Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Shaun Goldsbury

Event: PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker no-limit hold’em event No. 20 – medium
Buy-in: $215
Players in the Event: 8,912
First Place: $294,200
Finish: First

Hand No. 1
Blinds: 250-500
Antes: 60
Players at the Table: 9
Stacks: Goldsbury – 34,000; Villain – 29,000

Goldsbury raises to 1,300 from under the gun with the 8 8.

Craig Tapscott: What are the options you considered with a medium pair from under the gun?

Shaun Goldsbury: My stack of 70 big blinds enables me to open with more hands. With a small stack, I would shove, and with a medium stack, I might just fold. Also, I would never limp with antes in play.

The villain calls from the button.

CT: Have you observed the villain close enough to have any reads on this call?

SG: I had seen the villain making preflop calls from late position several times, so I felt that he could have a much wider calling range here than most people. I would think that most of the time, he would reraise me with a big pair. Also, the fact that he seemed to like making those calls tells me that he’s probably more likely to use his position to try to take the hand away from me post-flop.

Flop: 7 5 5 (pot: 3,890)
Goldsbury bets 1,885. The villain calls.

CT: Can you narrow his range yet?

SG: When he calls me on the flop, there is quite a large range of hands that I feel he could have. He could have a 7, a 5, a pocket pair, or a flush draw, or he could be floating me with air.

Turn: 5 (pot: 7,660)

SG: The 5 is a good card for me. Any overcard or club is a dangerous card, and I felt that he was capable of betting at these danger cards, even if he didn’t have it. It also makes it a lot less likely that he has a 5 in his hand.

Goldsbury checks.

SG: I decided to check here for a number of reasons: (1) I felt he would bet with air if he had floated me on the flop. (2) I wanted to try to give him a free card to hit the flush, now that I had a boat. (3) I thought he might bet a 7 for value if he had one. (4) I’m minimizing my losses if he has a 5, 7-7, or 9-9 to J-J, and has me beat. (5) If I bet, there are very few hands that I am beating that would call. In checking, I already had decided to call a bet, given that my hand was still ahead of most of his range.

The villain bets 4,150. Goldsbury calls.
River: 4 (pot: 15,960)

CT: Good card.

SG: It’s a beautiful card for me. It completes the flush draw and also a straight draw, and isn’t a dangerous overcard. I didn’t think he had the flush or the straight, as it probably makes more sense for him to check behind on that turn rather than bet at it, but some players may bet there with a draw, so it’s not totally out of his range.

CT: Can you bet this river for value?

SG: There is no point in betting here, as there are hardly any hands worse than mine that may call; probably only a 7, 6-6, or the odd time that he did hit the straight or the flush. On the other hand, if I check, he not only probably bets for value some of that range that I beat, but probably tries to bluff me if he has nothing.

Goldsbury checks. The villain bets 7,700. Goldsbury calls. The villain reveals the A J. Goldsbury wins the pot of 31,360.

Hand No. 2
Blinds: 400-800
Antes: 100
Players at the Table: 9
Stacks: Goldsbury – 44,000; Villain – 44,000

Goldsbury raises to 1,888 from early position with the 10 9.

CT: Your opening range seems to be pretty wide from early position.

SG: With a big stack like this, I will open from early position with suited connectors sometimes. The fact that I am raising from early position means that I can play the hand aggressively post-flop when called, and quite easily represent a big ace or a big pair. When I do hit the flop with my hand, it’s also quite disguised, as most people aren’t thinking you have this type of hand when you raise from early position. I hadn’t played a lot of hands at this table and had a solid image, so hopefully I would get more credit for having a hand here.

The villain calls from the cutoff.

SG: The villain is a good online pro. I think this was the first time that I had seen him call a raise preflop. I think he has a pretty tight calling range — basically, all pairs up to J-J or Q-Q, and a few Broadway hands. Occasionally, he may have A-A or K-K, but only a small percentage of the time.

Flop: 8 7 2 (pot: 5,876)
Goldsbury bets 3,125. The villain calls.

SG: Now, I think he most likely has a pocket pair or a flush draw.

Turn: Q (pot: 12,126)

CT: Can you fire again at this turn card?

SG: I decided to keep betting here, because with my early raise and good image, I can represent that I have A-A, K-K, A-Q, or K-Q on that board. Usually, I also would bet a diamond-flush draw in this spot. I expect him to fold all of his smaller pairs to this semibluff bet, as well as the small percentage of hands with which he may have tried to float me.

Goldsbury bets 7,225. The villain calls.

CT: This has to concern you a bit.

SG: Well, first let’s narrow his range further. The club draw would be a little bit awkward to play in this spot for him, because of our stack sizes, and he may just call on two streets with it, particularly if he has at least one overcard. He probably still calls with 9-9 to J-J. I also felt that if he had a set or was slow-playing A-A or K-K, he would have raised at this point, as I’ve shown real strength by betting at all three opportunities, and there are a lot of draws out there now.

River: 8 (pot: 26,576)

SG: That’s not a bad card for me. Although I missed my straight, the backdoor flush got there. I don’t think he has an 8 or the diamond flush. It is not likely that I have an 8, either, as I wouldn’t bet on the turn with an 8 unless I had 8-7, but I can definitely represent the flush as well as many other hands. Given that we have narrowed his range to 9-9 to J-J, or possibly a flush draw, I decide that I can make him fold most of the time.

Goldsbury pushes all in for more than 31,000.

CT: When the villain sees this shove, what’s he thinking about your hand?

SG: If you are sitting there with 9-9 to J-J, this is a hard bet to call from someone who has shown strength by betting at every available chance. The way the hand played, I probably would play 2-2, 7-7, 8-8, A-A, K-K, A-Q, or a diamond flush in exactly the same way, and K-Q is certainly a possibility, too. He’s beating only a bluff, which is most likely to be a missed flush draw. Having to call 31,000 to win 58,000, he needs to be right most of the time that I’ve missed a draw and don’t have one of the many other hands that beat him.

The villain folds. Goldsbury wins the pot of 26,576.

Shaun Goldsbury is a high-stakes online-tournament player with more than $1 million in online-tournament winnings. His best money finishes are a first place in the SCOOP event discussed here, for $294,200; third place in the GSOP main event on Ongame, for $64,000; and first place in the Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed, for $40,000. Currently, he is working as an instructor for the training site PokerXFactor.