Laying Down Big Hands

As I mentioned in my last column, I placed 15th in the Doyle Brunson Classic, a WPT event held at Bellagio. Not only would it have been great to win my father's tournament, but the first prize was $2.5 million! This is one of the biggest tournaments in the world outside the World Series of Poker. I had to settle for a little less than $100,000 as a consolation prize, unfortunately.

This was a great tourney. Jack McClelland started us with 30,000 in chips without starting the limits at 1,000-2,000 right off the bat. We also had 90-minute levels, so there was a lot of play. This was no all-in donkeyfest, which many formerly great events have become.

While I usually advocate an aggressive gambling style in tournaments, this type of tournament requires a more laid-back, selective style. Now, I'm not saying that you should play passively; I'm just saying that you have more time to pick your spots, so you should take it. I laid down more hands in this tournament than I have in the past year, literally.

That's what this column is about, laying down big hands. It's tough to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, especially in a slow-paced tourney like this one.

I usually believe that when faced with a decision in a tournament, you're always better off erring on the play side (calling or raising) as opposed to the laydown side. You normally don't have much time, and may never see another big hand again before the antes eat you up.

This is what I hate about contemporary tournament poker. Any idiot who is aggressive enough can win a tournament with minimal poker-playing skill. Ever notice that many of these tournament champs get eaten alive in the side (real) games? Hopefully, tournaments such as this will set the bar; slow down the tournaments and let us play real poker, instead of just moving all in.

Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, let's get back to my laydowns and why I made them. To start, let's qualify a big laydown. I think that anytime you lay down a big pair, that's obviously a big laydown. I consider a big pair to be aces, kings, and queens. Not only do I not consider jacks a big pair, I think queens are pushing it.

Middle pairs can be a big laydown late in the tournament, especially when you have a lot of money already invested in the pot. In the early and middle stages of a tournament, I believe you should be trying to see flops cheaply with these hands and not gambling. Therefore, I don't think throwing them away is usually any big deal.

A-K (preflop) is a whole story unto itself. If I ever manage to get my book out, I'm going to devote an entire chapter to this hand. Late in a tournament, when the blinds are high, I think this hand can almost never be correctly laid down; you must play it. In the middle stages, it's still a big hand, but it's possible to get away from it if you have enough chips. Early on, it's nowhere near the hand it will be later, and can easily be mucked.

Let's start my laydowns with this: I mucked A-K offsuit three times in the early limits. All three times, it was raised and reraised in front of me. Once, it was even a player I consider to be a goofball who made the second raise. I could have gambled here, but with no antes and the blinds relatively small, I just didn't see the need. I figured I'd either miss the flop or hit an ace or a king, in which case I'd likely get no action unless I was beat (or they were in with a good draw to beat me). It's just not worth it at this point, in my opinion.

Toward the middle of the first day, with the blinds at 300-600, I raised to 1,800 with A-K offsuit. I was reraised to 5,000 from the big blind and I called. The flop came K-Q-6 rainbow. My opponent bet out 5,000, a little less than half the pot.

I had about 45,000 and he had me covered, so this was a pretty small bet. Was he weak or trying to suck me in? I could raise here and try to find out where I was, but sometimes a call is scarier than a raise, so that's what I did.

The turn card was a blank and he fired out again, this time 15,000. This was starting to get serious. If I stick in close to 40 percent of my chips here with a made hand, I'm committed. I'm either going to raise here and find out, or possibly just call, in which case I'm calling the river no matter what.

This is a very close call. It's hard to lay down A-K after flopping a pair. On the other hand, he did reraise me preflop, so a big pair was likely. However, most people consider tens and higher big pairs, so he may have jacks or tens and just be continuing through with his betting. In this case, I could beat tens and jacks, while losing to aces, queens, and the off chance that he had the two case kings.

A-K was another possibility. And if we throw A-Q in the mix, I beat most combinations. Now, if we throw in the random reraise with, say, 6-5 suited, I beat the vast majority of hands.

If the pressure was on, I probably would have had to call this hand. But keep in mind what I discussed earlier; this was a slow-paced tourney and I'd still have 40,000 if I mucked this hand. I was sure that I could find a better spot, so I released my A-K and he later told me that he had two aces.

I know that he could have been lying, but I tend to believe him. You see, I did have a little more info to help me with this analysis. Earlier, he had made a big raise and was shaking uncontrollably. When he was called, he had the nut straight. Against me, when I stalled a long time, he was breathing so hard that I was afraid he might have a heart attack.

Later, he tried a big bluff in which he fired on all three streets. He was as cool as a cucumber; go figure. Watching my opponents paid off in spades here. Remember, if you're willing to play in a big event like this, you'd better be willing to pay more than $15,000, and you'd better be willing to pay attention! We'll get to more laydowns in my next column.