Final-Table Takedown -- Steven Burkholder

Steven Burkholder started taking poker seriously in 2003. He began with $20 in a Full Tilt account and played micro sit-and-gos to build his bankroll, then switched to multitable tournaments. He slowly climbed up in stakes and gained more experience, and found a financial backer from a star player called “thechemist83.” Burkholder’s first six-figure score came in the Full Tilt $750,000-guaranteed event, for $135,000. Since then, he has won the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker $500 rebuy event, for $211,133, the Full Tilt $1 million-guaranteed event, for $201,848, and the Full Tilt Online Poker Series $300 rebuy event. He will be looking for his first live win at the World Series of Poker this summer.

Event: Full Tilt Online Poker Series event No. 17; six-max no-limit hold’em
Players: 1,091
Buy-in: $300 + rebuys
First Prize: $245,696
Finish: First

Key Concepts: Deep-stack poker awareness; play more aggressively shorthanded; take strong lines against strong players when warranted.

Craig Tapscott: We are down to the final two tables now. Set up any prior info that you had before this hand.

Steven “UFman2” Burkholder: I had been very inactive since jordankickz had come to the table. I know him to be a very solid and thinking player. He had seen about three orbits at this table since being here, and I had opened only one pot and took it down preflop.

The action is folded around to UFman2, who raises to 24,000 from the small blind with the 10 6; jordankickz calls from the big blind.

CT: I thought a preflop raise of 2.3-2.5 times the big blind was all the rage deep in these online events.

SB: I raise it three times the big blind here because I don’t want to encourage action when out of position. Most of my opens and the table’s opens have been about 2.5 times the big blind, or 20,000 here, so I’m trying to signal strength with the raise of three times the big blind.

*Flop: 8 4 2 (pot: 52,000)

UFman2 bets 38,000; jordankickz calls.*

SB: I decide to continue to represent strength with a big bet. This is a lot easier for me to do with air here, because I can easily let it go. Let’s say that I flopped a flush draw or middle pair; I probably wouldn’t be building a pot as quickly as I would with an overpair or air.

Turn: K (pot: 128,000)

SB: The turn card has now presented a great opportunity for bluffing, because many hands that I lead out with that he beat just got there. I mean that if he was pot-controlling a medium pair or floating me, I have a great chance of picking up the pot with this card. Once again, my hand is so weak that I have no commitment to it, but I’m staying on par with the line that I’m trying to represent.

UFman2 bets 79,000; jordankickz calls.

River: 9 (pot: 286,000)

SB: OK, now should be the time to worry. Possible hands that he can have include spade draws, a medium pair, a king, and air. I’m sure that a spade draw would call, and not raise, on both streets, but can’t call a river bet (only overshove a different bet, with huge cojones). With a medium pair here, I believe jordankickz can piece together that both the flop and turn provided good betting opportunities for me, and pot-controlling here for value seems optimal. However, considering that we’re at the final two tables, on the verge of hitting the final table with a big stack, I anticipate that a solid player would fold to another barrel on the river.

CT: Why?

SB: Because a bluff is so unlikely. It’s so unlikely that I use a bet of half the pot, which looks like it’s trying to induce a call.

UFman2 bets 148,000.

SB: I also assume that if he caught the king, he will just call — and aces, a set, or air are the only hands that shove on me.

CT: It certainly looks like you have a big hand.

SB: That’s the point. I continue a line of great strength, never fearful, and one that looks like a strong premium hand preflop that’s going to get value from each street.

Jordankickz folds. UFman2 wins the pot of 286,000.

CT: So, you had the bluff in mind the whole way?

SB: Well, my reasoning behind bluffing jordankickz here wasn’t that I thought he was bad or weak, but that I was relying on his strong thinking ability to pull off a great line. Had he called me with a medium pair, which is what I think he had, I would have been impressed, but also upset. I expected him to fold it, as I would. Now, jordankickz could have had complete air or even ace high, but I stuck with it, and that hand propelled both my chip stack and momentum forward to the final table.

Key Concepts: Disregard money jumps; focus on playing each hand optimally; awareness of bet amounts and fold equity, to be able to trap with big hands.

CT: Any metagame aspects in play here with fisheater111 in this hand from the final table?

SB: We have been playing together for a long time, including some big pots; I was most active against him, as well. In the orbit just before this, in a blind-versus-blind matchup, I had three-bet him with air and he folded. I also had flatted [flat-called] with a small pair and raised him in position on an A-K-Q board and he folded. So, I was waiting for his blowup hand.

The action is folded to fisheater111, who raises to 48,884 from the small blind. UFman2 reraises to 111,010 with the A A.

SB: Some people can argue for a flat [flat-call] in position here, but based on the previous history, this was definitely a raise — and a small one like before, to induce action.

Fisheater111 reraises to 272,234. UFman2 calls.

SB: Boom! He reraises me and puts a good portion of his stack in the middle, just as I had hoped would happen.

CT: Why not shove?

SB: It’s a huge mistake here to do anything other than flat. Two situations I was presented with in a live arena were like this; I had the nuts and just couldn’t wait to get my chips into the middle, not taking into account any fold equity. If he were reraising and folding, it looks like that would be the exact amount, but regardless, it’s an easy flat, just because we don’t want to give him the chance to fold. If he has a strong hand with which he would have committed all of his chips preflop, my assumption is that he will still stick it in on the flop. A bluff that would have folded to a shove preflop now has the opportunity for another bluff on the flop.

Flop: J 8 3 (pot: 559,468)

Fisheater111 moves all in for 656,135; UFman2 calls; fisheater111 flips over the 9 6.

CT: You gave him every chance to hang himself with that smooth-call preflop.

SB: Yes. I gave out some free cards for a shot at a huge stack at the final table. Many novice players would have been happy taking the pot down preflop, but they would have missed out on a ton of value.

Turn: 8 (pot: 1,871,738)

River: 9 (pot: 1,871,738)

UFman2 wins the pot of 1,871,738 with the A A.

SB: I think this pot was the most important and pivotal one that I played at the final table. I set this play up with small bluffs and active plays at small pots, which enabled me to capitalize on a player’s humongous bluff.