Final-Table Takedown -- Isaac Haxton

Isaac Haxton, 23, attended Brown University and started playing poker seriously during his freshman year. He started off as a computer-science student, and then took a year off between his junior and senior years to play poker full time. When he returned to school, he decided that he wanted to be a professional poker player, not a professional computer scientist, and switched majors to philosophy. He plays primarily high-stakes cash games online, but also has been very successful on the tournament scene. He finished second in the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure, for $861,789, has made three World Series of Poker final tables, and finished sixth, for $188,603, in the 2008 European Poker Championships high-roller event.

Haxton raises to 90,000 from the cutoff with the A J.

Craig Tapscott: I know that you and Stern have played many hands online before in cash games. Is there any metagame going on here that you can share?

Isaac Haxton: Dani and I have played probably 100,000 hands of six-handed cash online with each other. He knows that I tend to attack the blinds very aggressively from late position, even against very loose and tough opposition in online cash games. However, that all has been at least 100 big blinds deep, so no spots with exactly this sort of action and bet-sizing have come up between us before.

CT: When you raised, who was on the button and in the big blind? Were they of any concern?

IH: Matt Marafioti was on the button and Noah Schwartz was in the big blind. Both of these players had been living up to their reputations for tight play, and I had both of them covered by a significant amount.

Stern reraises to 260,000 from the small blind.

CT: So, with all of that history between the two of you, what’s your read when he reraises from out of position here?

IH: Dani might have expected me to be opening with my top 50 percent of hands, or maybe even more. Given this, and Dani’s knowledge that I should be at least a little reluctant to bust out in 13th place with a nearly average stack, his small reraise seems like a good bluff. Of course, he’s an excellent player, so he’ll be protecting this bluff by doing the same thing for value with at least 10-10+ and A-K, and maybe even 8-8/A-Q.

CT: So, was folding an option?

IH: Under these circumstances, I think the A J is far too good to fold preflop. If Dani had made a more “standard” reraise, to 315,000 or something, I might have just jammed it preflop. Against the smaller reraise, I think that would have been risking too much to win too little, and, of course, calling is cheaper. Additionally, I have more experience than Dani in high-pressure live-poker situations, and I thought that taking a flop might give me an opportunity to pick up a physical read before committing the rest of my chips.

Haxton calls.

Flop: 10 5 4 (pot: 595,000)
Stern bets 200,000.

CT: Did you pick up any reads on this seemingly standard continuation-bet?

IH: I noticed some weak body language as Dani put out his 200,000 bet, and that, along with the overcards and various backdoors, was enough to convince me to stick it in.

CT: What exactly did you pick up on with his body language?

IH: He had seemed unusually stiff and hesitant before the flop. This behavior continued as the flop came out and he counted out the chips for his bet. He swallowed as he released his bet, then quickly resumed a stiff posture.

Haxton moves all in for 1,235,000. Stern folds. Haxton wins the pot of 795,000.

IH: I’m glad I made the play that I did. Would I have been shocked to run into 10-10+ or some preflop bluff that happened to pick up a pair? Not at all. But I think Dani had enough air balls in his range here that the strength of my hand required that I go with it.

Key Concepts: Understanding your own image, knowing an opponent with whom you have a lot of history, bet-sizing, and the value of backdoor draws.

CT: Set up the situation at the table at this point.

IH: We had just gotten down to three-handed, with all three players just about dead even at 8,000,000 in chips.

Raymer raises to 400,000 from the button.

IH: Vitaly Lunkin folded from the small blind. I looked down at the 9 9 in the big blind. At 50 big blinds deep, I often just call in this spot.

CT: What made you change your mind?

IH: Raymer is notoriously willing to four-bet bluff in spots like this, especially with small pocket pairs. The night before, on the final-table bubble, he had raised from early position and then jammed over Vitaly’s three-bet with 6-6 for 40+ big blinds. He had run into J-J and lost. Against this kind of game plan, getting it in preflop with 9-9 is fantastic.
It also helps the case for three-betting that I think Raymer is unlikely to flat-call me very often, because 9-9 can struggle post-flop when out of position in a three-bet pot.

Haxton reraises to 1,400,000. Raymer shoves all in.

CT: Just what you expected him to do. Nice read.

IH: Yes, Greg announced that he was all in without much hesitation.

Haxton calls. Raymer flips over the 5 5.

Flop: K Q 10 (pot: 15,900,000)
Turn: 3 (pot: 15,900,000)
River: 3 (pot: 15,900,000)

Haxton wins the pot of 15,900,000.

Key Concepts: Understanding an opponent’s tendencies, and understanding your own image.

CT: Congratulations, Isaac, on playing a great tournament. Share with Card Player readers what you are looking for in terms of a player’s betting tendencies to make key decisions.

IH: When you’re coming up with a three-betting game plan, it’s important to figure out how your opponent is likely to react to the three-bet. Some players tend to defend against the three-bet mostly by calling, others mostly by reraising. Against opponents who reraise often, such as Raymer, you should three-bet a polarized range of hands: those with which you are very happy to continue against a reraise, and those that you can comfortably fold. It would be a shame to three-bet a hand like K-Q or A-10, which you probably have to fold when faced with a shove in this spot, and waste all of the value of the hand.

Instead, I would call with a hand like that and reraise with a hand like K-5 suited or 9-7 offsuit, just weaker than the worst hands I want to call Greg’s open with. Conversely, when facing an opponent who frequently calls three-bets and rarely reraises, I would often three-bet a hand like A-10 or K-Q, which can easily flop a good top pair and plays well from out of position against a “wideish” range. Against such an opponent, I would rarely three-bet a really weak hand unless I was confident that he would fold very often after the flop.