Final Table Takedown -- Christopher Klodnicki

Christopher Klodnicki, 24, has more than $2.5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. During his senior year at Lehigh University, Klodnicki didn’t bother interviewing for jobs, as he already had decided to give a career as a poker professional a shot after graduation, and he has never looked back. Before this event, he’d come close to winning a gold bracelet, finishing second for $97,000 in razz and 12th for $592,000 in the main event of the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Event: WSOP Circuit no-limit hold’em championship event, Harrah’s Atlantic City
Players in the Event: 195
Buy-in: $5,000
First Prize: $215,915
Finish: First

Hand No. 1
Stacks: Christopher Klodnicki – 300,000 Ryan Karp – 350,000
Blinds: 3,000-6,000
Antes: 1,000
Players Remaining: 7

Key Concepts: Getting maximum value out of a monster hand; tricky river options for deception

Ryan Karp raises to 14,000 from the cutoff. Klodnicki is in the big blind with the 5 5.

Craig Tapscott: What’s the best play here against a strong and aggressive opponent? Does three-betting his late-position raise have positive expected value with a small pocket pair?

Christopher Klodnicki: Ryan is a very tough player and is capable of four-betting light preflop. So, it’s not really a good spot to three-bet. I was calling to flop a set or play a small pot if I missed.

Flop: 10 5 2 (pot: 38,000)
Klodnicki checks. Karp checks.

CT: What range of hands do you put him on?

CK: I put him on a hand that has some strength but not a lot — maybe ace high, a gutshot, or a medium pair.

CT: Did you think that leading out was a possible option, for deception?

CK: I did think about leading, and that is definitely another good line to take here against certain overaggressive or calling-station opponents. I thought that Ryan’s preflop range was very wide and he would miss that flop a lot, and he might choose to just let me have it. I check to get at least one bet out of him, because he’s continuation-betting here more often than not. I also want to let him feel that he’s in control of the hand rather than potentially scare him off with a lead.

Turn: K (pot: 38,000)
Klodnicki bets 20,000.

CK: I’m really hoping that he hit a king here. He also could have easily picked up some kind of draw here, so I want to charge him.

Karp calls.
River: 7 (pot: 78,000)

CT: What do you think he’s putting you on?

CK: At this point, I feel like he has no read on my hand. I think he’s probably got a king; A-K is very likely. If he missed his draw, he also could try to bluff at it.

CT: So, how can you get the most value?

CK: I could fire a small bet and hope that he value-raises or bluff-raises, or I could fire a big value-bet and hope that he calls with some kind of made hand. The third option is the check-raise. It’s risky, as he might check back a hand with which he would call a value-bet, but I gain a ton of chips if he calls my raise. And I also give him the chance to bluff a missed draw.

Klodnicki checks. Karp bets 60,000.

CK: He makes a big value-bet. So, now it’s time to raise.

Klodnicki raises to 180,000. Karp calls and reveals the K 7. Klodnicki wins the pot of 438,000.

CK: I got really lucky that he hit both of his cards, but I played the hand well enough to get maximum value. I think he calls me with any king there, because after I check-raise, he knows that I either have a monster or am bluffing. That hand was crucial, because I elevated my position greatly, while also taking chips from one of the better players at the table.

Hand No. 2
Stacks: Christopher Klodnicki – 550,000 Grayson Ramage – 700,000
Blinds: 6,000-12,000
Antes: 2,000
Players Remaining: 4

Key Concepts: Previous history with an opponent; stack sizes

CT: Set this hand up, Chris.

CK: Grayson “gray31” Ramage is the chip leader. The other two stacks are fairly short, about 200,000 each. For the record, Grayson is a very aggressive, thinking player.

Klodnicki raises to 30,000 from the cutoff with the 10 9.

CT: Do you have a plan in mind as to all of your options against the other stacks?

CK: Raising preflop is the best option here, I believe. Limping probably isn’t bad, but raising enables me to take down the blinds and antes, which are fairly substantial at this point. I almost always enter pots with a raise preflop with my entire range if I’m the first one in. It gives me a chance to win the pot uncontested, and conceals the strength of my hand. The argument for limping here is that I would have to fold if either of the short stacks shoved on me. Also, Grayson has a chance to bully me off the hand with a big preflop reraise. The argument against limping is that it screams to the other players that my hand is weak.

Ramage reraises to 90,000 from the big blind.

CK: His reraise puts me in a very difficult spot. I know that he can be doing this super light because it puts a ton of pressure on me. With the two other players having much shorter stacks than I have, it’s going to be difficult for me to put my healthy stack at risk. I know that Grayson will be three-betting light here a lot, but he’s also three-betting all of his big hands.

CT: So, what’s the deciding factor in determining your next move?

CK: The decision for me comes down to how often he’s light here. The 10 9 usually plays well in position, but if I called his three-bet, there would be almost 200,000 in the middle, leaving me with just over 400,000 behind. It’s a very difficult stack to play post-flop with a drawing hand, especially when I’m putting him on a very wide range.

Klodnicki moves all in.

CK: I felt that I would get a fold often enough to make the play profitable. I did not have enough chips to reraise and then fold to a shove, so I just had to stick it in.
Ramage calls and reveals the A K.

Flop: 9 5 3 (pot: 1,110,000)
Turn: Q (pot: 1,110,000)
River: 2 (pot: 1,110,000)
Klodnicki wins the pot of 1,110,000.

CK: Some might say that my play was an unnecessary risk, but I think that I just happened to run into a hand there.

CT: I can’t let you get off that easily. You’re in great shape in second chip position at this point. Did you really need to take the risk?

CK: Actually, the fact that I was in great position with my stack made it that much more likely that Grayson would reraise me light. I had been very active at the final table, but had not put up much resistance to three-bets.

CT: Had you gotten into any skirmishes with Grayson prior to this?

CK: I had position on Grayson the entire final table, so he really had no opportunities to three-bet me until we got down to shorthanded play. When he reraised, I could only put him on a range of hands, rather than specific hands. I thought he would reraise smaller with A-A or K-K. He knows that I’m rarely flat-calling in that spot, so he could have any two cards. I basically had to decide how likely it was that he actually had one of the hands that he was representing. At the time, I felt like the spot was too good to pass up. Sometimes you run into hands when you make plays. You will never be a big winning player if you get it in only with premium hands.