Hand 2 Hand Combat: David Peters Anticipates an Opponent’s Next Move in Order to Trap and Bluff

Event 2010 World Series of Poker Europe main event
Buy-in $14,796
First Place $1,313,611

Hand No. 1
Blinds: 200-400
Antes: 50
Players at the Table: 9
Stacks: David Peters – 50,000; Villain1 – 45,000; Villain2 – 45,000
Villain1 raises to 1,000 from early position. David Peters calls from middle position with the 4♣ 4♠. Villain2 reraises from the button to 3,350.
Craig Tapscott: Do you have any read on Villain2?
David Peters: He and I have played together before. I know that he’s a good and aggressive player who isn’t afraid to put chips into the pot. He’s definitely capable of being light here.
Villain1 calls.
CT: Does the original raiser’s call influence your decision one way or another?
DP: Yes. His call makes it easier for me to call, because now there’s more money out there and it’s more likely that I’ll get action if I flop a set. If the original raiser had folded, I probably still would have called, since there was quite a bit of dead money out there and it wasn’t too much more to call. Also, we still had fairly deep stacks.
Peters calls.
Flop: 8♠ 4♦ 3♦ (pot: 11,100)
Villain1 checks. Peters checks. Villain2 bets 5,700. Villain1 folds.
CT: What’s the best plan for getting the most value against an ultra-aggressive opponent like Villain2?
DP: This is a spot where I felt like calling was better than raising against this specific opponent, because a lot of the time, he’s not going to have anything. If he has a big pair, he’s not the type to miss value, and will probably bet the turn and shove the river. At the same time, he’s aggressive enough to three-barrel with nothing if I keep checking to him. Against some people, it might be better to just raise here and hope to get it in against an overpair, because if they have a hand like J-J and an overcard or a diamond hits, they might be afraid of that and stop betting. But he’s good, and realizes that I would probably be raising with a flush draw here; plus, it’s pretty hard for me to have a king or queen in my hand, so I’m not too worried about a bad card killing my action.
CT: Explain what you mean by bad card.
DP: I mean that in his eyes, it’s pretty hard for me to have a king or queen in my hand if it were to hit the turn, mainly because he never expects me to have Q-Q or K-K, and probably expects hands like the K♦ J♦ or the K♦ Q♦ to raise the flop. So, if a king hits the turn and he has Q-Q or J-J, he’s probably not going to be too worried about that card.
Peters calls.
Turn: K♥ (pot: 22,500)
CT: Speak of the devil — a king.
Peters checks. Villain2 bets 10,500.
DP: Yes. This is a pretty interesting card, as it hits him if he has a hand like A-K, K-Q, or K-J, and at the same time, it might make him more likely to represent those hands if he has air. Plus, I expect him to go for value with J-J or Q-Q.
Peters calls.
DP: I just call, as I still want to give him a chance to bluff the river. I think any hand that will call a shove on the turn will shove for value on the river when I check, which I plan to do no matter what.
CT: Why don’t you think that he will pot-control on the river, since you seem pretty strong by calling him on the flop and the turn?
DP: I think that he’ll try to go for maximum value on the river, because he expects me to have 5-5 to J-J most of the time, given the way the hand was played. He also knows that I might call down with those hands, since I know that he’s capable of three-barreling with air.
River: 2♥ (pot: 43,500)
Peters checks. Villain2 moves all in for 25,400. Peters calls. Villain2 mucks. Peters wins the pot of 94,300.

Hand No. 2
Event 2010 World Series of Poker Europe six-max no-limit hold’em event
Buy-in $3,698
First Place $263,494

Blinds: 200-400
Antes: 50
Players at the Table: 6
Stacks: David Peters – 25,000; Villain – 15,000
David Peters raises to 1,000 from the button with the 8♦ 6♣. The villain calls from the big blind.
DP: The villain definitely seems like a good, thinking player, and has been pretty aggressive up to this point. He has three-bet me a number of times.
Flop: 4♣ 3♠ 3♥ (pot: 2,500)
The villain checks. Peters bets 1,300. The villain raises to 2,800.
CT: With what kind of hand do you think he’s check-raising here?
DP: Given his bet-sizing, it felt like it was a hand like 5-5 to 7-7 that was trying to squeeze a little value out of ace-high hands. Or, he has air and is trying to take the pot down cheaply, since there aren’t many hands he can have that are very strong here.
CT: Do the stack sizes come into consideration?
DP: Given the dynamics and the stack sizes at this point, I’d definitely expect him to three-bet preflop with 8-8+, and he probably doesn’t have many threes in his range. So, I elect to float and try to take it away later.
Peters calls.
Turn: 9♠ (pot: 8,100)
The villain bets 3,100.
CT: Does this bet help you to further define his hand?
DP: Again, it still feels like it’s either air or a hand like 5-5 that’s trying to get a little more value from ace high. Now, he has about 8,000 behind. I feel that if I call here, he’ll expect me to call the river, as well. So, I doubt that he’ll bluff the river very often. Also, if he does have a hand like 5-5, I’m pretty positive that he’ll check the river and fold to a bet, because he won’t expect me to bet ace high, and it’s pretty hard for me to have air by that point.
Peters calls.
River: J♦ (pot: 14,300)
The villain checks.
DP: I look over at his stack and decide to make a small bet rather than put him all in for 8,000.
Peters bets 4,400.
CT: Why choose that bet size on the river?
DP: I think a smaller bet is as effective and looks more like I’m betting for value.
The villain folds. Peters wins the pot of 14,300.
CT: You won this pot with 8 high. Nice play. What are some of the key things you’re looking for when you’re anticipating an opponent’s next move and are looking to take the pot away from him on a later street, or when disguising a huge hand?
DP: I just try to get inside players’ heads a little bit. I try to figure out how they’re playing and how they’re thinking about a hand, what they’ll put me on, and how they’ll react on later streets if I do this or that, and so on. Paying close attention to different players’ tendencies in certain situations is very important. Sometimes there’s more to just the decision at hand. You also need to anticipate and have a plan for what’s going to happen later on in the hand; then, you’re able to make the best decision. ♠

David Peters, 23, has been playing poker for about five years, and has been a force on both the online- and live-poker scenes. In 2010, he had close to $1 million in live-tournament cashes, with his best finishes being second in a $1,000 World Series of Poker event, first in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Los Angeles $5,000 heads-up event, second in the EPT Monte Carlo $5,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event, and fourth in the WSOP Europe $2,500 six-max no-limit hold’em event; he also made several other final tables. He also had several big online scores in 2010, the largest of which was a chop in a Full Tilt Online Poker Series event, for $150,000.