Final-Table Takedown: Randal Flowers Takes Down Two Huge Pots Along the Way to Capturing a Second WPT Title

Randal “RandALLin” Flowers won his first World Poker Tour title last year at the Spanish Championship at the age of 20, which made him the youngest WPT champion in history. In April of 2009, he finished second in the PokerStars mid-stakes Spring Championship of Online Poker event No. 17, for $117,800. He has more than $2.6 million in online- and live-tournament career cashes.

Event: 2010 World Poker Tour Festa al Lago main event
Players in the Event: 335
Buy-in: $10,000
First Prize: $831,500
Finish: First

Hand No. 1
Stacks: Randal Flowers – 285,000 Villain – 150,000
Blinds: 1,500-3,000
Antes: 400
Players at the Table: 9

Key Concept: Knowing when to be aggressive, and against which types of opponents

Craig Tapscott: Sometimes a key hand occurs during the middle stages of an event that catapults a player to the final table. You played just such a hand on day three. Can you set the situation up for us?

Randal Flowers: Sure. The hand took place against a young Internet player. We had a history in which he had raised from the button about four orbits in a row when I was in the big blind. I knew that he was raising light, because the small blind was a very tight player. I was planning on three-betting him light the next time that he raised.

The villain raises from the button to 6,300. Flowers calls from the big blind with the A♠ 3♠.

CT: Why not put in a reraise, as you had planned?

RF: I was getting more than 4.3-1 with his small raise size, so I just called, instead. If I had found a suited two-gapper, I probably would have made it around 20,000 to go. Since I likely have the best hand anyway with the A♠ 3♠, I don’t want to waste the value that it has post-flop as a bluff-catcher on dry boards.

Flop: 8♣ 4♠ 2♠ (pot: 17,700)

RF: It was a magical flop for me.

CT: What’s your best option in this situation?

RF: I debated whether to lead or check-raise. I also could check-call. But I knew that we both were probably anticipating one of us being aggressive pretty soon. I decided, due to stack sizes and his continuation-betting frequency, that I would check-raise.

Flowers checks. The villain bets 7,800. Flowers raises to 24,400. The villain shoves all in for 135,500. Flowers calls. The villain flips over the K♠ Q♠.

RF: I had him crushed with the nut-flush draw and a gutshot.

CT: What do you think of how he played his hand with the second-nut draw?

RF: If I were in his shoes, I most certainly would have called my flop raise. Even if I am check-raising with the 7♠ 6♠ and a lot of outs, I have to fold to that big a shove. He is also preventing me from making second-best flushes, which kills his implied odds. Also, if I’m bluffing, he can just shove over my turn bet if he whiffs a spade, unless he turns a king or a queen. Then, he can just call, assuming that I’m bluffing and way behind at that point, and hoping that I will barrel off my stack.

Turn: 6♠ (pot: 304,300)
River: K♦ (pot: 304,300)
Flowers wins the pot of 304,300.

Hand No. 2
Stacks: Randal Flowers – 4,300,000 Jason Koon – 3,475,000
Blinds: 60,000-120,000
Antes: 15,000
Players Remaining: 4

Key Concepts: Realizing what you can do for value with your made hands; also taking those lines as bluffs to balance your range

CT: I’m sure that you know Jason Koon well, since both of you cut your teeth on tournament poker online.

RF: Yes. I had already anticipated Jason being the most aggressive at the table, and was planning on taking advantage of my position. He should probably be playing a little bit tighter against me, since he is second in chips to my stack. But he also could be playing aggressively to win, so I can’t bank on that.

Jason Koon raises from the button to 250,000. Flowers calls from the big blind with the J♦ 10♦.

Flop: K♥ 8♣ 8♦ (pot: 620,000)

Flowers checks. Koon bets 250,000.

CT: What hand range are you putting Koon on after this expected continuation-bet?

RF: At this point, Jason isn’t going to have much of anything after raising from the button. I’d also assume that he’d check back a fair number of ace-high hands with showdown value, so that he can call my turn bets to catch bluffs. I would never check-raise with a king or an 8 here, really. Instead, I would always call. I feel that if I check-raise, it polarizes my value range and makes it look way less likely that I have a good value hand. I elected to float, and then check-raise the turn most of the time if he bet again.

Flowers calls.

CT: Can you share in more depth why you called in this spot? Many players don’t quite understand floating the flop, and how to proceed after the turn, and why.

RF: I would definitely fold here a lot. In fact, in my head, I said, “Just fold,” but my hand kind of reached for my chips [laughing]. Basically, this is the best way for me to fight back against his wide button range without making it very obvious that I think he has nothing. I was planning on him checking the turn on a brick much of the time.

CT: Then what?

RF: Then, I would bet the river, unless it was an ace, in which case I’d just give up. If he were to bet the turn, I’d also think he would have nothing most of the time, because hands I call the flop with aren’t going to be able to handle three streets of bets for value. If he had a good hand, I believe that he would check the turn so that he could value-bet the river. Yes, I know, he checks the turn both with and without a hand. But most of the time, he just doesn’t have a good hand there. So, when he bets the turn, most of the time he isn’t trying to get another street of value, but is trying to push me off a weak hand, such as a small pocket pair or ace high.

Turn: 9♦ (pot: 1,120,000)

Flowers checks. Koon bets 575,000. Flowers calls.

RF: My hand was too good to turn into a bluff on the turn, getting 3-1 odds. I felt at this point that he had an 8 or nothing; possibly aces, but who gets aces [laughing]? I called, planning on leading all rivers that were not a queen, 7, or diamond.

River: 7♥ (pot: 2,270,000)

Flowers checks.

CT: What would you have done if you had missed the river?

RF: I was probably going to lead with 1,200,000 if I bricked all of my draws. But that didn’t happen.

Koon bets 1,500,000. Flowers moves all in.

CT: Did you hesitate at all before shoving, to consider that he may have a full house?

RF: There were so many combinations of an 8 that weren’t a full house that I had to raise all in for value. He could never fold, getting really good odds, the hand that he eventually turned over — the rivered gutshot for the lower straight.

Koon calls and reveals the 6♥ 5♦. Flowers wins the pot of 7,040,000.

RF: I think Jason is a great player, and I have tons of respect for him. If I were him, I definitely would have called in a moment, too. He was getting around 5-1 odds with a straight, and had invested way too much already to fold. It was a very fortunate cooler that fell my way. ♠