Some Interesting Hands

On Dec. 12, 2008, I was the host for a special charity event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The worthy charity was the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Nevada.

Many poker celebrities showed up for this event, and it was great to see a lot of my friends there. There were several very nice items available in a silent auction, and great prizes were awarded to the final-table participants. I wish to give a special thanks to Erick Lindgren, who donated a $10,000 World Series of Poker seat to the winner of the event. I donated an emerald ring as a bounty prize to the player who busted me after the rebuy period was over. Several people tried and failed, so I was able to start to build a decent stack. Unfortunately, the blinds got up to 600-1,200 and I decided to go all in preflop with pocket queens. "Yukon" Brad Booth, a high-stakes player from Canada, did his best to protect me by coming over the top of my all-in bet with a garbage hand, just trying to win the ring. Unfortunately for both Brad and me, Tom Post was sitting in the big blind with the A K and went all in. Brad was now pot-committed and made the call, and I got eliminated when a king came on the flop. Brad was crippled, and Tom won the ring. Tom went on to finish seventh, and did a very generous thing by donating the ring back to the Society to be used at a future event.

There was a very special tribute to Mindy Trinidad and her family before play started. Mindy was very active on the LIPS Tour and finished at the final table in the 2007 World Series of Poker ladies event. Sadly, Mindy passed away a few months ago. Two of her children and other relatives were there to support the event.

My friend Bill Mullins played a hand not long ago in the Venetian Deep-Stack Tournament. He had several questions regarding how he played it, and asked for my advice.



Here is the scenario, as described by Bill: There were 446 players with 12,000 in chips to begin the tournament. The rounds are 40 minutes long and we are now in the third level with blinds of 100-200. The average stack is about 13,000 and I have 14,000 in chips.

The player in first position limps in and I am in second position with pocket kings. I make it 800 to go. The player on the button, who has been playing very tight and has shown down only good hands, calls the 800, as does the original limper. The limper has been playing a lot of marginal hands, so I am primarily worried about the tight player on the button.

The flop is 9-6-2 with two clubs. The limper checks and I bet 1,500 into the 2,700 pot. The button raises another 2,500 to a total of 4,000. The limper folds and exposes Q-7 offsuit. The action is now on me, and I am trying to decide whether to fold, call, or reraise all in. Since I have kings, it is unlikely that my opponent also has them, and since a queen was exposed, that reduces the possibility that he has pocket queens. He could have aces, but I think he would have reraised preflop with them to get heads up. That leaves jacks, tens, or pocket nines, which would give him a set. A flush or a straight draw is possible, but it is unlikely that he would put in that much money on the flop when just trying to blow me off my hand with only a draw.

So, now what should I do? I could just call and see what comes on fourth street and then make a decision, or I could go all in right now, and if he has a draw, make him fold or pay dearly for it. I can beat jacks or tens, but if he has a set, I am dead to two outs. Do I want to risk my tournament life so early when I'd still have 11,700 in chips if I folded? Finally, I decided that I had to either go all in or fold. I moved in and he called me with his pocket nines, and I hit the rail.

Did I play the hand correctly? Could I have raised more preflop and won it right away? What would you have done, Tom?

Well, Bill, it was strictly a judgment call as to whether to go all in or not on the flop. I think your preflop raise was OK. You do want some action on your hand, and a big reraise would win you only a small pot in most cases. Your bet on the flop gave you room to avoid going broke if you thought you were beat. You certainly felt that it was a possibility, and then you went against your gut instincts and reraised all in. Oftentimes it is only your gut that tells you what you should do, and you can decide that only during the heat of battle. Your play was certainly reasonable against most opponents, but against a tight player who had you covered and was willing to reraise you on a non-coordinated flop, it was probably correct to fold. It is always hard to lay down a big pair like kings on a weak-looking board, but you should certainly consider it if your tight opponent is willing to put you to a big test that early in the tournament. I never worry about busting out early. I am concerned about making the right play, which includes playing the player as well as my hand.

Well, if you make the right laydowns and read your opponents well, I hope to see you in the winner's circle soon.

Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars and a member of the PicClub Pro Team. He also has his own website, www.tommcevoy.com, and is a teacher on www.proplaylive.com.