Hand 2 Hand Combat - Jason Koon Shares Advanced Methods of Bluffing and Slow-Playing Based on Interpretations of Opponents’ Ranges

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

Hand No. 1
Blinds: 300-600
Antes: 75
Players at the Table: 9
Stacks: Jason Koon – 75,000; Villain1 – 90,000; Amit “AMAK316” Makhija – 125,000

Craig Tapscott: You have a pretty big stack at this stage of the event. Can you share what your strategy is moving forward?

Jason Koon: Having more than 100 big blinds gives me the ability to basically do whatever I want in regard to preflop and post-flop play. I can three-bet and four-bet bluff, as well as fire multiple barrels post-flop if need be. The only problem is that my table draws for this tournament were never very good. As for opening with wider ranges of hands, obviously, when the blinds get bigger, you need to pick up your raising frequency. Most people understand that. What a lot of players don’t realize is that when stacks are deep and you’re playing with strong players, you still should be very positionally aware. In other words, be very careful when players are going to be attacking you in position.

Koon raises to 1,600 from under the gun with the 7♦ 5♦. Villain1 reraises to 4,600.

JK: My read on this player was that he was at least somewhat capable of making plays. It’s also crucial to note that he has me covered.

Amit Makhija calls from the small blind.

CT: What do you make of a very solid player like Amit Makhija calling from the small blind in this spot?

JK: The main difference between Amit’s range and the villain’s range is that it has far fewer bluff hands in it.

CT: So, what range of hands are you putting your opponents on?

JK: The villain’s range from early position should be very polarized between value hands and bluffs.

CT: Explain, please.

JK: Basically, it means that he should be very clear if he is comfortable with getting in more than 100 big blinds for value. So, if he were three-betting a hand like J-J or A-K, it would put him in a very awkward situation if I decided to four-bet, considering that I’m raising from the one hole and we are so deep-stacked. If my opponent is playing well, his value three-betting range should be something like K-K+ here, and the rest of the hands with which he’s three-betting me here are bluffs. That being said, I couldn’t be sure that my opponent wasn’t merging his range and three-bet folding some of his stronger hands. In a nutshell, his three-bet value range is so small that it makes it very difficult for him to have a hand that he can be ready to play a monster pot with, especially since Amit has cold-called from the small blind.

CT: And Makhija?

JK: It would take a very sophisticated bluff to cold-call an early-position three-bet and be willing to play later streets out of position to two players in a bloated pot. If he decided to bluff here, I believe that the majority of the time, he would elect to four-bet rather than flat-call. So, Amit’s range is something like 10-10+ or A-K. He will occasionally be slow-playing A-A or K-K, also, although a reasonable percentage of the time, he would also elect to four-bet those hands. Knowing that Amit has such a strong range puts both the villain and me in a very tough spot.

CT: So, what’s your best option in this situation?

JK: Folding is certainly an option, as I have a mere 7 high. Calling the three-bet is looking more lucrative from a pot odds perspective, considering that I’m getting a substantially good price. As for the implied odds of stacking a player, 7-5 suited is the type of hand that you want to play for deception. The only problem with calling here is that my implied odds of stacking a player as strong as Amit are never that good, regardless of the strength of his range, since he is such a good hand reader and post-flop player. My third option is to four-bet. That seems suicidal, right?

CT: I’m sure that you’re going to tell me why it isn’t.

JK: Of course (laughing). At a deeper glance, I decided that it was the best move. By putting in a four-bet here, I am putting Villain1 in a horrendous spot, considering that he now has Amit behind him. Amit not only has him covered, but also has a very strong range. Since Amit is very aware of the fact that I know that he has a very “nutted up” range, four-betting makes me look extremely strong. I am representing kings or aces now, and nothing else.

Koon reraises to 18,500. Villain1 folds. Makhija folds. Koon wins the pot of 12,075.

Hand No. 2
Blinds: 10,000-20,000
Antes: 3,000
Players at the Table: 7
Players Remaining: 13
Stacks: Jason Koon – 400,000; Andrew Frankenberger – 1,500,000

CT: Set this hand up for us.

JK: OK. Andy [Andrew Frankenberger] had been coming after me for hours on the previous day and earlier on this day, mainly because I’d shown him a bluff during the previous day’s play. This was noteworthy, because I noticed a drastic increase in the number of pots that he was playing against me. I noted that he hardly ever folded in the big blind when I raised. He had shown down 7-5 offsuit in a big-blind defense the day before, so I was certain that he was playing a very wide range of hands against me.

Koon raises from the button to 40,000 with the A♠ 9♥. Frankenberger calls from the big blind.

Flop: 8♦ 4♠ 2♥ (pot: 111,000)

Frankenberger checks.

CT: Should you continuation-bet in this spot?

JK: Considering that he is defending with a very wide range of hands against me, he certainly could have connected with the flop. But the board is so dry [non-coordinated] that it’s very likely that I have the best hand with ace high. The problem with betting is that if I’m raised, I’m in a very ugly spot. I’m not comfortable with getting my stack in with just ace high. So, I decided to keep the pot small.

Koon checks.

Turn: 9♠ (pot: 111,000)

CT: Not a bad card.

JK: This is the dream card for me.

Frankenberger bets 90,000. Koon calls.

JK: With only a little more than 300,000 behind, I elect to just call and slow-play my hand. I am beating the majority of his made hands, and crushing most of his bluffs.

CT: But you are giving him a chance to hit with a free card.

JK: Yes. I am giving him a free river card and the chance to improve to having the best hand, but given the critical stage that I’m at with my stack size, this is a no-brainer slow-play. Basically, I am going to double through the majority of his made hands anyway, so I need to allow him the chance to bluff on the river.

River: 4♦ (pot: 291,000)

Frankenberger moves all in. Koon calls. Frankenberger reveals the K♦ Q♥. Koon wins the pot of 825,000.

CT: Nice call.

JK: Thanks. While I certainly got a great river card for my hand, it’s important to note that I intended to call any river card, because of his likelihood of showing up with a bluff and the manner in which I had slow-played my hand. ♠

Jason “JAKoon1985” Koon has more than $1.7 million in online tournament cashes, as well as another $330,000 in live-tournament cashes. In April of 2009, he won the PokerStars high-stakes Spring Championship of Online Poker event No. 17 for more than $302,000. He also has won four $1,000 buy-in weekly online tournaments, for more than $250,000 combined. He has won the PokerStars Sunday 500 and the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan, and has runner-up finishes in the Sunday Brawl and the UltimateBet $200K Guaranteed. He graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College with an MBA and an undergraduate degree in finance.