Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Dave 'D'Alesandro

Want to study real poker hands with the Internet's most successful players? In this series, Card Player offers hand analysis with online poker's leading talent.

Craig Tapscott: At what point are we in this tournament?

Dave "doubledave22" D'Alesandro: There are 10 people left and we're sitting five-handed. The action folds around to me in the small blind.

Doubledave22 raises to 60,000 with the A K. Villain calls from the big blind.

Flop: 6 3 3 (pot: 130,000)

Doubledave22 checks.

CT: You're out of position and have whiffed this flop. Do you c-bet [continuation-bet] here? This is a common situation in MTTs [multitable tournaments]. Can you share all the possible options in this spot?

DD: Well, I can standard continuation-bet here for around half the pot, but I decided to check, for a few reasons. First of all, this flop is very, very dry. I know it misses my opponent a very large percentage of the time, but he will know that it also misses my range a large percentage of the time. Here, my hand has a good amount of showdown value, since the flop has likely missed my opponent and I have the best unpaired hand you can have. Lastly, by checking, I can induce a lot of bluffs from hands that I beat at this point.

Villain bets 60,000; doubledave22 calls.

Turn: 5 (pot: 250,000)

DD: The 5 really doesn't change a whole lot in the hand. It opens up a few straight draws and flush draws, with the only new hand beating me now that didn't before being 5-4, and maybe 7-4 or 4-2.

Doubledave22 checks. Villain bets 140,000.

CT: Is he continuing his bluff here by firing a second barrel? What does this bet look like to you?

DD: I felt like he made this bet wanting me to fold. It was larger than half the pot rather than smaller than half the pot, as on the flop. I had to think about what types of hands he would have and want me to just go away on this board (that also beat me).

Potential hands could be 4-4, maybe 2-2, 7-7 or higher, and some hands like A-5 and A-6, as well as a few other combinations like 7-5, 7-6, and so on. I can rule out 7-7+ a good amount of the time, because I think he would be reraising me preflop, especially with 9-9+. I'm not sure about 7-7 or 8-8. The other hands, such as 4-4, 2-2, and dry fives and sixes, could possibly show up here, but I also felt there was an equal chance that he had two unpaired overcards.

With the price he was giving me (140,000 to win 390,000), I felt like he was bluffing more than enough times here to justify calling.

Doubledave22 calls.

River: 2 (pot: 530,000)

DD: There are now no more hands that beat me on the river that didn't beat me on the turn: 2-2 still has me, and 5-4 still has me. The only hand would be A-2, and I really feel that A-2 would give up and check the turn, hoping to hit or have the best hand. Also, I don't think A-2 would bet the river, so I don't have to worry about losing more, either.

Villain bets 220,000.

CT: Three barrels. Is Villain for real here? A-K can be such a trouble hand. Calling with A-K all the way to the river is a situation many players find themselves in. Take us through your whole thought process on the river.

DD: There are three reasons to fire three barrels post-flop. One would be that you have a huge hand with which you want three streets of value. Another would be a hand that has no showdown value, and your only chance to win is to get your opponent to fold. The last one would be a series of thin value-bets, but this requires a great read and is often risky with mediocre hands in spots like this.

Now let's think about what big hands he can have here: 2-2 to 6-6 and 5-4 suited. I felt that I could rule out 3-3 and 6-6 right away, since most players would slow-play this flop, hoping I would catch up. Now, 4-4 and 5-5 are possibilities, but I think both check the turn: 5-5 for deception and 4-4 for pot control and a free card. Although, a lot of players might bet 5-5 again here.

To thin value-bet me here on three streets, he would need some sort of middle or weak pair. As played, I did not feel this particular player was capable of doing this. There was a previous hand he was involved in. It was a blind-versus-blind battle in which he was the small blind. He raised preflop with Q-10 offsuit and was called by the big blind. The flop was J-3-3 and both checked. The turn was a blank, and he bet around half the pot and was called. The river was a 10, he checked his Q-10, and the big blind checked behind and mucked his hand. That hand told me that Villain is capable of bluffing when he has no showdown value, but he is also capable of checking when he does have showdown value. Due to this, I felt he would check behind a lot of hands with showdown value rather than bet them.

His range at this point is realistically 4-4, 5-5, 7-7, 8-8, strange preflop calling hands like 5-4 suited or 7-4 suited, perhaps a really fortunate A-4 or 2-2, or missed worse overcards. For almost all of these hands, I have given reasons why I don't feel they will show up very often. The bet was 220,000 into a 530,000 pot. It is sized like a value-bet, but this doesn't necessarily mean it is one. If he were to bet real big on the river, it would appear to be more like a bluff. If he were actually bluffing, he wouldn't want to make it look like one. Also, by doing this, he can risk less with his play.

I'm getting 3.4-1 on my money on this river. That means that I have to be right only once out of every 4.4 times to break even on my money. I feel that this is way more than enough odds to call here, since bluffs are a large part of his range, given my read on the situation.

Doubledave22 calls. Villain flips over the 10 9. Doubledave22 rakes in the pot of 970,000 with ace high.

DD: This pot put me over 2.1 million in chips. This was a really crucial spot for me, and it gave me a great amount of confidence for the rest of the tournament.



Dave D'Alesandro started playing poker online three years ago for fun. During the summer of 2008, he decided to get serious. He found a great group of guys to discuss hands with, joined a training site, read a few books, and posted on the forums. In July, he won a Full Tilt Poker $75 event for $14,600, and a few weeks later he took third in the FTOPS $322 no-limit hold'em event for $102,000. Since getting serious last summer, D'Alesandro has cashed for more than $250,000 online.