Cappelletti in Tunica

While attending a large annual bridge tournament in Tunica, Mississippi, I chose to stay at the Grand Casino Hotel, which has a poker room that hosts daily poker tournaments. Tunica is a little town that has about 10 major casinos "on the Mississippi River." It is located about a half-hour's drive from the Memphis, Tennessee, airport, and is far north of the southern coastal areas of Mississippi, where many casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.



In the Grand's Tuesday night no-limit hold'em tournament ($130 buy-in with one optional $100 rebuy/add-on), with two tables remaining, I posted my $600 big blind and was delighted to be looking at pocket kings. One of the other chip leaders, with more than $30,000 in chips, who had been betting and raising very aggressively, made it $2,000 to go.



Everyone folded around to me. What would you do with pocket kings here?



When playing against another chip leader, your first strategic decision is whether you want to play the hand big or small. Although you would normally prefer to defer major confrontations to when there are only a few players left and you are already safely in the money, this may well be the best hand you pick up for the rest of the tournament. Having pocket kings against a preflop raiser clearly is a potential golden opportunity. Make hay while the sun is shining, but how do you make hay here?



Rather than make a big reraise, which might cause him to fold, I decided to simply trap/call and slug it out head-to-head. Note that the main tactical advantage of not reraising in this situation, where I am at the disadvantage of acting first, is that it is very likely that an aggressive preflop raiser will bet after the flop.



Of course, the main disadvantage of trapping with kings before the flop is that there will be an ace in the flop about one time in five (actually, it's about 22 percent likely, or only 18 percent likely if you assume your opponent has an ace). I was pleased to see an aceless flop, a J-6-3 rainbow. Thus, the hay-making sun was still shining, and I certainly figured to have the best hand. According to plan, I checked to him. He bet, but only $2,000. What would you do now?



I was quite disappointed that he didn't bet more. But, I clearly had to make a good-size raise, since he might well have an ace or a lower pair than my kings, and I didn't want to give him a bargain-rate turn card. How much should I raise?



Did you note to yourself that there might be a problem here? Why did he bet only $2,000? If he missed the flop, he might have bet more, hoping I would fold. If he had top pair (jacks) with a big kicker, he probably would have bet more – say, at least $3,000 or $4,000 – to either make me fold or make me pay to try to outdraw him at bad odds. Otherwise put, a mere $2,000 here to see the next card was clearly a "bargain," since I would be getting more than 3-1 pot odds on my money, and even better implied odds (I might win even more if I hit).



It is important for you to judge and categorize opponents as either "good players" or as those who bet random amounts. This sort of "toying" bet tends to keep opponents in the pot. When made by a good player, it probably means he has either a very big hand (and he's making it easier for an opponent to call or raise) or some sort of small hand. A good player also might bet a mere $2,000 as a "probing" bet, which is some sort of test bet or psychological bet, perhaps with a hand that he likes just a little.



In any case, if you assume that he is not merely making a random bet, and that he has either a very big hand or a small hand, it would be quite logical for you to counter by raising a large enough amount to make him fold all the small hands, but not too large in case he reraises a big amount and you might want to fold. Thus, an appropriate raise of this $2,000 bet would be about $5,000, which would probably cause him to fold with a mediocre hand.



So, I check-raised $5,000. If he came back at me, going all in, I might have to fold.



He hemmed and hawed and looked very indecisive. Finally, he called. From my past knowledge of how he played, I strongly suspected that he held something like J-10 or Q-J, perhaps suited. The turn card was a brick deuce, although there were now two hearts on the board. What would you do now in my position?



I was quite sure that I had him beat. There was about $19,000 in the pot and I wanted it now. I certainly did not want him to see the last card, if possible. Thus, going all in here seemed to be crystal clear. So, I pushed in my remaining $22,000. He didn't like it. He thought for at least a full minute, then shrugged his shoulders and called. He then showed K-J! With the king kicker, he had only two outs, instead of what might have been five. So, I really liked my chances. Clearly, I had done well.



But, a jack appeared on the river and I was out instead of being in great position to win the tournament! But at least I had the consolation of knowing I had played the hand well and that the operation was a success – even though the patient died.