Ho-Ho Hold'em

While attending an 11-day national bridge tournament in Phoenix, I took a few days off to drive to Los Angeles to play at The Bicycle Casino's Ho-Ho Hold'em tournament. Although L.A. is about 400 miles from Phoenix, it takes less than six hours to get there on red and blue Interstate 10 (the speed limit is 75 mph).

In the no-limit hold'em tournament (the biggest prize money event), with 12 players remaining, six at each table, I had $11,200 in chips, which was third best at our table. We were already "in the money" (the event paid 18 places).

The blinds were $500-$1,000 and each player also had to ante $200 each hand. In the small blind, I picked up A-Q. The chip leader, who had been raising before the flop frequently and had amassed more than $30,000 in chips, raised $1,500, making it $2,500 to go. Everyone folded around to me. What would you do in my position? Assume that you have a rather tight image.

I went all in, raising it $8,500. My opponent thought about it briefly, then made what most experts would deem to be a bad call with pocket sevens. I figured to have either a high pocket pair or two very large cards. If I had a higher pocket pair, he would be a big underdog (winning less than 20 percent of the time). If I had two overcards, it would be a coin toss (actually, he would be a slight favorite). All in all, he would hardly miss $2,500, but he would not like losing $11,000.

Unfortunately, I lost the "coin toss" and was out. If I had won that hand, I would have had about $24,000 in chips and might have won the event.

Was I too rash in going all in against the chip leader? By simply calling and then folding after the flop, I probably would have finished at least several places higher. But when the antes and blinds get very high, your stack dwindles away quickly, and then you often find yourself in a position in which you have to make a move with not much going for yourself.

My all-in move here had a very good chance for success. I have evaluated that type of situation in the past, and guesstimate that I am taking approximately a one-in-five risk of getting eliminated. An aggressive, frequent before-the-flop raiser usually folds my big reraise well over half the time. And when I get called, I am outgunned or lose as a result of bad luck about half the time.

In this particular case, I was unlucky to lose the coin toss, but was even more unlucky that he called me. If he had folded (as many would), I would have added $4,500 to my stack (which would have given me several rounds to catch another good hand). All in all, my all-in move was probably very sound, as it was unlikely that I would have had a better opportunity later.

The next day in the limit hold'em tournament, after playing for four hours, I thought I was in a classic "harvesting" situation against the chip leader at our table, who had more than $8,000. I had the second-most amount of chips at our table with about $6,000. The blinds were $250-$500.

The action was folded around to the chip leader, who crawled in for $500. On the button and looking at Q-J suited, I also crawled in for $500, as did the small blind. Then, a wonderful flop graced the board, Q-J-3 rainbow. The blinds checked and the chip leader bet $500 into my top two pair. Was this not a golden opportunity? How would you proceed in this position?

In order to take him for as many chips as possible, I just called. Both blinds folded. The turn card was a 9. He bet the $1,000, and according to plan, I raised - but he reraised! I didn't like it, but I was committed with my top two pair. Unfortunately, he had K-10 (for the nut straight) and I did not fill up on the river. I was down to $1,000 and bit the dust on my next blind.

If I had raised after the flop, he certainly would have called to draw to his open-end straight. So, I was destined to lose. Unlucky? Yes - but I could have done better if I had exercised my basic survival skills. I could have lost only $3,000 and then had $3,000 left, which might have allowed me to make a recovery.

One of the skills needed in limit poker tournaments is planning ahead as to just how much you are trying to win vs. how much you can afford to lose. What I did wrong in this hand was fail to realize that the extra $1,000 that I tried to win with a raise was not nearly as important as the extra $2,000 I might lose if he reraised (for example, if he had a set or a straight).

If I had evaluated this specific situation better, I would have been content with calling, expecting to win roughly $4,000 with my top two pair - which would have made me the chip leader at our table. I really could not afford to try to win that extra $1,000 at the risk of possibly losing an extra $2,000 in critically important chips. This concept is frequently overlooked in the momentum of making plays that would seem normal in a live game.

By the way, I have a new "favorite" game. The Bicycle Casino spreads a $6-$12 Omaha high-low game with a kill, featuring an average of about six players seeing the flop. Also, since it is often the highest-limit Omaha game being played at the Bike, it was spread in the "High-Stakes" area, where everything on the Bike's ample food menu is free. It doesn't get much better than that.