Hand 2 Hand Combat --Michael ‘mman_status’ Meredith

Event Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan no-limit hold’em tournament
Buy-in $200
Players in the Event 1,307
First Place $57,508
Finish Second

Hand No. 1
Blinds 800-1,600
Antes 200
Players at the Table 8
Stacks “mman_status” – 63,318; Villain – 51,631

The villain raises to 3,200 from the small blind.

Craig Tapscott: Set up the action for us, Michael.

Michael “mman_status” Meredith: OK. This hand was deep in the tourney and the table was playing pretty aggressively. The villain in the hand was on the aggressive side, but he also was one of the weaker players at the table. He certainly was doing some unorthodox things. Once before, he had min-raised [minimum-raised] and given up post-flop, and another time had opened for 2.6 times the big blind in a blind-versus-blind situation.

CT: What kind of information did you pick up from this?

MM: It let me know that his min-raise wasn’t his standard open, and that he varied his opens according to what hand he held.

Mman_status calls from the big blind with the 10 8.

MM: I elect to call with 10-8 offsuit, since I have position against a weaker player who has continually raised my blind. Certainly, a three-bet would also be fine here, and I think that not three-betting here enough is a leak in my game right now.

CT: Any other reason for calling with such a marginal hand?

MM: By defending here, even if we get to showdown and I lose, it shows him that I’m willing to play post-flop with him, and hopefully it will discourage him from getting out of line against me. I’m also getting great odds and have position.

Flop: Q Q 6 (pot: 8,000)
The villain checks; mman_status checks.

MM: I elect to check behind, as it’s difficult to represent a queen here, which is why I’d probably bet the flop with a queen. I also would mix up betting versus checking a 6 here if I had it. I was going to evaluate the turn to see if I should bet and try to get a fold, or give up on the hand if I thought he was strong.

Turn: A (pot: 8,000)
The villain bets 3,888.

MM: This is a good card for him to represent, so I decide that I’m not giving up. He bets about half the pot, and I …

Mman_status calls.

MM: At this point, he has to put me on a queen, an ace, or air. It’s also extremely difficult for him to continue on the river unless he has a queen or an ace, giving me the opportunity to take the pot on the river. Of course, he will check-call with an ace, but he will never check the river with a queen.

CT: I understand that you have a plan, but you see so many players float flops for a variety of reasons, good and bad. Give us some more insight into what you’ve got up your sleeve here.

MM: Bad players are definitely floating lighter nowadays. When I choose a course of action in a hand, I always want to be able to articulate exactly why I made the decision. Metagame, when dealing with blinds battles, has the aggressor getting called down very light nowadays. In this case, the bettor is representing an extremely narrow range of hands (there are no draws and there is a paired board). By calling the turn, I’m representing what he intended to be his range. Hypothetically, I’m checking back the river without an ace or a queen, and I know that’s also exactly what he needs in order to bet the river. If he checks the river, he never has a queen and rarely has an ace. I think my line is so standard for a value hand, he would have to believe me if he wasn’t holding an ace. I also had not shown down a bluff at the table, and thought my image was right for this type of play.

River: 7 (pot: 15,776)
The villain checks; mman_status bets 8,450.

MM: When he checked a blank river, I bluffed with a half-pot bet, disguising my bluff as a value-bet.

The villain folds; mman_status wins the pot of 15,776.

Hand No. 2

Blinds 4,000-8,000
Antes 1,000
Players at the Table 5
Stacks “mman_status” – 388,142; Villain – 845,580

CT: It’s the final-table bubble. Do you usually step up your aggression now, to take advantage of scared money or less experienced players at the table?

MM: Well, two or three years ago, final-table bubbles were great spots to accumulate chips, but the present-day game flow makes that much more difficult, as nobody is afraid of it anymore. For ICM (Independent Chip Model) reasons, and due to the fact that I believe my shorthanded game is weaker than my full-ring game, I elect to play on the tighter side while selecting occasional spots to pick up chips.

CT: Please clarify your ICM reasoning.

MM: ICM dictates how much your chips are worth in real money. On the bubble of a final table, I don’t think making the high-variance plays to accumulate more chips, which could leave you crippled or out, will actually lead to your making more real money in the tournament.

The villain raises to 16,227 from under the gun.

MM: The villain is the chip leader at the table. He had been playing very aggressively. I knew that if I three-bet, he could put me to a difficult decision with a small four-bet, and it was going to be a high-variance outcome. So, when he opened, I elected to …

Mman_status calls from the button with the A 9.

CT: I’m sure that with the read you had on the villain, you’re way ahead of his opening range.

MM: Yes. I’m crushing his range here, given how much he’s been opening on the bubble and in general, but I still elect to call preflop, as he just about min-raised. I have position and can keep the pot small preflop. I believe that he will at least double-barrel an ace-high flop or turn every single time, and I have no intention of folding. I also could gain extra equity if I pick up a flush draw on the flop or turn.

Flop: A 8 4 (pot: 49,454)
The villain bets 24,242; mman_status calls.

Turn: 10 (pot: 97,938)
The villain bets 36,577.

CT: That’s a pretty small turn bet in relation to the pot.

MM: I know. I still think I’m ahead, but his bet-sizing puts me in a weird spot. I don’t want to raise, as I’m committing myself, and calling really doesn’t protect my hand.

Mman_status calls.

MM: I choose the lesser of two evils, and a lower-variance play rather than raise-calling.

River: Q (pot: 171,092)

MM: The queen completes some two pairs of cards that he could have been raising preflop; for example, A-Q. I’m not thrilled with the river at all.

The villain checks; mman_status checks; the villain reveals the 4 2; mman_status wins the pot of 171,092.

CT: Do you think that you could have squeezed any value out of your hand?

MM: I checked back, thinking I could not get another street of value from his worse hands, and because he check-calls with mostly better hands. I also liked having the information of what he raises with from under the gun in this type of situation. Playing the hand this way was also beneficial to me because he had to shut down to try to repair his image a bit.

Michael Meredith, 27, has been grinding professionally for a little over four years. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, and went to work in the finance department of a hotel. He worked eight months before taking a shot at playing professionally, and hasn’t looked back. He made the final table of the $1,000 PokerStars Sunday Million in 2007, finishing fourth for $100,000. He has more than $1.5 million in online-tournament cashes.