Final-Table Takedown -- Raj Vohra

Raj Vohra is a former tennis pro turned professional poker player. He has had great success both online and in live events. Recently, he won back-to-back prestigious online tournaments — the FTOPS [Full Tilt Online Poker Series] XV event No. 22 for $430,000, and the PokerStars SCOOP [Spring Championship of Online Poker] event No. 1 for $240,000. Earlier this year, he also won the PokerStars Sunday $500 event for $94,000. At the 2008 World Series of Poker, he finished fifth in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em event for $195,834. He has amassed more than $2 million in career tournament winnings to date.

Event: PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker event No. 1, six-max no-limit hold’em
Players: 788
Buy-in: $2,100
First Prize: $240,026
Finish: First

Hand No. 1

Key Concepts: Deep-stack preflop play with big yet vulnerable hands; having the patience to re-evaluate a hand from start to finish when faced with a decision for your tournament life

Tom “Titantom32” Braband raises to 20,000 from under the gun, “tjbentham” calls, and Raj “BadcardsAA” Vohra reraises to 68,000 with the J J from the big blind. Titantom32 reraises to 166,000, tjbentham folds, and BadcardsAA calls.

Craig Tapscott: Many inexperienced players may have shoved here or reraised again with pocket jacks, especially considering that you’re shorthanded. What are you thinking when a good, aggressive player like Tom reraises you preflop?

Raj Vohra: We’re both very deep at this point, with around a hundred big blinds. I don’t like to flip or gamble my whole stack by shoving preflop when I am that deep. The strongest part of my game is post-flop play. I like to put lots of pressure on people and force them to make difficult decisions, where they could make mistakes. Even though I have a big starting hand, I know that he’s very aggressive and a good player, so I decided to see the flop and go from there.

Flop: A 10 9 (pot: 360,000)
BadcardsAA checks. Titantom32 checks.

CT: What do you make of his check here? A good player like Titantom32 would continuation-bet most of the time. Could he have a monster, like A-A? Even then, a continuation-bet would usually be best.

RV: Tom and I have played a few hands before this, and know each other’s game. We had a similar situation a few hands before this with the same players. That time, I three-bet his open, then Tom four-bet me, and I folded a very good hand. When he checked the flop, it was definitely a surprise to me. Even if he has A-K, A-Q, or a set of aces or tens, he still has to bet here, even if it’s a small filler bet to test the waters. This is because there’s a flush draw and a straight draw on the flop. I know that he’s a good player and won’t give me a free card here on that board, unless he has a small pair, K-Q, or similar hands. But I’m happy when he checks. I’ll take the free card.

Turn: J (pot: 360,000)
BadcardsAA checks. Titantom32 bets 139,000. BadcardsAA calls.

CT: Are you being cautious against a potential monster here, or are you setting him up?

RV: I am definitely being cautious, but after I hit my set, I’m not folding. As I said, we’ve played a few hands together and he’s very aggressive. When he bets out one-third of the pot, it’s an easy call for me. I don’t want to raise here, as he may have K-Q for a straight or a set of aces. I want to see the river before I go any deeper, so I decided to just call.

River: 9 (pot: 638,000)
BadcardsAA checks. Titantom32 shoves all in for 494,675.

RV: When he shoves, there are a few thoughts going through my mind. I remember that I took 90 percent of my time bank before I decided to call. I thought through the whole hand and the way that it played out. Even though I have such a big hand, I don’t want to make a quick decision, especially when we are so deep in the tourney. At this time, I’m worried about only one hand, aces full. I thought, if he has aces full here, he might have value-bet the river for about 250,000 or so instead of shove for his whole stack. The reason is, he’s a good player, and he would like to get paid off. He might have K-Q for the straight or maybe tens full. So, of course, I decided to call.

BadcardsAA calls. Titantom32 reveals the 8 7 for the straight. BadcardsAA wins the pot of 1,627,350.

RV: I was kind of surprised that he shoved the river with the low-end straight, especially when he had the option to check and still be left with more than 60 big blinds. There are so many hands that can beat him on that board, and he has good showdown value on the river with the straight. I think that was the key moment for me in the tournament. It put me in a comfortable position and gave me a huge chip lead.

Hand No. 2

Key Concepts: Blind-versus-blind hand ranges; applying pressure to opponents with vulnerable stacks; recognizing the value of pay jumps to less experienced players at the table; showdown value

“Baloo1962” raises from the small blind to 75,000. Raj “BadcardsAA” Vohra calls from the big blind with the K 8.

Flop: Q Q 2 (pot: 172,500)
Baloo1962 checks. BadcardsAA bets 88,000.

CT: So, you figured you would take a stab at it?

RV: When he checked, I knew that he had missed, and I tried to take it down.

Baloo1962 raises to 176,000.

CT: What now?

RV: This is a min-raise [minimum-raise]. I have a 2-1 chip lead on him, so I decided to play back at him and went with my instinct that he really didn’t have a hand here.

BadcardsAA reraises to 340,000.

CT: Why did alarm bells go off in your head when he raised you?

RV: He was a very aggressive player, and I’d seen him show down some weird hands. Since I had a 2-1 chip lead and position, and there were big pay jumps coming up, I didn’t think he would be willing to gamble with me, since he was out of position with a weak hand. I was putting pressure on him and showing strength. If he had A-2 or A-X, he would fold.

CT: What hands are you representing by doing this?

RV: I’m representing any kind of pair — 3-3 to 7-7 — or Q-10, Q-J, and so on after calling his raise preflop.

Baloo1962 calls.
Turn: 8 (pot: 852,500)

RV: I was surprised that he called my three-bet out of position. If I missed the turn, I already had decided that I was going to jam him, but I hit my 8 for two pair. Now, I have showdown value, and don’t need to gamble unnecessarily when I know that I probably have the winning hand, because he will call only with a better hand, so there is no need to bet.

Baloo1962 checks. BadcardsAA checks.
River: 9 (pot: 852,500)
Baloo1962 checks.

RV: After he checked the river, I would bet 90 percent of the time with my 8, but I decided to check because of his stack size or in the unlikely case that he had A-9 or some similar hand.

BadcardsAA checks. Baloo1962 reveals the K 9 and wins the pot of 852,500.

RV: I’m still very surprised that he called my three-bet on the flop with K-9 — no pair and no draw.