Jack Binion World Poker Open -- Part II

On day two of the championship event at the Jack Binion World Poker Open, nothing too interesting happened. My stack continued to increase and I ended the day with $141,500, which put me right in the middle of the pack; with 27 players remaining, I sat in 15th place.



Entering day three I was really out of practice with fast paced tournaments. I hadn't played a supersatellite in years, and most of the big buy-in events I played in 2004 had slow structures, which gave the players lots of time to play and plenty of room to maneuver. Unfortunately, this event was an exception to the rule. We saw huge jumps in the structure that forced the players to play one-step poker. There was no room to take flops, as we were reduced to two-card poker, and that was never my strong suit.



Normally, the blinds in these big events go something like this:

$200-$400

$300-$600

$400-$800

$500-$1,000

$600-$1,200

$800-$1,600

$1,000-$2,000



However, in this event, the blinds escalated like this:

$200-$400

$300-$600

$500-$1,000

$800-$1,600

$1,000-$2,000



That's two full levels of play late in a tournament, which added up to three hours of playing time. I knew what I was getting into when I entered, though, so complaining wasn't going to do me any good. Instead, I decided to make the necessary adjustments and try to get it done "Juanda style," by making good reads preflop and not making any sloppy calls with suited connectors. I personally find this form of poker to be a little boring, but a man's got to do what a man's got to do!



So, with the blinds at $3,000-$6,000 and 21 players left, a middle-position player made it $18,000 to go. Equipped with my new raise-or-fold mindset, I looked down at A-Q in late position and made it $48,000. My opponent called, and we took the flop heads up. The flop came Q-8-7 rainbow. My opponent checked, and with $77,000 left, I decided to bet $35,000. My opponent quickly check-raised me all in, and I was obviously forced to call.



He flipped up K-Q and I was in great shape to double up. A queen on the turn and an 8 on the river, though, resulted in our having to chop up the pot with queens full. Now, you should know by now that I don't just randomly tell bad-beat stories, but this hand set up the hand that I would like to share with you.



A few hands later, I raised to $15,000 from early position with Q-J offsuit. The same player who just chopped the pot with me put in another $9,000 to see the flop from the big blind. The flop came K-10-5 rainbow. My opponent led right out at me, betting $20,000.



I had an open-end straight draw, but I wasn't about to just move all in without more information. My first instinct led me to believe that my opponent had a 10, a small pair, or even a hand like A-Q or A-J. I just called



The turn card missed me completely; it was a deuce. Now, my opponent checked to me, and I was faced with an interesting dilemma. I had $97,000 in front of me, and there was already $80,000 in the pot. Since my opponent checked, I was pretty certain that my read was correct, that he didn't have a king. He must have flopped a pair of tens or a straight draw, I figured.



So, rather than just check and take a free card, I tried to steal the pot by betting $30,000, leaving me with $67,000. Of course, if he check-raised me, I'd have to call, but by betting only $30,000, I gave myself a chance to keep it if I missed on the river.



I was hoping that my opponent would fold, and was really disappointed when he made the call. He didn't check-raise me, which I thought was strange. Could he have Q-J, also? Maybe. At that point, my mind was racing, trying to decide whether or not I should follow through on my bluff, when the dealer turned over the river card 9-ball, corner pocket! Now I didn't care what he had, as I'd made the nut straight.



My opponent checked, and I moved all in for $67,000. He called and turned over K-Q. Yikes! Was I ever in bad shape before the river. In hindsight, I played the hand horribly, but one valuable lesson I once learned from Doyle Brunson's Super/System was, "When you are bluffing, always have an out." In this case I had eight outs, and while my read was wrong and my bet was incorrect, lady luck was on my side and I was off to the races!



More next time.



Read Daniel's daily journal at his website: www.fullcontactpoker.com.