Final-Table Takedown -- Mike Watson

Mike Watson is a 24-year-old poker pro from Toronto, Canada. He graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in pure math in 2006, and around the same time, he started to play online tournaments seriously. By the end of 2007, he was considered one of the more respected tournament players online, and he made the leap to playing full time after winning the PokerStars Super Tuesday tournament for $75,000. In 2008, he broke through on the live scene with this win at the Bellagio Cup IV, and a third-place finish shortly thereafter in the EPT London high-roller event.

Phan raises from the cutoff to 240,000. Watson reraises to 700,000 from the big blind with the Q 3.

Craig Tapscott: With seven players left, you're on the television-table bubble. What's your thinking in this spot with such a weak hand?

Mike Watson: There are several reasons for the reraise; indeed, the most basic is that John is quite aggressive and I had a very tight image at this point. However, that alone is not enough to make reraising such a weak hand a good play, especially against a player like Phan, who typically doesn't like to fold to preflop reraises very often. The last thing I want is to play a huge pot out of position on the TV bubble with a garbage hand against a player who is quite capable of being very stubborn when he senses weakness.

CT: What's the key to this reraise, then?

MW: That I cover Phan is really the key dynamic here. This allows me to put tremendous pressure on John, especially since there was a very short-stacked player at the table who was likely to bust out fairly soon. This is already enough reason to make reraising any two cards a perfectly reasonable play, but the main reason I decided to make the move here is based on something more specific.

CT: So, there was some history between the two of you?

MW: No, between David Benyamine and John. Two hands earlier, it had been folded to Phan in the small blind, and he raised four times the big blind to 320,000. The large raise size was completely out of character for Phan, as he had typically been raising three times the big blind, at most, and usually less. In the big blind, Benyamine gave him a look like he also recognized this, and then quickly mucked. Phan then turned over Q-Q and made some comment about not wanting to mess around with Benyamine.

CT: What did you take from that?

MW: To me, this is simply weak-scared poker. When you pick up queens, blind versus blind, that deep in the tournament, you should be looking to win a huge pot no matter what the situation is; instead, Phan seemed content to steal the blinds and stay out of trouble. And knowing that John is an experienced player who had been there many times before, I hadn't suspected that he would care at all about making another TV table. But after this seemingly meaningless hand, I was certain that, for whatever reason, it was definitely important to him. Therefore, when he raised my blind, I actually didn't think his range was especially wide, like it normally would be. I knew he would need a huge hand to continue against me.

Phan calls.

CT: Did you get any read on Phan here?

MW: He did take around four or five minutes to call my reraise, and to be honest, I never for a second believed he would do anything but fold. When he called, I was very surprised, and thought he probably had a hand like J-J or 10-10. A-K was a possibility, too, although the standard play with A-K in his spot is to move all in preflop. You should almost never flat-call, knowing that you will rarely flop a pair and will almost always be facing another big bet on the flop.

Flop: K 4 2 (pot: 1,510,000)

CT: Automatic continuation-bet, I'm sure, versus Phan, right?

MW: I think a continuation-bet is completely automatic, because it will be extremely difficult for him to call with J-J or 10-10, knowing that he can't even beat A-K anymore.

Watson bets 1,000,000.

MW: Phan tanked for nearly 10 minutes before Gabe Thaler called the clock on him. With a few seconds left, Phan turned his cards faceup - Q-Q.

Phan folds. Watson wins the pot of 1,510,000.

CT: Wow. He had mad respect for you there.

MW: I was definitely pretty surprised to see that he had Q-Q. But even against a very tight player, I would consider queens to be an automatic shove before the flop in his spot. This was a key pot, as it gave me a lot of confidence, as well as the chip lead, heading to the final table.



Watson raises to 400,000 from the button with the 9 8. Benyamine calls.

Flop: 7 4 2 (pot: 840,000)

Benyamine checks. Watson checks.

CT: What? No c-bet in this spot? Seems standard. What's different from the previous hand to pass on the c-bet?

MW: A continuation-bet would certainly be the more standard play on the flop in my spot, but checking is a perfectly reasonable option, as well. There's a decent number of good cards for my hand on the turn, and many good cards to bluff at if he checks to me again. I decided to vary my play this time, and hope to improve my hand or defer a bluff to a later street. Mixing up your play against a strong player like Benyamine is definitely important.

Turn: 10 (pot: 840,000)

Benyamine bets 700,000. Watson calls.

CT: What hand range did you put him on with that turn bet?

MW: In the past, his big bets had mostly been quite strong, and the stack sizes seem bad for a semibluff raise, as he will often move all in over the top when he has a strong hand and force me off my draw. Nonetheless, I do think I have good implied odds to win a lot of chips and possibly even double up if I make my hand, and sometimes making a pair of eights or nines will be enough to win the pot if he's also drawing or betting a smaller pair.

River: J (pot: 2,240,000)

Benyamine bets 1,400,000.

CT: Did he just get there?

MW: I thought his bet size was a bit too small for a made flush, and it was more likely that he was value-betting a strong one pair or two pair, as he had been fairly straightforward with his river bet-sizing so far. He probably would have (correctly) expected me to continuation-bet the flop if I had a flush draw, so I didn't think he expected me to have a flush here; therefore, there was a good chance that I could get a shove looked up by a lot of worse hands.

Watson moves all in for 5,280,000. Benyamine tanks for a minute … and folds. Watson wins the pot of 3,640,000.

CT: What do you think he folded?

MW: I certainly think it's possible that he could have folded two pair, but it's also possible that he was just bluffing.