Monday Morning Quarterback

As I tour around as a commentator on the World Poker Tour, I'm often asked, "What is the most interesting hand you've seen on the World Poker Tour?" Well, there are numerous unique hands that have been played on the WPT, but the one that intrigued me the most (because of the players involved in the pot and the crucial time it happened) occurred at Jack Binion's World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi.

With four players remaining, it was crunch time. The players – Barry Greenstein, Chip Reese, Randy Jensen, and James Tippin – could smell victory. They all were seeking a coveted WPT title and the first-place prize money of nearly $1.3 million, the largest in the history of the WPT at that time.

Reese was the short stack with about $280,000, with the other three players over $1 million. The antes were $2,000 and the blinds were $10,000-$20,000. Jensen was on the button, Tippin was in the small blind, Greenstein was in the big blind, and Reese was the first to act.

With the blinds about to go up, Reese decided to move all in for $281,000. He later told me that he didn't want to raise it to $80,000 and then fold his hand if someone moved in on him. Jensen folded and Tippin looked down and found two queens. He called the $281,000 all-in bet of Reese, leaving himself with $970,000.

Greenstein, the slight chip leader at this time, looked down and found a big hand, the A K. What would you do here – call, raise, or fold? Greenstein opted to go "over the top" and move all in. By doing so, he put Tippin to the test of whether or not he wanted to play for all of his chips.

If you were Tippin, what would you do now? After considerable thought (and rightfully so), Tippin decided to "go for it," and called Greenstein. He was the favorite at this point, especially since Reese had a king in his hand. Tippin's fate, however, wasn't good, as the flop came A-K-6, followed by an 8 on the turn and an ace on the river, giving Greenstein the nuts of aces full of kings.

It was the first time in WPT history that two players were eliminated on the same hand with four players remaining in the tournament. This hand was obviously the key hand of the tournament. Greenstein went on to win ($1.25 million), Jensen finished second ($656,000), Tippin was third ($328,000) because he started the hand with more chips than Reese, and Reese finished fourth ($207,000).

The real fun of the post-hand analysis is playing "What if?" What if Reese hadn't moved in? Chances are that Tippin and Greenstein would have clashed and Reese would have lived on with three players left. What if Tippin had moved all in immediately? Would Greenstein have called? I asked him this later, and he told me he would have folded had Tippin moved all in after Chip did. And notice that had that happened, Reese would have won the pot with kings! And if Tippin had folded to the reraise by Greenstein, obviously, with nearly $1 million in chips, he still would have been in good shape with three players left. What do you think of how the play went?

Here's my analysis of the hand:

1. I tend to like Reese's all-in play in this situation. He forced his opponents to pick up a hand. Unfortunately for him, they did.

2. I thought Tippin made a great call with the two queens, rather than moving all in.

3. I liked the over-the-top all-in bet by Greenstein.

4. I did not like Tippin's call of Greenstein's all-in reraise. Yes, you may be saying, "He made a great call, you idiot. He was the favorite!" As it turned out, Tippin was the favorite, but I don't believe he analyzed the situation correctly.

In my mind, for sure, there are only three hands that Greenstein could have here to come over the top: two aces, two kings, and A-K (possibly). I can't see him ever reraising with a worse hand in this situation. And there is no way he can be making a move here, giving Chip Reese, whom I'm sure he thought was his most dangerous opponent, the chance to triple up. Thus, in my mind, two queens here would figure to be a big dog much of the time.

As I said, I loved Tippin's call of Reese's $281,000 bet with the two queens, but only if he folded them if Greenstein came over the top, which he didn't. If you call initially with queens and are also going to call an all-in reraise with them, you're better off just going ahead and moving all in immediately. The bottom line is that I think you should call Reese's all-in bet with the queens, just so you can fold them in case Greenstein moves all in behind you (which he did).

Monday morning quarterbacking is more frequent (and fun) in poker than in football. The difference is that in poker, you can learn from it.

Take care.

Mike Sexton is the host for PartyPoker.com and a commentator for the World Poker Tour, which can be seen on the Travel Channel every Wednesday.