Final-Table Takedown -- David Baker

David ‘Bakes’ Baker Bangs Heads With High-Stakes Cash-Game Pro Brian Townsend

David Baker hails from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He turned poker professional in May of 2007 after being mentored by World Series of Poker bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst. He has won more than $2 million in online tournaments, including a first-place finish in the $530 PokerStars Sunday no-limit hold’em event, for $91,500, and a second in another $530 Stars event in March of 2009, for $66,715. Baker also finished second in a 2008 $5,000 Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic event, for $230,580. With $1.2 million in Card Player Online Player of the Year qualifying-tournament cashes, Baker is in the all-time top 10.

Craig Tapscott: David, set this final table up for us.

David “WhooooKidd” Baker: This hand occurred when we were six-handed. Brian “aba20” Townsend had just busted Chad “lilholdem” Batista in a giant pot to take sole possession of second place.

CT: Have you played much with Brian in the past?

DB: We didn’t have a ton of history at this point in the tournament. I had never played against him before this tourney, and we weren’t seated at the same table until there were nine left.

CT: What’s your table image like up to this point?

DB: I’d been playing pretty snugly, other than a prior hand in which I busted Eric “peachy_keen” Liu by flatting [flat-calling] Brian’s raise with J-10-9-6; peachy_keen repotted from the big blind, and I called after Brian folded. The flop came 10-9-X, and my hand held up against his A-A-X-X. The first pot that we had really played together occurred an orbit earlier, when he raised from the button, BobbyFi called, and I overcalled from the big blind. After BobbyFi checked the A K 4 flop, I bet the pot and they both folded.

The action is folded to aba20 on the button, and he raises to 8,000.

DB: When it is folded to him on the button, I expect him to have a pretty wide raising range. He’s a high-stakes cash player as well as a cardrunners.com pro, so I expect him to play pretty loose-aggressive poker, especially when he is guaranteed position throughout the hand. After Bobby folds in the small blind, I have a fairly interesting decision to make. I was dealt the A A 8 6 in the big blind.

CT: So, what to do with aces in PLO [pot-limit Omaha] preflop?

DB: Aces in Omaha aren’t the powerhouse they are in hold’em; if an opponent doesn’t have an ace in his hand, you can expect to be [coin] flipping most of the time if you get it all in preflop. To be successful in Omaha — especially tourney Omaha, where the stack sizes are fairly dynamic — you must know how to play with and against aces. Position is quite key in Omaha, so to three-bet A-A-X-X out of position, I would need some fairly strong side cards, or my stack would have to be such that I could get the majority of the chips in preflop. The inflection point changes with an opponent’s calling ranges and post-flop tendencies, obviously.

CT: But shouldn’t you still three-bet here for value?

DB: Well, my aces are most certainly not garbage aces, with a nut-flush draw and a one-gapper, but in my opinion they aren’t strong enough to three-bet out of position. Brian is a good player, who in my opinion will be folding preflop very infrequently. He doesn’t know me as a player and hasn’t seen me three-bet yet, so I think he is likely to put me on A-A if I three-bet. If I were to three-bet and get called, there would be around 70,000 in the pot, with 230,000 to play for. My hand flops one pair the great majority of the time, and since I think three-betting may turn my hand faceup in Brian’s eyes, this is a bad spot to be in with 3.5 times the size of the pot behind. I also consider my stack to be pretty valuable at this point; there is definitely some merit in passing up high-variance spots against good opposition when you are deep-stacked with ICM [Independent Chip Model] considerations. Against a worse player, I think I would definitely three-bet, but against Brian, flatting is the optimal play.

WhooooKidd calls.

Flop: A 10 9 (pot: 17,500)

WhooooKidd bets 13,850.

CT: Why do you lead out into a very aggressive player with such a huge hand? Couldn’t you easily set up a check-raise?

DB: Some flops I’ll check-call, some I’ll check-fold, a few I’ll check-raise, and so on. However, the A-10-9 with a flush draw is the perfect flop to lead. If I check, I’m in no way guaranteed to get a check-raise in.

CT: What would Brian check behind with on this flop?

DB: Brian can easily have a small piece that he wants to pot-control, or see another card and get my reaction; bottom two [pair], small flush draw/wrap, and so on. If I check-raise, I expect him to repot 10-10, and probably 9-9, especially if it has a draw to beat middle set. His draws that are good enough to bet and call will have a ton of outs, sometimes as many as 20. There are tons of cards that could make me check-fold on the turn. If any diamond, jack, queen, or king comes off, my play is usually to check, and I might not be able to call a pot-sized bet. Since I had just led the orbit before, a lead to set up a bet/three-bet all in is the best play.

CT: I understand, but you still don’t see players lead out often in this spot.

DB: Leading out is not something you see often in tourney Omaha. The shallow stacks mean that a lead is all in, in which case there was usually a decent chunk of change in preflop, or the stacks are easy to pot check-raise all in. My first lead got credit; most players will not mess around with junk on the first lead, because it’s fairly unexpected.

And aba20 raises to 59,050.

CT: So, what do you think Brian puts you on with the tricky lead-out bet?

DB: I’m not really sure what Brian put me on when I led, but I was reasonably certain at the time that he would not put me on top set.

WhooooKidd reraises to 194,650; aba20 moves all in for an additional 60,471; WhooooKidd calls; aba20 reveals the K K 6 6.

DB: It turns out that he has an incredibly strong hand for the circumstances, with the nut-flush draw. He has any flush draw, 8-7, or Q-J blocked a fair bit, and he usually has 11 outs against middle set. The K also helps him a ton, because it eliminates a lot of big draws that I might choose to bet/three-bet. He might not even think that I would ever bet/three-bet a draw that didn’t include nut diamonds, which is pretty accurate, in my opinion.

CT: Why do you think he raises in this spot, then?

DB: He raises as a semibluff, I’m guessing, to fold out something like bottom two or a weak ace. I stick with the plan and come over the top. At this point, there is 135,000 in the pot, and to continue, he has to put in the rest of his stack, which is about 200,000, so around 37.1 percent equity to call.

CT: Brian is good enough and sharp enough to know your approximate range at this point. What do you think of his shove all in?

DB: Against my actual hand, naked top set, he has 26.1 percent equity. Change my aces to tens, and he has 33 percent equity. It seems to me that even disregarding his edge over the field and ICM, I need to have a dominated draw a fair bit on my four-bet to make it a call. I think his call is pretty standard, but I just don’t see myself going nuts with enough lower wraps/flush draws to swing this in his favor.

Turn: 9
River: 10

WhooooKidd wins the pot of 527,742 with a full house, aces full of tens.