Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Anthony Spinella

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Craig Tapscott: Lay out this final table for us.

Anthony "holdplz" Spinella: I'm third of six players, and the prize money ranges from $91,500 for first to $21,500 for sixth. The chip leader, "Whooookidd," who is a very good, aggressive player, is on my left. One player has been playing very, very tight but aggressively, and the other players were playing fairly standard poker, considering their stack sizes. Also, I had no time bank, which rushed me a fair amount throughout this final table, including during this hand.

I have the K 10 under the gun with 35 big blinds, so I decide to open. Three of the five stacks behind were resteal-type stacks, ranging from 20 to 23 BBs (big blinds), so I don't typically open here light. However, based primarily on ICM (Independent Chip Model) and the pay jumps, as well as hoping for at least a little respect since I'm opening from under the gun, and also that 20-plus BBs is a substantial amount to reshove light with, I thought that this was a good spot to open, regardless of what hand I had.

CT: Explain what you mean by reshove stacks. And if there were a 10- to 15-BB stack behind you, would you still make this raise?

AS: When someone has a 15- to 20-BB stack, it's typically denoted as a reshove stack. This is because it's an effective stack to be shove-raising all in over someone's open. With 15-20 BBs, you have fold equity against any standard open of two to three times the big blind, so if someone has been opening too much, taking a marginal hand and reshoving it over a likely light opening bet may be a good idea.

Now, with 10- to 15-BB stacks behind, I'm not sure what I would do. As I said, the pay jumps are going to tighten them up a bit, but that's a pretty small stack and they may be willing to gamble. I would probably raise and call any 10- to 13-BB stacks and fold to any 15-BB stacks, but also probably open and fold if there are two or three stacks of approximately 15 BBs behind, mainly because people are just way more willing to gamble with about 15 BBs than 20 or more.

Holdplz raises to 95,250. Whooookidd smooth-calls.

CT: What's your immediate take on this call?

AS: Well, he's sitting on about 72 big blinds. I think he's flat-calling with something like 7-7+, A-Q suited, A-J suited, A-10 suited, K-J+ suited, A-Q offsuit, A-J offsuit, or K-Q offsuit, but maybe slightly tighter because of the stacks behind.

CT: Do you have any read on this opponent?

AS: We played a few pots together late in this tourney, one hand in particular. I opened from under the gun, he flat-called, and we got down to the river and I check-folded to his shove; other than that, just little, meaningless pots. He knows I'm an aggressive, thinking player, and likewise, so is he. He likes to flat [flat-call] some marginal hands preflop a tad more than others, but justifiably so, as he plays very well post-flop, and having position on me and the chip lead, he is very likely to be putting a lot of pressure on me.

Flop: Q J 3 (pot: 274,500)

Holdplz checks.

AS: I actually tank-checked. I was unsure of what I was going to do, and was thinking about bet-sizing, and so on. However, before I could decide, in fear of timing out and with no time bank, I mashed the check button. Now, I should have just led out about 140,000 and either double-barreled strongly if he flatted or three-bet shoved if he raised.

Whooookidd checks.

AS: At this point, he can still have almost his entire preflop range, although he may bet with Q-Q, J-J, and A-Q (I think), and also probably K-Q, but that may check behind.

Turn: 8 (pot: 274,500)

CT: After the [quick] flop check, how do you play it now?

AS: Now, after I misplayed the flop, I am lost on the turn. I don't really like check-calling, so I revert to what my flop plan should've been - bet/three-bet. However, at this point, I'm simply compounding mistakes, as I expect him to be bluffing the flop with a bet far more than bluff-raising a turn lead. I just don't think he'll have air with only one card to come. I probably don't have enough equity against whatever it is he's raising with to be shoving, so if I'm going to bet, I should probably be betting smallish and folding to a raise.

Holdplz bets 160,000. Whooookidd calls.

CT: Does this smooth-call help you to define his hand at all?

AS: I'm not too sure what he has at this point - something like A-J, K-Q, A-10, especially if the K-Q or A-10 are suited hearts. After he checked behind on the flop, I was expecting to be called here a lot; however, I planned on double-barreling a lot of rivers.

CT: Putting yourself in his shoes, what range of hands is he putting you on for you to make this bet on the turn?

AS: I'm not too sure. I feel like I can have my entire preflop range here, as I could have been going to check-raise the flop with a lot of hands. The only hands I'm c-betting [continuation-betting] almost 100 percent of the time are probably A-10, K-K, and A-A, so my range on the turn here can be fairly wide. At a quick glance, something like A-A, J-J to 2-2, A-10+ suited, K-10+ suited, Q-10+ suited, J-10 suited, A-10+ offsuit, K-J+ offsuit, and Q-J offsuit.

River: K (pot: 594,500)

CT: You've hit, but I'm sure you're still concerned.

AS: Yes. I've rivered top pair and it improved my hand, but it also fills his A-10, K-J, K-Q hands. There's approximately 600,000 in the pot, and I have more than 1,100,000 behind. I decide to lead out with …

Holdplz bets 280,000.

AS: I'm going for sort of a thin value-bet against any A-Q or A-J hands still left, but …

Whooookidd moves all in.

CT: You have to be beat, right?

AS: Well, at this point, I have to assume he's value-betting with K-J, K-Q, or A-10, and I have to fold. I just don't see what he can be bluffing with when shoving here, especially once he checks back the flop and flat-calls the turn. In that there are only two hands he can call me with that I beat, check-folding may even have been the best choice at this point, as he's going to check behind the A-Q or A-J and value-bet his greater than one-pair hands.

Holdplz folds. Whooookidd wins the pot of 874,500.

CT: What mistakes did you make in this hand, and how would you have played it differently if you could?

AS: Right off the bat, lead the flop. That was certainly the biggest mistake I made in this hand, as it led to compounding mistakes on every street. I also hadn't thought through my plan on the turn, and had he raised me, I probably would've spew shoved. And on the river, going for thin value was probably a mistake, as there were simply more hands he could have that call me and win than call and lose.

Anthony Spinella started playing multitable tournaments during his freshman year of college and maintained a bankroll of a couple hundred dollars with $3-$6 limit cash games. He climbed the levels slowly after transferring to SUNY Albany and meeting mentor "Jordankickz." He then won a $300 freezeout for $16,000, and two weeks later, he took second in the PokerStars $215 event for $93,000. Most recently, Spinella captured the Full Tilt Poker (FTP) $750,000-guaranteed event for $133,000, and the FTP $1,000 event for $101,000. He has competed in several European Poker Tour events and is looking forward to turning 21 in June 2009, for the World Series of Poker.