My Move With A-10

In a $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the World Series of Poker, I had 9,600 in chips right after the dinner break. With the blinds at 300-600 and a 75 ante, the player on my right (in the cutoff) opened for 1,200. I was on the button with A-10 offsuit, and opted to smooth-call. From the small blind, Eric Lee made it 4,800 to go. The original raiser folded, and I counted down my chips. I could fold, call 3,600, or call 3,600 and move all in for 4,800 more. I studied Lee for a moment, wondering if I had the best hand. Lee is pretty young, and a lot of the young guns make moves with weak hands. As I studied him, I began to feel like he didn’t have a hand that he could “snap-call” for 4,800 more, like A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, or A-K. But I thought that he was probably “priced in” (he had to call the 4,800 no matter what his hand was). Finally, I reminded myself that I had smooth-called the min-raise [minimum-raise] to induce one of the players in the blinds to reraise. Now that I had received the action that I had sought, I would have to go with my plan and move all in, right?

So, I moved all in, knowing that there was heat on Lee because he was basically putting his tournament life on the line with a call (he had only 5,800 left). Plus, my move looked very strong. You can assume that someone is very strong when he moves all in while knowing that his opponent will most likely call. Lee studied for a minute, and by then, I had the feeling that he had A-J, 9-9, or something similar. Of course, now that I thought that he had me beat, I was rooting for him to fold. Eventually, he called, and I said, “You have A-J?”

He said, “No, A-Q.”

I said, “Nice call; you deserve to win this one.”

The first four boardcards came down A-J-7-4, and then to everyone’s surprise, the river card was a 10! It was the first time that I had been all in during the tournament, and was the last time that I would be all in until late on day three (level 22).

Let’s take a closer look at this hand. My smooth-call with A-10 was an interesting play. Many players would consider A-10 too weak to smooth-call and set a trap with. However, I do not mind my trap. I did have two young players in the blinds behind me, and I had the impression that they were very aggressive. Also, I like the fact that I smooth-called very quickly. Too often, players study for a while before smooth-calling with a hand with which they are trapping, and by acting quickly, I sent a message that I wasn’t very strong. I like Lee’s 4,800 bet. By Internet-math-guy standards, Lee’s roughly pot-sized raise may have been too much (or too little!), but this raise size is in line with classic standards. As for my all-in move, the pro is that I set up the play and read him as not being extremely strong; the con is that he is priced in, so I can expect a call.

I went on to finish in a very disappointing 15th place.

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