Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Andrew Lichtenberger

Event 2009 World Series of Poker main event
Players in the Event: 6,494
First Prize: $8,546,435
Finish: 18th

Hand No. 1, Day 3
Players at the Table: 9
Stacks: Andrew Lichtenberger – 115,000; Villain – 205,000
Blinds: 800-1,600
Antes: 200

Craig Tapscott: It’s day three of the biggest poker event of the year. What’s your strategy for the day? You don’t seem like a player who is there just to hang in to make the money.

Andrew Lichtenberger: My strategy is just to keep playing the best poker that I can and keep making the best decisions that I can during every hand. Cashing is nice, because it’s a $10,000 buy-in, but it’s not a big concern, really. The only situation that would cause me to change the way that I play a particular hand would be if it occurred on the bubble, where it would be a mistake to get all in under marginal circumstances, because the probability of my cashing is so high.

Villain opens for 4,100 from the button. Lichtenberger reraises to 13,000 from the big blind with the A Q.

CT: What read do you have on him, besides an obvious open from the button?

AL: He was a young-looking kid with sunglasses and a hat who definitely seemed like an Internet player. I had seen him open from the cutoff a few times, and he had opened every button when it was folded to him. I already had shown down J-8 suited when I reraised him once, so he has reason to believe that I can get out of line. He fairly quickly cuts out some 5,000 chips and pops it to …

Villain reraises to 30,000.

CT: Perhaps he’s remembering that J-8 hand of yours?

AL: Well, at this point, I decide that it’s likely, given the past hands and perceived metagame, that he’s bluffing or has a hand like 10-10 or J-J that I’m flipping with. So, for the percentage of times that he does not have A-K, A-A, K-K, or Q-Q, I believe that I can shove and show a profit.

Lichtenberger moves all in. Villain calls, showing the A♣ K♠.
Flop: Q J 5 (pot: 232,200)
Turn: 6 (pot: 232,200)
River: 7 (pot: 232,200)

CT: So, based on metagame entirely, you risked your main-event tournament life with A-Q.

AL: I did not regret my shove whatsoever. I was obviously unhappy to see that I was dominated, but given my reads and instincts, I would make the same play again if I had to. The key to becoming a top player is realizing that when you make a play that you believe to be profitable, you won’t always show a profit in an isolated instance. It seems a bit crazy to call this a “cooler,” but given the information I had, I believe it to be a bit of a cooler.

CT: What kind of glaring mistakes did you see inexperienced players make during the first three days of this event?

AL: The main event was no different from all of the other tournaments I’ve played, in which people make the same mistakes that they always make. It’s hard to give a general rundown, but it revolves around being passive when they should be aggressive and aggressive when they should be passive.

CT: That sounds simple, but it’s actually very insightful. Can you share some more thoughts about that?

AL: What I mean by that is that most people are often “afraid” of getting into situations where they are confused, which is often due to lack of experience. A good example would be when a guy who seems to have a decent idea of how to play poker will raise the flop with a hand that he is unsure of. He’ll sort of be “finding out where he’s at,” and most of the time, that kind of thinking won’t backfire. But many times, players will do it and will end up folding worse hands than the ones their opponents hold and getting action from better ones. Frankly, though, running into a better hand than the one they have is quite an infrequent occurrence.

Hand No. 2, Day 6
Players at the Table: 9
Stacks: Andrew Lichtenberger – 935,000; Villain1 – 600,000;
Villain2 – 615,000
Blinds: 10,000-20,000
Antes: 3,000

Villain1 opens for 50,000 from middle position.

AL: This player had been playing somewhat predictably, but not doing anything really terrible. Then, a kid (Villain2) who seemed like an Internet player, but had been playing quite tight himself, flatted [flat-called] from the hijack position [two seats from the button].

Villain2 smooth-calls. Lichtenberger calls from the big blind with the 5 5.

AL: I’m calling because I’m getting a great immediate price and it’s a multiway pot, and I will decide what to do on various flops once I see the action.

Flop: 6 4 2 (pot: 187,000)
Lichtenberger checks. Villain1 checks. Villain2 checks.

CT: Would you have given up if the initial raiser had bet the flop, or even Villain2?

AL: It’s so hard to give a well-informed answer without being able to look at my opponents and determine, based on body language and bet size, what I think their most likely hands are.

Turn: 5 (pot: 187,000)
Lichtenberger checks.

AL: I decide to check. My reasoning is simply that I don’t really have to protect my hand, as my opponents can have only eight outs at most against me if they have a 7 for an up-and-down straight draw, and it’s unlikely that anyone has a 7. Additionally, I think it’s more likely that someone will bluff at it than call with an ace-high type of hand, which figures to be the most likely hand that someone has, because a pair probably would have bet the flop.

Villain1 checks. Villain2 bets 86,000. Lichtenberger calls.

CT: Any value in raising here?

AL: Well, by raising, I can’t really get called by any worse hands unless he checked the flop with 2-2 or 4-4.

Villain1 calls.

CT: Can you put Villain1 on a hand?

AL: It was a surprise that he called, also. I couldn’t really put him on a hand, but assumed that he either made a tricky check with an overpair on the flop or, more likely, was making a suspicious overcall with A-K or A-Q.

River: J (pot: 445,000)
Lichtenberger checks. Villain1 bets 150,000. Villain2 folds. Lichtenberger calls. Villain1 shows the A 7. Lichtenberger wins the pot of 745,000.

CT: What are the reasons that you would just call in this spot? Many inexperienced players would raise the river with a set.

AL: I believe my hand is good an extremely large percentage of the time, but in order to show a profit by raising, my opponent has to call my raise with a worse hand 50 percent of the time or more. I simply didn’t think it was possible that he would do that.

Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger started playing poker in high school. He discovered poker forums, and purchased pokertracker and began grinding in small-stakes games, with very successful results. After PartyPoker closed down in the United States, he switched to tournaments after becoming burned out with cash games. That experience made him an extremely strong tournament player. Today, he plays mostly heads-up $25-$50 no-limit hold’em. This year at the World Series of Poker, he took home $215,403 for his second-place finish in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em shootout event, and has more than $1.5 million in lifetime winnings in online and live tournaments combined.