Final-Table Takedown -- Matt Matros

Matt Matros is a Brooklyn, New York, poker player, a columnist for Card Player magazine, and a poker coach. He was the valedictorian of his high-school class, and went on to earn a B.S. in mathematics at Yale University. In addition, he has an M.F.A. degree from Sarah Lawrence College. In 2004, he finished third in the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship, for $706,903, and has more than $1.5 million in career tournament winnings. He recently won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet, in limit hold’em, and also has reached numerous final tables in major no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha events. He can be found at CardRunners.com, where he makes training videos as an instructor. He also is the author of the book The Making of a Poker Player.

Event: 2010 World Series of Poker event No. 12, limit hold’em
Players in the Event: 625
Buy-in: $1,500
First Prize: $189,870
Finish: First

Hand No. 1

Key Concepts: Hand valuation; dealing with scary turn and river cards

Terrence Chan raises to 30,000 from under the gun. Matt Matros reraises to 45,000 from early position with the 9 9.

Matt Matros: This is a borderline hand against an early-position raiser in limit hold’em, but Terrence has, quite properly, been playing very aggressively, trying to amass enough chips to win the tournament. So, I thought my nines had pretty good value against his range. But then, Adrian Dresel-Velasquez goes into the tank immediately behind me. My read is that he’s not “Hollywooding,” and that he has a legitimate decision to make, facing three bets cold.

Craig Tapscott: So, what would be his hand range in this spot?

MM: I think he has something in the neighborhood of J-J, Q-Q, or A-K.

CT: Can you share some of the preflop strategies and hand ranges for limit hold’em, compared to what most players are aware of as proper strategy for no-limit hold’em?

MM: Well, speculative hands like suited connectors and weak suited aces are less valuable in limit hold’em, especially in early position. Implied odds are bigger in no-limit, so sometimes 6-5 suited can be played from under the gun. You wouldn’t want to do that in limit. Stealing in general is just not as valuable in limit, either. It’s too easy for opponents to call.

Dresel-Velasquez reraises to 60,000 from middle position. Chan calls. Matros calls.
Flop: 10 9 7 (pot: 203,000)

MM: It’s obviously a beautiful flop for my hand.

Chan checks. Matros checks. Dresel-Velasquez bets 15,000. Chan raises to 30,000.

CT: What’s Chan raising with here?

MM: The raise leads me to believe that he probably has an overpair, or possibly even one of the other sets, although it could just be a big draw, or A-10 or 8-8.

Matros reraises to 45,000. Dresel-Velasquez folds.

MM: Adrian folds what he later said (believably) was pocket queens. This is a pretty strong laydown on his part, as there is a definite possibility that he still has the best hand. I could have jacks or maybe even eights.

Chan calls.
Turn: J (pot: 308,000)

CT: That’s not a very good card.

MM: No. This is not a good card, as 8-8 and J-J just got there, but I’m still far enough ahead of Terrence’s range that when he checks to me, I have to bet.

Chan checks. Matros bets 30,000. Chan raises to 60,000.

CT: What now?

MM: Well, now I don’t like my hand much. I still have to call, as I could have 10 outs. I could even have the best hand if Terrence has something like Q-Q or J-10, or a set of sevens, or the A K.

Matros calls.
River: K (pot: 428,000)

CT: The board kept getting worse and worse for your hand.

MM: I know. I can’t even beat Q-Q anymore.

Chan bets 30,000. Matros calls. Chan reveals the J J. Chan wins the pot of 488,000.

MM: I call, praying for 7-7 or the A K. It wasn’t to be, as Terrence turns over his hand — the turned set. I had been rallying before this hand, and losing the set-over-set pot definitely sent me back to the drawing board for a while.

Hand No. 2

Key Concepts: Extracting value; range-balancing

Georgios Kapalas raises to 60,000 from the cutoff.

MM: I look down at the A 7. While this is not a big hand, it’s a good hand to reraise with from the button against a strong, aggressive player in the cutoff, and Georgios is certainly both of those things.

CT: Please explain why A-7 is a good hand to reraise with in this spot against this type of opponent.

MM: Georgios is aggressive enough that A-7 offsuit is likely even money or so against his range here. This is not a criticism of him, as A-7 offsuit would be even money against my cutoff range, as well. With the blinds also out there to be won, and with my having position on Georgios, this is a good spot to three-bet. The other factor is that you don’t want a strong player to start running over you. When I have the button, I don’t like to give it up easily.

Matros reraises to 90,000 from the button. Terrence Chan reraises to 120,000 from the big blind. Kapalas folds.

MM: Georgios, surprisingly, folds, which means that he must’ve had the very bottom of his opening range.

Matros calls.
Flop: 7 7 3 (pot: 315,000)

CT: You’re a luckbox.

MM: I know. I almost can’t believe how lucky I’ve gotten, and now I’m just trying to figure out how to get the most bets in.

Chan bets 30,000. Matros calls.

CT: Could Chan become suspicious here with your smooth-call?

MM: I would call on this flop when getting 11.5-1 with many hands, so it looks very natural for me to call here without having Terrence suspect that I have a monster.

Turn: J (pot: 375,000)
Chan checks. Matros bets 60,000. Chan raises to 120,000.

CT: What do you suspect he’s holding at this point?

MM: It’s very likely that he has a decent pocket pair, and it’s even possible that he turned jacks full. If he did, however, I’m just going to lose a lot more chips.

Matros reraises to 180,000. Chan calls.
River: 6 (pot: 735,000)
Chan checks.

CT: There’s really no way that the river card helped Chan, right?

MM: No. To me, it’s a complete blank. Based on the preflop action, it is basically impossible for Terrence to have 5-4, and based on the turn action, it’s extremely unlikely that he has 6-6.

Matros bets 60,000. Chan calls, then mucks when Matros flips over his hand. Matros wins the pot of 855,000.

MM: Terrence called with what he later said was A-A. I believe him. What a bad beat for Terrence, and what a lucky pot for me. About 30 percent of the chips in the tournament were in the middle, and scooping that pot gave me the chip lead for the first time. It was the turning point of the final table, and from there on out, I thought I played well enough to win. And then I was lucky enough to actually win!