Final-Table Takedown -- Yevgeniy Timoshenko

Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko went on a mad rush in the fall of 2008 when he won his second live tournament, the Asian Poker Tour $5,300 Macau main event for $500,000, finished second in a $2,930 PokerStars Barcelona European Poker Tour event for $133,076, and captured third place in the World Series of Poker Europe $1,500 no-limit hold’em event for $102,670. Online, the 21-year-old wunderkind has been a dominating force, winning numerous major events over the last few years. He won the PokerStars Sunday Million event for $250,202 in a famous heads-up match with Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet in 2006. He also recently captured a Full Tilt Poker $150 no-limit hold’em rebuy event for $65,025, and a PokerStars $200 no-limit hold’em rebuy event for $45,633.

Key Concepts: Hand-range estimation, prior player knowledge.

The action is folded to Shannon Shorr in the small blind. He moves all in for a total of 2,700,000.

Craig Tapscott: What is going through your mind when Shorr shoves here for more than 15 big blinds?

Yevgeniy Timoshenko: Shannon and I play a lot online, and I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how he plays and thinks. I think he respects my game and thinks I’m tough to play against out of position. As a result of that, I thought he would be shoving most of his playable hands from the small blind instead of limping in and trying to see a flop. I estimated the range of hands that he would go all in with to be the top 40 percent to 45 percent of hands.
Timoshenko looks down at the 4 4 and calls. Shorr reveals the 7 6.

CT: Was that an easy call?

YT: Against the aforementioned range of hands, 4-4 is a slight favorite. However, because he perceives me to be a very aggressive player, I thought he might try to trap me with a hand like a big pair or a big ace by limping in or making a standard raise. If this was true, it meant that I was in much better shape, as I could eliminate some overpairs from his range. On top of that, because of the blinds and antes already in the pot, I was getting 1.16-1, which meant that I needed to be only 46.2 percent against his range to make a neutral EV [expected value] call. All of these factors made this a really easy call to try to take out a tough opponent.

Flop: A 9 3 (pot: 5,475,000)
Turn: J (pot: 5,475,000)
River: K (pot: 5,475,000)
Timoshenko wins the pot of 5,475,000.

Key Concepts: Bet-sizing, player tendencies.

CT: Now, you’re finally heads up. What’s the dynamic between the two of you at this point in the match?

YT: Azor has been making big preflop raises from the button, so I have been folding most of my big blinds and just playing position.

Azor raises to 650,000.

YT: Here, I picked up a good hand, the 4 4, so I decided to see a flop.

CT: Pocket fours have been good to you. Was reraising an option?

YT: I don’t like reraising, because if he goes all in, I can’t call. And if he calls the reraise, I’m going to have a really tough time playing my hand out of position.

Flop: 10 7 4 (pot: 1,340,000)
Timoshenko checks. Azor bets 700,000.

CT: Not a bad flop for you, and you have a lot of options. Did you get a read off Azor’s bet-sizing at all?

YT: A few hands earlier, he raised preflop and I called. Then, he continuation-bet less than his preflop raise; I check-raised, and he folded quickly. Here, he bet slightly more than his preflop raise, so I thought he might have something. There were also a lot of draws on the flop that I wanted to charge to see the turn. So, I decided to raise to three times his bet.

Timoshenko raises to 2,100,000. Azor calls.

CT: What do you think he’s calling with here?

YT: Having played with Ran, I noticed that he was pretty tight post-flop. So, I thought that when he called this check-raise, he probably had either a 10, a flush draw, or a straight draw, or possibly some strong 7-X combinations or 8-8 or 9-9. I think that if he had an overpair or better, he would have reraised me on the flop, because there were so many draws out, so I put him squarely on that range of hands.

Turn: K (pot: 5,540,000)

CT: Well, that range just hit.

YT: Yes, that turn card was a bad one for me. If Ran had a flush draw, it just got there; if he has a straight draw, there’s a good chance that he just picked up more outs with a flush draw if he has a spade in his hand. And, if he has just a 10 or a 7, the turn card is a huge scare card for him and will probably make him fold if I bet. So, for these reasons …
Timoshenko checks.

CT: I attended this final table. I remember that Azor thought about this situation for a long time.

YT: Yes. Ran went into the tank, counted out his chips a few times, and after a long pause …

Azor checks.

CT: Did this clarify his range for you?

YT: Yep. At this point, I think Ran had a 10-X or 7-X hand that wasn’t two pair, or a straight draw. Although I’m not 100 percent sure, I think that if this turn had improved his hand, he would’ve bet.

River: 10 (pot: 5,540,000)

YT: A perfect river card for me. If he somehow was slow-playing a flush on the turn (very unlikely, but possible), I just beat him. If he has a 10 that looked very weak on the turn, he now has trips and probably loves his hand. Or, he has 9-8 or 6-5 and missed a straight draw, and will have to bluff to win the pot.

CT: Do you bet out?

YT: Well, if I bet, I think he will just call with a 10, and will call only a small bet if he has a 7. If he missed his straight draw, he will simply fold to my bet and I won’t get any more money out of him. So, I decided to check-raise. By checking, I give him the option of bluffing at the pot if he missed his straight, or betting his trips. If he’s bluffing, I make more money than I would by betting. If he has trips, I can check-raise big and he will probably call because he has trips; who folds trips?

Timoshenko checks. Azor bets 1,600,000.

YT: This was a small bet, because the pot contained 5,540,000 at this point. I thought for a little bit, and decided to raise.

Timoshenko raises to 7,000,000.

YT: If he decided to bet a 7 on the river, I don’t think he would call any check-raise amount except maybe a min-raise. But if he has trips, or perhaps a slow-played flush, he would be loving his hand and would call a very big raise. Also, by raising to 7,000,000 instead of raising all in, I leave him some chips to play with. Psychologically, I thought this would help me get a call. He could call and be wrong, and still be left with some chips. Unfortunately for me, he folded quickly, so he likely had 6-5 or 9-8.

Azor folds. Timoshenko wins the pot of 8,740,000.