Borgata Poker Open - Part I

Walking into the Borgata tournament area this year was a rather surreal experience, especially in comparison to last year's event. It was a little bizarre, actually. There were lights flashing, music playing, and concession stands; it had the look and feel of a rock concert.



When the tournament got under way, the music stopped, the lights went back to normal, and it was poker as usual.



Well, it wasn't exactly as usual, as the Borgata Poker Open offers an awesome structure that starts you off with $20,000 in chips and blinds of $25-$50. With a deep amount of chips like that, it really benefits the better players.



My plan was to chop away all day long and build up my stack slowly and steadily. With that much in chips, there was no need for silly, unnecessary risks.



Well, on the very first hand dealt, everyone folded to me in the small blind, and I picked up the Q Q. I made it $150 to go, hoping the big blind would call, and he did.



The flop was perfect for me, 8 5 2. I went ahead and bet $250, and the player in the big blind – a young guy in a baseball cap whom I'd never seen before – made it $600 to go.



He raised me rather quickly and looked a little nervous, so my instincts had me thinking that I wasn't up against a flopped set or two pair.



While his raise worried me a little bit, I wasn't about to shut down with my overpair, so I reraised him to $1,800 – and he called.



The turn brought the J, completing the possible flush, but also giving me a flush draw. With $3,900 already in the pot, I thought the best move would be to make an assertive bet, so I bet $2,800, half hoping to win it right there and half hoping to get a loose call from a worse hand. My opponent called, and at that point I was a little worried that I didn't have the best hand at all.



If he was capable of raising me on the turn when the flush card hit, my plan was to lay down my Q-Q. After all, for him to raise me on the flop and then raise me again on the turn, the likelihood of him having an ace- or king-high flush was reasonable. The fact that he just called me on the turn didn't rule out the possibility that he made the flush, but had he raised the turn, it would have made it more likely.



The river brought the 9, and this is where my decision became a little trickier. If I checked, my opponent might view that as a sign of weakness and possibly make a big bluff at me. Or, he might have me beat and make a large bet, putting me to a tough decision.



So, instead of giving up the lead, I decided to make a half-value/half-defensive bet of $3,600; value in hope of getting paid off by a worse pair than mine, and defensive in that I might be forced to call a much larger bet if I checked.



A bet like this is a pretty common tool, but it isn't talked about too much in the literature. Generally, a bet on the river has a clear purpose: It's either a bluff or a value bet. However, a bet like this is one in which you are doing more than just value betting; you also are protecting yourself, or saving yourself money in many cases in which you may have been forced to check and call a large river bet.



Well, my opponent quickly called and I turned over my Q-Q. He hesitated for a moment and flipped over two black kings!



In retrospect, I think the youngster played the hand very well, especially in a deep-stack tournament. He set a trap before the flop, but didn't overplay his hand after that. When the board got ugly for his K-K, he wasn't about to just throw them away, but he made sure to minimize his loss if he was in fact beat.



In some ways you could say that this hand played itself, but that's true only if you are dealing with two knowledgeable players.



As for me and my chances to repeat as the Borgata champion, this first hand put a serious dent in my starting stack, costing me $8,350 of my $20,000. That's the bad news, but the good news was that thanks to a great structure, I was still in good shape with more than $11,000 in chips and the blinds at $25-$50.



For the next round or so, I couldn't help but think of ways that I could have lost less with the hand. The only conclusion I came up with was that I could have checked the river and folded to a bet. However, the one significant problem with that strategy lies in the fact that I had no information on my opponent. If I folded the winner on the river, it would have been a more damaging mistake than losing the extra $3,600 that I lost on the river.



In the next issue, I'll share with you more from the Borgata Poker Open. In fact, a situation came up that I'd never been involved in personally in the 14 years I've been playing. I'll give you a hint: It involves two kings!

Read Daniel's blog at http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/.