Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Faraz Jaka

Event: World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic
Players in the Event: 329
Buy-in: $15,000
First Prize: $1,428,430
Finish: Third
Players at the Table: 6
Stacks: Faraz Jaka – 4,245,000; Daniel Alaei – 4,820,000
Blinds: 40,000-80,000
Antes: 5,000

Daniel Alaei raises to 210,000 from middle position. Faraz Jaka looks down at the 10 10 in the cutoff.

CT: Both of you are pretty deep-stacked at this point. What are your options here with tens?

FJ: I have 53 big blinds. From late position, tens are a great hand to three-bet most of the time, because people will four-bet shove on you with smaller pairs that you dominate. But since we are so deep, it is unlikely that a worse hand would get it in with me.

Jaka calls.

CT: You’ve had a lot of experience online. How would this spot differ online?

FJ: In an online tournament, I might three-bet and call 40 big blinds or less, depending on the player. But since this is a huge televised event, I think people are less likely to four-bet shove light, so I would still probably flat-call. Also, it was very early at the final table, and there were no real dynamics between us, which was another reason that I’d want to keep the pot small preflop.

Flop: A K Q (pot: 570,000)
Alaei checks. Jaka checks.

FJ: The flop was a pretty standard check. I have a gutshot and a backdoor-flush draw. Danny would check-call with a weak ace, and any one pair that was a king or a queen, to control the pot.

CT: You don’t think it’s worth taking a stab at the pot?

FJ: Since it’s not likely he folds any hand that beats me, there is no point in turning my hand into a bluff, so I just take the free card.

CT: Have you established some kind of hand range for Alaei at this point, especially after he showed weakness by checking a flop that hits a lot of hands with which he would have raised preflop?

FJ: In one sense, he showed weakness, because now that he has checked, it’s unlikely that he has a set, two pair, or a straight. In another sense, checking shows a certain amount of strength, because most players will bet the nuts or air on this board, and check most hands in between. So, by checking, he actually shows a level of strength, as well, which is why there is no point in betting.

Turn: J (pot: 570,000)
Alaei checks.

FJ: I hit my straight. This is a standard betting spot. There are tons of two-pair hands he could have with which he will certainly pay me off.

Jaka bets 275,000. Alaei calls.
River: 5 (pot: 1,120,000)
Alaei checks.

CT: What’s the plan? Are you worried about the flush hitting on the river?

FJ: It is unlikely that he checked a flush draw on the flop, so I’m not too worried about it. All I’m thinking about is if he thinks I could have the flush or not. I know that he knows I am a very aggressive player, and that I would bet the flush draw a lot on the flop.

CT: So, how do you determine your bet-sizing to get the most value?

FJ: Well, I actually think this card makes it more likely that he will call my river bet, because he also knows that I’m the type of player who will try to make moves when good scare cards come out. For that reason, I bet about 80 percent of the pot instead of something smaller.

Jaka bets 900,000. Alaei calls and mucks his hand when Jaka reveals the straight. Jaka wins the pot of 2,920,000.

CT: Do you think Alaei would have called a larger bet on the river?

FJ: I was tempted to bet closer to the pot amount, or maybe even overbet the pot. The reason I didn’t do that was because it was the very beginning of the final table. I felt that if I could get a guaranteed call from him, it would be a pretty big hit to his stack, and would immediately put the momentum in my favor. So, because of the psychological reasons, I didn’t want to take the risk of him folding, even if betting a little more had a bit more positive expected value in the hand.

CT: You obviously revel in the deep-stack head games. It seems that you like to create a ripple effect by initiating the actions that will cause an undercurrent that shoves your opponents off balance in future hands.

FJ: Yes. There are times when making a play might have negative expected value within a certain hand, but will have overall positive expected value because it will increase your implied odds in the future. Maybe it will be in the same cash-game session or tournament, or maybe a month down the road at the next WPT stop. The moral of the story is that it’s very hard to quantify, which is why deep-stack poker really brings out the beauty of no-limit hold’em.

CT: Share an example with us.

FJ: A young man takes his seat 45 minutes into level one of the WPT $15,000 Bellagio Cup. He announces to the table, “I tell you what, I’m in a gambling mood today, boys and girls. Let’s have some fun.” He sits down in his black slacks and flamboyant purple striped shirt, and pulls out a $10,000 wad of bills and asks if anyone wants to side-bet flops. The blinds are 25-50, and he throws out 200 in chips from third position before it’s his turn to act, and declares that he’s raising blind if it’s folded to him. He immediately gets three-bet to 700 by an older, conservative-looking gentlemen at the table, who doesn’t seem too amused by his antics. He looks down and sees 10-5 suited, and makes the call out of position. Let the games begin. At this point, one of three scenarios will take place:

1. The flop will completely miss the young man, he will check and fold, and will start the tournament down 700 (of course, he will show the 10-5 suited).

2. He will hit the 10 or the 5, and will play a small pot.

3. He will crack his opponent’s hand to win a pot of more than 10,000. The man will get furious, and maybe even go on tilt, after seeing the 10-5. And the other players at the table, who have been filled with yawns and blank robotic movements, now begin to crack up at the situation and decide that it’s finally time to start playing some hands.

CT: You don’t mind making negative expected value plays to set things up?

FJ: When playing such a deep-stack game, whether it’s a cash game or the early stages of a big tournament, the small amount of money that you might lose by setting up your image is nothing compared to what it can potentially help you gain in the future.

Faraz Jaka is among the few hybrid (live and online) players who have had major success in both arenas. He has won more than $1 million in online tournaments in the last three years, and has cashed for more than $2 million in live events in the last 12 months. In 2009, he finished third in the World Series of Poker $5,000 six-max event, second in the WPT Bellagio Cup, and third in the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic. In 2010, he already has made the final table of the North American Poker Tour high-roller bounty shootout, and cashed in the WPT Shooting Star main event.