Final-Table Takedown -- Allen Carter

Allen "AawwNutz" Carter is a part-time poker player and entrepreneur from Dallas, Texas. He has a family and a successful business that have limited his live play thus far. He recently started playing more, and posted a deep run in the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, a win in an online Sunday major, and a final-table finish in a preliminary event at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic.

Craig Tapscott: So, the first two hands here catapulted you to the final table. Let's set up this first hand.

Allen Carter: I was sitting in the big blind with a very healthy top-three chip stack. There were 28 players left in the tournament, which was paying 27. Jordan Morgan had just lost a big pot and had barely two-and-a-half big blinds remaining (16,000).

Leah raises to 25,000 from the cutoff.

AC: During all of our time playing together thus far, Mike had always min-raised, but this …

CT: So your radar went off that something was strange here.

AC: Certainly, the bet caught my attention, but I thought Jordan's chip stack also presented a unique opportunity. I felt like there were very few hands that Mike, or any other player, would play for all of his chips with Jordan so close to busting out. Any hand besides A-A, K-K, or Q-Q would have a decent chance to hit the muck. The $13,186 in prize money had to be on Mike's mind, as we were going hand-for-hand, and his raise made it obvious that he was hoping to just take the antes and blinds.

CT: So, this is an easy reraise?

AC: Because of all of the information above, I shoved from the big blind without even looking at my cards. I fully expected a fold, given the situation.

Carter moves all in, covering Leah.

AC: After a 10-minute tank, lots of "Dang it, I should have gone all in," and inquiries on the possibility of a bust-out at another table …

Leah calls.

AC: He turned over the A K. I flipped my cards over and was surprised to see a pretty good hand, the K Q.

Flop: J 9 4 (pot: 270,000)

Turn: 10 (pot: 270,000)

River: 8 (pot: 270,000)

Carter wins the pot of 270,000.

AC: I'm really proud of this play, because if you can make someone with half the average stack tank for 10 minutes with A-K, you are really playing poker. Poker is such a tough game, in that you have to be able to create chips from situations. You simply cannot rely only on having the best cards. Mike would have insta-mucked (at least mentally) hands like A-Q, 9-9, and so on. I was really proud to turn up the pressure on such a good player by using the money bubble to my advantage.

Key Concepts: Pressure, utilizing your own unique assets (I've got a job, and most players there don't), playing the bubble, reading the situation, pattern recognition (a different raise size), and then getting lucky (laughing).



CT: You said this hand may have been influenced by some earlier table talk.

AC: Yes. About two hands prior to this one, I raised to 31,000 with K-Q offsuit and got reraised by Vanessa Rousso. As I was folding, I made the comment to Vanessa that the stacks were really getting to the point where it was hard to call reraises, mainly because you just didn't have the odds to outflop someone.

Carter raises to 31,000 from the button with the 3 3. Rousso folds. Yancik reraises to 105,000 from the big blind.

AC: I thought that my earlier conversation with Vanessa might cause Stu to reraise a little wider. Stu is a good player, which means that he's capable of reraising me light and folding a decent hand.

CT: What do you think his read is on you?

AC: Most people perceive me as being a tight and conservative player (one of the few advantages of being 40 years old). I believe that you have to be bold in poker, and that a big chip stack is the number-one weapon needed to win a tournament.

Carter moves all in.

AC: I really expect a fold a decent percentage of the time, because he was still in such good shape with 341,000 behind. A pair in a button-versus-big-blind hand is a pretty decent situation.

Yancik calls, revealing the A Q.

Flop: 8 5 2 (pot: 940,000)

Turn: K (pot: 940,000)

River: 7 (pot: 940,000)

Carter wins the pot of 940,000.

CT: You took this pot down, but … come on.

AC: (Laughing) I definitely don't recommend playing a huge pot with a pair of threes, but sometimes you have to announce your dominance. I was impressed with Stu's courage to make the correct call, as I never would have called with A-Q. There was a nice side effect: I didn't get reraised again for a while.

Key Concepts: Pressure, playing buttons and blinds, keeping track of your image and your comments at the table, knowing the players, and aggression.



CT: Is there any metagame present, considering that you've played many hands with these two players?

AC: Sure. Soheil has been the resident maniac. I had played timidly because of a lack of ammunition - cards and chips. I had just won a big pot and was looking forward to playing with him.

Shamseddin raises from the button to 300,000. Carter calls from the big blind with the Q 10.

Flop: K 10 5 (pot: 670,000)

Carter checks.

AC: My preference is for him to bet, and then I'll shove all in to take down the hand.

CT: Why shove?

AC: I have a theory that flat-calling on the flop when out of position is the equivalent of giving a free card, because of the power of position. If you just call the flop bet and wait to lead out on the turn, he gets to see one more card for no additional bet; if you check the turn, he may check behind you and get an even more disastrous free shot at a runner-runner. But …

Shamseddin checks.

AC: This wasn't the result I was looking for, because of the Broadway draw possibilities.

Turn: 10 (pot: 670,000)

CT: Bingo.

AC: Soheil probably still doesn't have a hand, and absolutely can't stand it when people check to him. So …

Carter checks. Shamseddin bets 400,000. Carter calls.

CT: Can the speed of your call set this hand up better against an aggro player?

AC: Yes. I made a relatively quick "okey-doke" call to make it look like I had the king and intended to check-raise, but was now uncomfortable with the second 10 on the board. I also noticed that just calling made the pot 1,470,000, leaving him with about 900,000, which is a prime bluffing situation.

River: A (pot: 1,470,000)

CT: How do you get the most out of this hand? Do you check to trap, or bet for value?

AC: The ace is a perfect bluffing card, because it's another potential overcard while also filling the Q-J straight, which I discounted because Soheil did not bet the flop. I think the check is correct because there was still a decent chance that Soheil had nothing, and because of my image, I feel like he folds almost everything I beat if I were to bet.

Carter checks. Shamseddin shoves all in. Carter calls. Shamseddin reveals the J 7. Carter wins the pot of 3,240,000.

Key Concepts: Adjusting to your opponent, recognizing your own image, trapping, and setting up your opponent to bluff.