Final Table Takedown -- Eric Brix

Eric Brix, 24, grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. He started playing poker at free local bar tournaments shortly after turning 21. He then deposited some money online while attending summer school at St. Cloud State University. He dabbled in $1-$2 six-max no-limit hold’em cash games at the start. He then gravitated toward mixed-game tournaments, because he felt the outcome of no-limit events was based mostly on luck. He eventually began to share and discuss no-limit hands with fellow players. His confidence and game evolved, and as his understanding of concepts and situations clicked, so did his results. Over the last two years, Brix has cashed for more than $750,000 in online events.

Event: PokerStars Sunday Million
Players in the Event: 8,885
Buy-in: $200
First Prize: $253,755
Finish: First

Hand No. 1
Stacks: Eric “AceQuad” Brix – 4,383,928 Villain – 8,273,663
Blinds: 80,000-160,000
Antes: 16,000
Players at the Table: 8

Hand No. 1
Key Concepts: Pot control; checking to induce; hand reading

Craig Tapscott: At what stage of the tournament does this hand come up?

Eric “AceQuad” Brix: It was in the late stages of the tournament, down to about three tables remaining. When my tables had been less than full ring, I’d been extremely active.

AceQuad raises to 334,444 with the A A.

EB: This raise is 2.1 times the big blind, like all of my other raises this deep in the tourney. I want to make it less profitable for my opponents to reraise all in against me, and leave myself with more bullets to fire. Plus, if I do this, I can be deceptive by raising with any two cards in some random spots.

CT: What’s your image at this table?

EB: My image at this table was really aggressive, because I was at 10 big blinds and jamming all in a lot before this. I eventually woke up with K-K a few hands prior to this one, and almost tripled my stack when there was some extra dead money in the pot. So, when I opened this pot, I had about 27 big blinds.

The villain calls from the button.
Flop: Q J 3 (pot: 1,036,888)
AceQuad bets 355,555. The villain calls.

CT: Do you have any history with the villain or any kind of read on his hand after he smooth-calls your continuation-bet?

EB: The villain was on my left when we were six-handed, and I had jammed his blinds a few times. I think his perception of me was that there was a crazy player named AceQuad to his right. Before this hand, we’d seen no flops together, because I had been short and couldn’t really afford to play flops.

Turn: J (pot: 1,747,998)

EB: This is when I really start asking myself, what hand can he have? I would say that the most likely hands would be K-J, A-J, 3-3, K-10, 10-9, A-Q, and K-Q, or he was creative with air, as he has position. So at this point I could be beat, or he is going to bluff two streets with position. That is why I check the turn. If I am beat, I want to lose the smallest amount, but I’m almost always willing to go broke with A-A with 27 big blinds. So at this point in the hand, I’ve already determined that I will check-call two streets.

AceQuad checks. The villain bets 985,865. AceQuad calls.
River: 2 (pot: 3,719,728)
AceQuad checks.

EB: I’m not afraid of that 2 at all, but I don’t improve my hand. I check again, knowing that he has position and that I’m afraid of only a few hands. He also could think A-Q or K-Q is good.

The villain moves all in, having AceQuad covered. AceQuad calls 2,692,064. The villain reveals the A 8. AceQuad wins the pot of 9,103,856.

Hand No. 2
Stacks: Eric “AceQuad” Brix – 59,104,392 Villain – 29,745,608
Blinds: 500,000-1,000,000
Antes: 100,000
Players at the Table: 2

Hand No. 2
Key Concepts: Hand reading; pot control; metagame

CT: There was a chop before this when it got shorthanded. How does this affect your and your opponent’s play, knowing that both of you already have won six figures?

EB: When we got to the final table, I was the chip leader. We made the chop with four people left for a little less than $150,000, and then I went on to win it, for $30,000 more. About two hands after we chopped, the short stack jammed K-8 suited and was called by A-Q suited; right there, I noticed that I may need to tighten my play, because now only first place mattered, and people would be more willing to gamble.

CT: So, how did you adjust and use this information to your advantage?

EB: Well, if I chose to get involved, I would need a much stronger starting hand. I also switched to min-raising [minimum-raising], because restealing is very common in three-handed play.

CT: What had been the dynamics between the two of you up to this point in the heads-up match?

EB: Earlier in the tournament, I had raised with A-K from the button, and he’d called from the big blind with K-2 offsuit. I was surprised to see him defend his blind with that hand. I’d also noticed that he liked to play a lot of flops. So, when we got to heads up, I knew that his range of hands was very wide. Because of this knowledge, I knew that my main strategy would be to do a lot of trapping.

The villain opens for 2,500,000. AceQuad calls from the big blind with the A 8.
Flop: 10 10 7 (pot: 5,200,000)
AceQuad checks. The villain bets 3,000,000.

EB: Since it’s a paired board and we are heads up, I feel like ace high is good most of the time. So, I …

AceQuad calls.
Turn: A (pot: 11,200,000)
AceQuad checks. The villain checks.

CT: Why the check on the turn?

EB: I check the ace because I’m out of position, and mainly because if I bet, I may kill my action unless he raises me on a bluff.

River: Q (pot: 11,200,000)
AceQuad checks.

EB: I check again because I feel that most of the time, he has no hand in this spot, and in order to win the pot, he needs to bet.

The villain moves all in.

CT: That had to be unexpected. What could he have to take this line?

EB: I thought about what he could have, and felt that he had either air, K-J, or ace-rag, which meant we were chopping. I eliminated the possibility that he could have a 10 here, because of his check on the turn. And I was calling about 24,000,000 into an 11,200,000 pot. I came to the conclusion that he had air or it was a chop, so …

AceQuad calls. The villain reveals the Q 2. AceQuad wins the pot of 59,491,216.

EB: The way that he played this hand never really added up to me, so that information also made my decision tough. I think his shove on the river usually means that he got lucky or has air. When I made the call, I knew that it was not for my tournament life, and if I lost, I still could make a comeback.