Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Jamie Armstrong

Hand No. 1
Event 2009 Aruba Poker Classic $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event
Players in the Event 475
First Prize $753,330
Players at the Table 9
Stacks Jamie Armstrong – 120,000; Villain1 – 100,000; Tyson Marks – 80,000
Blinds 800-1,600
Antes 200

Craig Tapscott: I liked this hand when you told me about it, because it was based entirely on your read on Tyson Marks.

Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong: We know each other through mutual friends and have talked before, but never have played together. I know that he loves to make plays and is very aggressive. I also know that he knows I’m very aggressive, as well, and capable of making big bluffs.

Villain1 opens for 3,700 from middle position.

CT: Did you pick up any read on this opening bet size of a little more than a minimim-raise?

JA: Most players are opening for at least 2.5 times the big blind. This bet-sizing tells me that he’s going to be opening a decent amount of the time and is definitely opening with a wide range of hands.

Marks reraises to 9,500 from the button.

JA: This sizing really doesn’t mean much, since I believe that he’s sizing it like this with the majority of his three-betting range. I think his range consists of mostly weaker hands that he doesn’t feel comfortable flatting [flat-calling], so he’s essentially turning them into bluffs.

CT: What other hands do you place in his range?

JA: He also could be three-betting big hands like J-J+ and A-K, which is what I would believe to be his value range of getting in 50 big blinds preflop against a random live opponent, although I’m not sure that he would three-bet these hands, since most random players in live tourneys are not four-betting light.

Armstrong peels back the A 8 in the small blind.

JA: Well, I know that Mark’s range is very wide and consists of primarily weak hands.

CT: What’s the plan, then?

JA: My first instinct was to shove, but the middle-position opener’s stack was a huge problem if he actually had a big hand, and I’d basically be turning my hand into a bluff, since Tyson is never calling my shove with worse. So, I decided to induce Tyson into shoving a weak hand or just folding.

CT: So you’re really expecting a shove here due to the dynamics between the two of you?

JA: I know that Tyson is going to be shoving back on me very wide, because he knows that I’m aggressive and thinks I’ll be bluffing here a good percentage of the time.

Armstrong reraises to 21,200. Villain1 folds. Marks shoves all in for 70,300. Armstrong calls. Marks flips over the A 3.

Flop: K 10 7 (pot: 166,700)
Turn: 2 (pot: 166,700)
River: 4 (pot: 166,700)
Armstrong wins the pot of 166,700.

CT: Nice read, Jamie, but that was crazy. If I didn’t know better, it seemed more like the dynamics of an online MTT [multitable tournament] hand, not a live $5,000 event. Now that’s poker.

JA: Thanks. The hand is not ordinary at all. It took very interesting dynamics for me to call a preflop shove of 50 big blinds with A-8 suited. Not only did I need an extremely aggressive opponent, I also needed someone who knew how aggressive I am, yet was unaware that I could be inducing with such a marginal hand as A-8. I would never make that play against an unknown or even a known maniac, without history and insane dynamics.

Hand No. 2
Event 2009 Full Tilt Online Poker Series $300 six-max no-limit hold’em rebuy event
Players in the Event 951
First Prize $213,233
Players at the Table 6
Stacks pokerjamers – 674,068; Villain – 234,420; stevie444 – 719,400
Blinds 2,500-5,000
Antes 600
Players Remaining 12

Pokerjamers (Armstrong) raises to 12,100 from the cutoff with the A 8. Villain calls from the button. Stevie444 calls from the small blind.

JA: After Villain flats [flat-calls], I expect stevie444 to be flatting an even wider range of hands.

Flop: A 8 4 (pot: 44,900)
Villain and stevie444 check. Pokerjamers bets 21,450.

CT: Why this bet-sizing?

JA: I make a bet of half the pot size because it will induce a lot of bluff-raises on the flop, since I’m continuation-betting 100 percent of my opening range on ace-high flops.

Villain calls. Stevie444 calls.
Turn: Q (pot: 109,250)
Villain checks. Stevie444 checks. Pokerjamers bets 52,400.

JA: I make another smallish bet, which I could be doing with a lot of bluffs, since they won’t expect me to double-barrel into two opponents with a weak holding very often.

Villain folds. Stevie444 calls.
River: 4 (pot: 214,050)

JA: This is an interesting card, since it counterfeits all aces under A-Q, besides A-8, because now the queen kicker plays for all A-X hands.

Pokerjamers bets 154,200. Stevie444 shoves all in.

CT: Stevie444 is a very good player, so what hand could he possibly do this with?

JA: I could essentially rule out 4-4, since quads is such a rare hand to hit, but 8-8 was a possibility. A lot of players raise the flop with a set, which was the first thing I thought. He knows that I’m continuation-betting with such a wide range of hands that there’s no reason to make a raise, since he’ll be taking it down right there the majority of the time, and his hand is deceptive on later streets when he simply calls.

CT: I doubt that he’s holding A-A or Q-Q, based on the preflop action, correct?

JA: Right. I ruled out A-A and Q-Q, based on the flat-call preflop, and with A-Q, I think he would only call on the river. A random 4 is possible, like A-4 suited or a 5 4 sort of hand, which I believe would play the same. There are only a few combinations of hands that he can have at this point that beat me.

CT: A stone-cold bluff perhaps?

JA: Well, what could his bluffing frequency be on this river when two flush draws brick and most aces are counterfeited? I’m not sure, but I was fairly confident that it was close to zero, even though I know Stevie is sick and capable of making huge plays. He also knows that I could have all of the aforementioned hands that he could be shoving, and it’s a huge bet into the river against a huge stack deep in a big tournament. It was a very difficult decision, and I finally folded after long deliberation.

Armstrong folds. Stevie444 wins the pot of 368,250.

CT: Did you feel good about the fold afterward?

JA: Yes. I still felt good about this hand and the fold I was forced to make; unfortunately, I busted out on a coin flip to Stevie shortly thereafter.

CT: What’s the major adjustment that online players must make when moving to live play?

JA: Live poker is a completely different game than online. The majority of tournaments are going to be deeper-stacked, and your opponents are not going to be nearly as aggressive as your average online player. So, post-flop play becomes a lot more important because there isn’t as much three-betting and four-betting going on, since calling is more prevalent. Most online guys are capable of making the adjustments required to be successful in the live arena.

California native Jamie Armstrong has cashed for more than $1.4 million in online events, and is ranked as one of the top online players in the world. His biggest online cash came this past April when he chopped a PokerStars SCOOP $3,000 no-limit hold’em event for $380,000.