi, a very solid player who previously had announced that he intended to make it to the final day's play, made a gigantic move-in reraise against Hamid, who had raised before the flop with two kings.

Dastmalchi stared silently at Alsaadi. "What do you think I've got?" Alsaadi asked him. "I know you've got two aces," Dastmalchi replied. Watching the action, I knew that Alsaadi's statement could have been made to mislead Dastmalchi, but I believed that he indeed had pocket aces. Knowing how much he wanted to get to the final day, I figured that he wanted to win the pot right then and there without taking any chances.

Even if Dastmalchi called the raise and subsequently lost the pot, he would be in about third chip position. He also realized that Mike would not jeopardize his chance of getting to the final day against an opponent who could easily call his raise without damaging himself too badly. So, what did Dastmalchi do? He threw those two kings into the muck, and Alsaadi wasn't lying about his pocket aces: He flashed them to the audience. Dastmalchi went on to win the championship the next day and Alsaadi finished fourth. History repeats itself, they say.

Depending on the quality of our folds, I hope to meet you in the winner's circle someday soon.

Editor's note: Tom McEvoy is the author of Tournament Poker, from which this article was taken. He and T.J. Cloutier are the co-authors of the Championship series, including Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em, Championship Omaha, and Championship Hold'em.