An Early Hand from Reno

I've been running low on material for my Card Player column due to all of my recent exits in $10,000 buy-in events. Frankly, most of the tournaments I've played have seemed uneventful, as I've been unable to muster up a big stack of chips on day one. It's been quite a while since I've been able to cruise through day one of a tournament as one of the leaders.

In Reno, I felt pretty good about my start in the tournament. It was only level two, but hey, I was still in! I hadn't really seen much of a hand until the following took place:

With the blinds at $50-$100, an under-the-gun player made it $300 to go. I'd been paying close attention to this player and noticed that he was raising a lot of hands from any position, so I didn't think he necessarily had a premium hand in this situation.

Two players called the $300, and Pete Lawson, a young "up-and-comer," as they say, was one of those callers. I looked down at pocket jacks in the big blind. Now, this is normally a calling situation in which I'm hoping to flop a set. However, with some aggressive players in the pot, I was a little worried that I may get bluffed out if the flop came with any overcards, so I decided to just take the pot right there.

I made it $1,300 to go, which seemed like more than enough to win it unless the first raiser actually had a legitimate hand. I'm not sure if he actually had a legitimate hand or not, but he called the raise, as did the other two players.

The flop came K-9-5 rainbow - the kind of flop that makes a hand like pocket jacks so tough to play, especially from out of position. I decided to check and see what developed. Everyone checked around to Pete, who was last to act.

With $5,250 in the pot, Pete bet $1,700. Something about the bet just didn't "smell right" to me. I sensed that he was just making a power play, trying to pick up the pot. The problem for me was that there were two other players in the pot who could still check-raise. I decided to call, and both of the other players folded, leaving me heads up with Pete.

The turn brought a 4, and I checked to Pete. This time he bet $2,300, and while I thought about raising, I decided to just call. I was having a tough time believing that he had flopped a set or that he had a pair of kings. The river brought an ace, and I checked again.

This time, Pete hesitated for a moment, and I could see the wheels turning in his head. It seemed to me that he was thinking about whether or not he should bluff at it one more time. He'd powered his way through the hand thus far, and saw no aggression from me from the flop onward. Finally, he bet, but it was a rather small bet of $2,600.

While I thought there was a chance that he had aces up, I had a tough time convincing myself that he would bet again on the river with just a pair of kings. If I called and lost, I'd have just a few chips left. Something about the hand smelled fishy to me, though, so I called. Pete tapped the table, saying, "You got it." He later told me that he had 7-6, a gutshot-straight draw on the flop that became open-ended on the turn.

Now, while Pete's river bet screamed of being a value bet, there were too many clues that led me to call, aside from any physical tells that I may have picked up:

1. With what kind of hand would he call $300, and then call $1,000 more after two callers? Pete's a good player, so I don't think he would have called the reraise with K-J or K-Q, fearing that he'd be dominated. It was much more likely that he held a small pocket pair or a suited connector.

2. He was in last position. It looked like a good opportunity to pick up the pot on the flop. After all, I checked the flop, which made it appear that I was either restealing preflop, playing a smaller pair than kings, or was setting a trap. He bet only $1,700, giving him a great price to try to steal the $5,250 already in there.

3. The ace on the river. His bet was too small to be value-betting a set or aces up. Surely, with an ace and a king out there, he didn't think I'd call with a smaller pair, so why not go for a bigger bet, hoping that I hit the ace (if he could beat it, that is)? His betting the ace on the river made it even less likely that he held just a pair of kings. It was either a set, aces and kings, or a random bluff that hit an ace on the river.

I'm not sure what I would have done had Pete moved all in on the river, but the price he laid me was just too good to pass up. That pretty much summed things up in Reno; I kept my streak intact, going broke later that day. The only time I made it out of day one this year in a tournament, I went all the way to the number-one spot. On the other days, I've had to make a flight change every time!

You can read Daniel's blog and play poker with him at www.fullcontactpoker.com.