Interesting Tournament Hands

I often get requests to give my opinion on how somebody played a hand. Poker is a game of many choices, and sometimes you might play similar hands differently, depending on your opponent and your chip count. That is why so many poker questions are answered, “It depends.” So, with that said, I will now provide my best advice on how certain hands were played, telling you what the player actually did and how I would have played differently.

Here is the situation: It is late in the tournament and both Player A and Player B have about 30,000 in chips. The blinds are now 300-600, with a 75 ante. Player A makes a minimum-raise to 1,200 from middle position. Player B, with K-Q offsuit, decides to call from late position, and everyone else folds.

The flop is the Q J 10. Player B has the K to go along with his top pair and open-end straight draw, giving him a few extra outs if running clubs hit the board. Player A leads out for 2,100. He has been very active and has raised a number of pots with marginal hands, and often folded to a reraise. Player B decides to make the call and see what develops.

The turn card is the 8, putting a possible flush on the board and giving Player B a flush draw that should be good if another club hits — unless, of course, his opponent has the A in his hand. Player A leads again with a bet of 4,000, and Player B again makes the call.

The river card is the 9, giving Player B a king-high straight. Player A decides to check, and Player B now fires out a bet of 6,000. Player A thinks for a minute, and makes the call, turning over A-K offsuit for an ace-high straight. This, of course, tops Player B’s king-high straight, and Player B has now lost a substantial portion of his chips.

Now, let’s think this hand through together. The minimum-raise, which I don’t like to make very often, is what trapped Player B into playing a big pot with K-Q when he did not have to do so. The flop of Q-J-10 was very dangerous for a one-pair hand, even against a loose raiser like Player A. I think that flat-calling both the flop and the turn was reasonable for Player B, and I also think that Player A made reasonable bets in both cases, trying to get some action on the flop and value-betting the turn, hoping that the 8 did not give Player B a flush. Now, the river (9) is where I think checking is reasonable for Player A, but Player B made a mistake. There is now a straight on the board in addition to a possible flush. If Player A makes a bet and gets raised, he has a tough decision to make. He will have to put most of his chips into the pot if he calls a raise, and his tournament life will be on the line. Checking here is reasonable, and he can call a reasonable bet if Player B bets into him, which he does. This is where Player B made a mistake, in my opinion. With a straight and a possible flush on the board, a value-bet here is not correct. He probably can get called only if he is tied or beat. There is definitely a time to value-bet, but this isn’t it. He would have the same problem calling a raise as Player A would have. His tournament life would be on the line, and he would be lucky to tie.

Here is another scenario: It is fairly early in the tournament. The blinds are 100-200. I am the player this time, and I have the J 9. There are five limpers, and I am in the cutoff seat, so I limp, too. The flop is the A Q 10. I have flopped an open-end straight-flush draw. It is checked to me, and I bet 800. I am happy to win the pot right here, but if I get called, I can’t be much of an underdog to anybody’s hand. Everyone folds around to the player on my immediate right. He check-raises to 2,500, and I call.

The turn is the 5, which completes my flush. My opponent now bets 3,500, and I decide to move in on him. He shakes his head, and you can tell that he absolutely knows he is beat. I think he felt pot-committed, and he called off his last 6,000. He turned over K-J offsuit for the nut straight. He had the K, so he did have a few outs if another club hit, as long as it wasn’t the 8, which would give me the straight flush. The river was a complete blank, and he was out of the tournament. Now the question is, was he really pot-committed? He knew with certainty that I had to have made the flush on the turn when I raised him. I had been playing fairly tight and had not shown any bluffs, so he knew that I had the goods. Why call, then? True, he did have a few outs if a club hit on the river, but why not save that 6,000? It was still early, and the blinds being only 100-200 at this stage gave him plenty of time to recover. Remember, this is a case in which he was certain that he was beat, with very few outs and only one card to come. Why not save those chips and live to fight another battle?

Tom McEvoy is a Team Pro for PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. He also is an instructor for DeepStacks University, a new online teaching site, and is available for seminars or private instruction. His website is www.tommcevoy.com.