Final Table Takedown -- Isaac Baron

Isaac Baron has cashed for more than $2 million in online tournament play, and is also revered as one of the best all-around high-stakes cash-game players in the game today. His major cashes in 2009 include a seventh-place finish for $88,784 in event No. 1 of the World Series of Poker, a first-place performance for $97,806 in the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker event No. 1, and a third-place finish for $50,000 in a PokerStars Sunday $500 event. Baron’s largest live cash came in the 2008 EPT Grand Final $15,000 main event in Monte Carlo, where he finished fourth for $931,268. He also is a lead instructor at CardRunners.com.

Event Caesars Palace Classic $5,000 main event
Players in the Event 162
First Prize $246,928
Finish First

Hand No. 1
Stacks Isaac Baron – 668,000 Glen Chorny – 1,245,000 Theo Tran – 271,000
Blinds 8,000-16,000
Antes 2,000
Players Remaining 7

Key Concepts: Awareness of an opponent’s image and position; putting opponents on a preflop hand range and proceeding accordingly.
Chorny opens for 40,000 from the button.

Craig Tapscott: You and Glen Chorny have some history, dating back to the EPT Grand Final main event.

Isaac Baron: Definitely. It seems that a lot of people think we have a rivalry going, for one reason or another, although I don’t feel that way. My read on Glen is that he’s very good at playing a big stack in tournaments. He’s also good at applying a lot of pressure in good spots, but also knows when to change it up and slow down. I expect him to play very aggressively with a chip lead (as he should), and in general play pretty solidly.

CT: So, what do you think Chorny is up to from the button?

IB: Well, with Theo Tran, a short stack, in the small blind, and me, an aggressive player, in the big blind, I don’t expect Glen’s opening range to be as wide as it would normally be in this spot. Yet, Glen was the big stack. At the time, he was by far the most aggressive player at the table, so I expect him to be opening from the button with a wide variety of hands. But then …
Tran moves all in for 261,000.

CT: Of course, he’s aware of Chorny’s image and hand range, as well.

IB: Yes. I expect Theo to be shoving very wide here, as he’s obviously aware of how aggressive a player Glen is, and how big a profit shoving on him with a wide range of hands will show.

CT: And then you wake up with a hand, but it’s a hand with which many players would be very confused in how to proceed.

IB: I look down at the 9 9. At this point, given the info that I have, I feel like my hand is too strong to pass on. Theo can easily show up with tons of smaller pairs and also some A-X hands that I’m dominating (A-8, A-9, and so on).

CT: So, there’s no way you can fold?

IB: I know that I’m not folding to Theo. So, the question to me is, should I just call the 261,000 (a little less than half of my 650,000 stack) or shove and try to isolate? I felt that rather than put in half of my chips and have to decide what to do when Glen shoves (knowing that I’m likely behind, but also getting a huge price to call), I should shove and try to get one-on-one with Theo.

CT: And put the pressure back on Chorny.

IB: While I don’t expect Glen to fold a better hand than mine very often, the chance that he might is definitely there. If I were to just call Theo’s shove and it came back to Glen, and he shoved with something like A-K, I would be getting a huge price to call. So, folding would then be a gigantic mistake. So, I chose to …

Baron shoves all in for 650,000. Chorny calls and reveals the 10♥ 10♣. Tran flips over the A K.

Flop: 7 6 5 (pot: 1,617,000)
Turn: 3 (pot: 1,617,000)
River: 8 (pot: 1,617,000)
Baron wins the pot of 1,617,000 with a 9-high straight.

Hand No. 2
Stacks Isaac Baron – 1,600,000 Alex Keating – 1,615,000
Blinds 12,000-24,000
Antes 3,000
Players Remaining 4

Key Concepts: Bet-sizing; polarized hand ranges; metagame.

Baron raises to 54,000 from the button with the A Q. Keating defends from the big blind.

IB: At this point, I had been by far the most active player at the table and had been running over the table a bit.

Flop: Q Q 4 (pot: 132,000)
Keating checks. Baron bets 75,000. Keating raises to 170,000.

CT: What are your options here with such a huge hand?

IB: In this spot, I will do two different things, depending on how I feel my opponent will react to one or the other: flat-call or reraise. The thing that swayed me toward reraising is that my read led me to believe that he was strong rather than bluffing.

CT: How so?

IB: Well, on this board, I expect Alex’s range to be very polarized, from extremely strong Q-X hands to complete bluffs. And with the dynamics at the table and the chip stacks the way they were, I’d be surprised if he would raise even the nut heart draw on the flop. So, since I thought that he had a hand with which he wanted to put a lot of chips in, I decided that it was best to oblige him.

Baron reraises to 270,000.

CT: Why such a small reraise?

IB: I make a really small reraise so that Alex will think I’m trying to rebluff him (that is, if my read was wrong and he actually is bluffing); thus, hopefully, he will try to re-rebluff me. Also, he will put more chips in and try to let me bluff off more of my chips if he actually has a strong hand.
Keating raises to 400,000.

CT: I guess you got what you were asking for. What now?

IB: At this point, I felt like my only move was to shove; everything else just looked too suspicious. I didn’t expect him to put in any more chips with his bluffs if I just called or made another small reraise. Also, if I just called or put in a small reraise, I think it would be more likely that he would smell a rat and possibly make a hero fold with a worse queen.
Baron moves all in. Keating calls, revealing the Q 9.

Turn: 3 (pot: 3,218,000)
River: J (pot: 3,218,000)
Baron wins the pot of 3,218,000.

CT: You’ve been a very successful online player. Did you face any stumbling blocks that you overcame when you made the transition to live play?

IB: For me, the transition to live poker was pretty easy. I started out playing live in Indian casinos and home games. I feel like one of the biggest adjustments that players have to make to successfully move from online to live poker is realizing that live poker tournaments are a completely different animal than those online. I feel that playing more of a loose but not overly aggressive preflop style (making more calls than three-bets and four-bets) and seeing a lot of flops is the best way to play live tournaments, whereas online, it’s better to play a tight-aggressive style, and making occasional light preflop three-bets is more optimal.