Cappelletti in New York

New York is alive. New York has everything. I have heard various negative statements about New York, but the Big Apple simply has whatever you want. I even like just walking along the big, busy streets in the summertime. There's so much to see and do – and buy. And I have finally, after many trips there over the years, obtained my master's degree in subwaymanship (but I still haven't figured out which line to take to get to the stop at 53rd and 7th Avenue). Looking out of a window on the 40th floor of the New York Hilton, I estimated that I could see about a hundred thousand windows in the multitude of other buildings. What a sight!

While attending the 10-day National Bridge Tournament at the Hilton recently, I took a few nights off to play poker. I was sad that the old Mayfair Club and Cavendish Club had closed, but there are some new poker clubs on 72nd, 23rd, and 14th streets. Understand that poker can be played legally only at private clubs – so you must first become a member.

As is the case everywhere else, no-limit hold'em tournaments are becoming more and more popular in New York. I played in one of the nightly no-limit hold'em tournaments at the West 72nd Street club, which usually has six to nine tables with $40 or $50 buy-ins and rebuys for the first hour.

With eight tables in play, I sat for the first 50 minutes without picking up a good hand. In this type of rebuy tournament, it is highly desirable to at least double or triple your starting chip stack before the rebuy period ends. I defended my blind with the J 9 against a frequent preflop raiser with a large stack of chips. The flop came 8-7-4 offsuit, giving me a gutshot-straight draw and three hearts. My opponent led with a $200 bet. I slowly pushed in my stack of more than $800. He thought for a long time and folded.

Two hands later, I picked up A-K suited. An early-position player led with a $200 bet and picked up one caller who was in front of me. I pushed in my stack of more than $1,100, and the raiser slowly called. He turned up A-Q. I was almost a 3-1 favorite, and I managed to double up. Calling a big raise with an A-Q is usually a dubious move, since a big raiser often has a high pair or an A-K.

An hour and a half later, I was one of the final 10 players, and was coasting along with my $15,000 in chips, which was about the second- or third-largest stack. I looked down at pocket kings. An early-position player with a slightly shorter stack than I had raised it to $1,600 with about $1,400 already in the pot (the blinds were $300-$600 and there was another $500 in antes). Of course, playing no-limit, my first inclination was to push in my stack. But, that was somewhat inconsistent with my big-stack-play-it-safe strategy. When I'm riding a big stack, I strongly prefer not risking most of it in a preflop confrontation. For example, if I went all in against a typical ace holding, I would lose almost 30 percent of the time.

But in this scenario, it was right to go all in, because I would win a lot more than 70 percent of the time. Unless he had a high pair or A-K, he would often fold to my all-in raise – which would give me the $3,000 pot without further risk. And at this stage (with $15,000), another $3,000 would be quite acceptable.

In many early or midtournament situations, when I am struggling to acquire chips, I am often willing to gamble and "go for it" by playing more slowly with pocket aces or kings to widen the field and increase the size of the pot. But once you have acquired a big, "comfortable" stack, it is more important to keep it than to take unnecessary risks to make it bigger. Thus, it is more strategically sound to "take out insurance" and play as safely as practical to ensure a win than it is to try to set up a risky bigger win that might result in a big loss. He who stays comfortable the longest usually wins the tournament.

The raiser thought for a while and then called with his remaining $11,000. He turned up A-Q – another dubious call that was a big underdog. The flop came with two low cards and a king. I thought I had won. But, the last two cards were a 10 and a jack, which gave him a straight. So, I lost most of my chips – and a couple of hands later, I was out 10th. Although I certainly think my all-in raise was correct in that situation, it would have turned out better if I had been "safe" and just called before the flop, and then made a medium or big bet after the flop. Food for thought.