World Series of Poker Blues II

In my last column, “World Series of Poker Blues,” I discussed my slow demise in the main event from 35th place in chips after day 2 to busting out on day 4, out of the money. This column will look at some of the brighter spots from day 1.

The Bluff

Every year in the main event, there is usually a hand or two in which I may get a little too creative, get myself into trouble, and then either make a play that looks brilliant or donk off a lot of chips. The following hand was a little creative and a little lucky at the same time.

First, here’s a little background: I was quite card-dead; I hadn’t been dealt a pocket pair higher than 9-9 the entire day. In addition, I was at a relatively tough table, especially for day 1, with several top pros sitting on both my left and my right. The combination of these two factors caused me to play a relatively tight and very straightforward game up until this point.

We were in the fourth level, after the dinner break. A very good player in middle position raised. The next player, Joshua Tieman, a WSOP bracelet winner and high-stakes player, called. I called from the cutoff with the 8♣ 7♣. The flop came A♥ 9♥ 9♠. The initial raiser bet 1,100, Joshua called, and of course I raised to 3,700 with my powerful backdoor-straight draw. The initial raiser folded, and Joshua called.

My primary thinking here is that unless one of my opponents has A-A or a 9, I will be able to get them to fold any A-X hand on either the flop or the turn, given my tight image. The initial raiser, in fact, might fold A-X on the flop, given my raise against a bettor and a caller. Once Joshua calls, I really think that he has either trips or a flush draw. I was confident at the time that he probably knew that I wouldn’t raise in this spot with a hand like A-Q, so he likely wasn’t calling with an A-X hand.

I was planning on making a substantial bet on the turn if a heart didn’t come. Unfortunately, the poker gods didn’t cooperate, and a small heart fell on the turn. We both checked. I pretty much gave up on the hand, as I thought that it would be difficult to get Joshua to fold a flush or trips at this point. Then, the poker gods decided to mix it up a bit and put an ace on the river. Joshua checked, with about 10,000 remaining in his stack. There was about 11,000 in the pot.
Well, if I want to win the pot, I obviously have to bet. Joshua would have a hard time calling with a flush.

The question is how much to bet. I decided that the best way to look strong was to put in a weakish-looking bet that appeared to want a call. At the same time, a smallish bet compared to the size of the pot will still represent a hefty chunk of his stack. I bet 4,100, hoping for a quick fold. Unfortunately, Joshua went into the tank for several minutes, making me sweat it out. I suspect that he really doubted that I would raise the flop with A-X, but at the same time, he probably had a hard time figuring out what I was holding. Would I raise with total air on the flop? That would be a great read, given how I was playing that day. My most likely hand is 9-X. I raise the flop with trips, check the flush card on the turn, and make a small value-bet on the river with my boat. But he sure thought it through a lot. If he had a flush, he really had a good read on me, thinking that long, and was just unable to pull the trigger. If he had 9-X himself and folded, my image had really worked in my favor.

I normally don’t show my hands, but I decided to show this one to present a little different image; hopefully, I could capitalize on it later, as I was still planning on playing a relatively tight game, despite this hand. It’s possible that this hand helped me out a little on my double-up hand.

The Double-Up

We have only four hands left to play on day 1. I have roughly 45,000 in chips, which is about average. I was pretty happy with my stack at this point, as I had chipped up with practically no premium starting hands all day.

Robert Mizrachi raises from early position with a monster stack. There are two callers, and I call from the big blind with K-10 suited. The flop is K-K-3. I bet 2,000, and Mizrachi calls. Damn! What am I going to do now? I don’t want to lose 10,000 on one of the last hands of the night. I pretty much don’t see Mizrachi calling in this spot with a hand that doesn’t have me beat. And then …
Boom! A 10 falls on the turn. I bet 6,000, and Mizrachi calls. He is in trouble, and I pray for a small card. The river is a 7. I bet 11,000, he raises to 27,000, and I go all in. He calls with 3-3. I’m not sure if he overplayed his hand on the river, but I would have folded K-J in this spot, and probably K-Q. I also would never three-bet the river without a boat.

The poker gods were on my side that day in both of these hands. I was on a WSOP high, until a few days later. ♠

Matthew is the owner of Dimat Enterprises, “Publishing Today’s Best Poker Books.” Dimat recently released Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em by Ed Miller, Matt Flynn, and Sunny Mehta, as well as Peak Performance Poker by Travis Steffen. Dimat publications are available at Amazon and pokerbooks.InternetTexasHoldem.com.