It's the
Asian Poker Classic in Goa, India. Right after my first-ever main event at the
Master Classics (which was highly successful for me) and the main event of the
Betfair Asian Poker Tour in Singapore that followed right after that (which was unsuccessful for me), this is my third big tournament in less than a month. We are down to 30 players, with 27 making the money, and I have a slightly above-average stack. First prize is $320,000.
Inexperienced Player Shows Strength
The player on my left, a very tight Spaniard, starts fumbling his chips after having looked at his cards. When he sees that everybody is looking at him, he decides to make a minimum raise from under the gun. Everybody folds to my big blind, and I find a hand that is much better than average: 10-10.
Right from the start, when my neighbor started fumbling his chips, I read him for having a powerhouse, and it had been my intention to fold
very liberally, even with the good price that I now was getting. I especially would try to shy away from potential trouble hands like K-J, K-Q, A-10, A-J, and even A-Q - even with the big blind that I already had invested. (I would liberally have called with small suited connectors, though, for obvious reasons.) But pocket tens is a hand that can flop a monster, because if I happen to flop a set when this opponent has aces or kings, I know that he is liable to go for his entire stack. So, I call, and the flop comes J-4-2 rainbow. I check, and my opponent instantly bets 3,000 into the 5,000 pot. I have 27,000 left and my opponent has 29,000. We are fourth and fifth in the chip count. What should I do?
The Stare-Down Begins
I start staring down my opponent. His quick bet surprises me - as he seems like the type of player who would try to act a little weak with the big hand that I read him having. In other words, considering his tightness and his bad position, he probably would have raised preflop only with tens or better, or A-K, so there are not many hands that I can beat right now. But the way that he looks at me when I start yapping at him, and his seemingly confident smile, tell me that something just doesn't smell right. In fact, his bet smells an awful lot like an unimproved A-K.
I am not 100 percent certain of my read just yet, though, so I do something that I rarely do: I check-call a flop bet from out of position. I then do another thing that I rarely do: I check blind, while intensely looking at my opponent all the time, not even
pretending to watch the turn card. While my opponent is contemplating his move, I start yapping: "Yeah, what now, my friend? Betting again, checking - it's hard, huh? Don't worry, though, if you have pocket aces, you probably still have the best hand." My opponent visibly gets nervous, and then moves all in, 24,000 total. It's a massive overbet of the pot, which
contains just 11,000.
I go into the tank. I see another 4 on the turn, for a board of J-4-2-4, and it's still a rainbow board. I know that based on this player's tightness preflop and his bad position and his body language when he raised, I can beat only one hand: A-K. Against A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and J-J, I am as dead as can be. Also, I know that if I call and am wrong, I'm out. And calling a huge bet against a very tight player when your wired pair is lower than the top card on the board isn't exactly textbook poker.
But, when I again see the sheepish look that my opponent is trying to hide, and the forced smile that is supposed to portray confidence, I decide to go for it. "Well, I can beat only ace-king," I say, "but I hope that you have specifically that: ace-king. So, I call." Sure enough, my opponent tables exactly that hand - A-K.
Tens are Good?
Phew! I table my tens, and hear: "Wow! What a call!" It's coming from not just my fellow players, but also from the spectators who have gathered around our table. I need to dodge just one more card and I will be the chip leader of this event. As thrilled as I am about my spot-on read, when the dealer turns the river card, I am not thrilled anymore. Bang! An ace on the river sends me out - and rewards my opponent's overplayed A-K, suddenly making him the chip leader.
So, without any money or fame, I leave the table. I had gone for the gold by playing the hand the way that I did, knowing that if I happened to be right, I still would have to dodge six outs (and looking at things from the flop onward, six outs twice). And if I were wrong, I would either be drawing dead - against J-J - or close to it (against an overpair to the board). It was not the best of situations to risk one's entire stack, that's for sure. Yet, I did it, and one can claim that I had been very right, getting all of the chips into the middle with the best hand at the time.
But, when I left the table to head back to my hotel room, I can tell you this: It sure didn't
feel very right.
Rolf has been a professional cash-game player since 1998. He is the author of the successful Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha, and the co-author of Hold'em on the Come. He is the creator and presenter of the hold'em four-DVD set, Rolf Slotboom's Winning Plays. He is the first-ever Dutch champion, and maintains his own site at www.rolfslotboom.com.
