What Were They Thinking?

I recently played a no-limit hold'em World Series of Poker event that had a $1,000 buy-in. There were no big-name players at my table, but several of my opponents were playing a very solid game. A play came up that I will never understand; hence, the title of this column, "What Were They Thinking?"

Here are the circumstances: It was the second round of play and the blinds were $25-$50. Player A, under the gun, made it $150 to go. Player B, who had played nothing but solid hands, raised to $500. Player C, who had nothing invested in this pot, moved all in for around $1,000. This is a situation where Player C is going to get called by someone, probably Player B, nearly 100 percent of the time. The original raiser, Player A, folded. Player B did not like his hand that much, and thought about it for a while and then called the additional $500. Player B would be short-stacked if he lost, but still alive. Player B turned over pocket jacks, and Player C turned over K-4 offsuit. Unless he had a cab to catch, what in the world was Player C trying to make? Of course, anyone can get lucky and win with a play of this nature, but don't quit your day job if you play like this. What was the result? Well, this time justice was served and Player C headed for the exit.

My next example of bizarre play occurred in the same tournament, and my friend Dr. Paul Fischman was involved in the pot. Paul is a very solid player, and one of my best students. He is also very aggressive, and when the situation demands it, he is not afraid to put all of his chips in the pot, even against the chip leader.

It was later in the tournament, and the blinds were $300-$600 with a $75 ante. Paul had around $16,000 in chips, and the chip leader at the table had around $17,000. The chip leader made it $1,800 to go from under the gun. Everyone folded around to Paul, and he looked down and saw pocket kings. He then made it $8,000 to go. Everyone else folded back to the chip leader, and he moved all in. This is a situation where it should be obvious to everyone at the table that Paul has a real hand, and has no intention of backing down, especially with 50 percent of his chips already in the pot. Paul called immediately. His opponent turned over the 9 80. The flop came with two nines, and Paul headed for the exit. If he had won that pot, he would have been one of the top chip leaders in the entire tournament. Of course, his opponent thought he had made a brilliant play, because he was stacking up the chips.

Think about how bad this play really was. Paul was the only player at the table who could nearly bust him. Raising with a 9-8 suited from under the gun is a little risky, but not terrible if you have a lot of chips and want to mix up your play. However, when a solid opponent puts in 50 percent of his stack, you can believe the rest is going in. Why put your entire tournament life on the line with 9 high when you don't have to? This guy was either a maniac or has been watching too much poker on television.

My last example occurred in a recent major tournament, and my friend and co-author T.J. Cloutier was the victim. T.J. was playing a solid game in the middle stages of a tournament at Mandalay Bay. He wasn't catching many good cards, but finally woke up with pocket jacks. He raised the pot, and one player called him from the button. T.J. had raised from early position, everybody else had folded, and this player was getting no price for his hand whatsoever. If his hand was at all marginal, like a small pair or suited connectors, all he had going for himself was position, and he was up against one of the greatest players of all time. The flop came 5-5-4 of mixed suits. T.J. made a pot-size bet of around $5,000, and his opponent immediately moved all in on him. T.J. carefully thought the hand through. He did not think his opponent was slow-playing a big pair, so the only hand T.J. could put him on was another 5. T.J. folded, and his opponent turned over the 6 5. T.J., like a lot of other famous players, has a bull's-eye painted on his forehead. There would be no other reason to go up against a top player like that with 6 high when heads up. Again, either he was headhunting or watching too much televised poker.

If our big pairs can avoid getting drawn out on by wild players, we can meet soon in the winner's circle.

Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars.com. He is also the voice of ProPlay, a new and innovative way to learn winning poker strategy. Find out more at www.ProPlayLive.com/tommcevoy.