Hand 2 Hand Combat - David ‘The Maven’ Chicotsky Reviews Two Common Tournament Situations

Event: 2010 World Series of Poker main event
Buy-in: $10,000
Players in the Event: 7,319
First Place: $8,944,138

Hand No. 1

David Chicotsky raises to 900 from middle position with the A♦ 7♦. Steve O’Dwyer calls from the button. Villain2 calls from the big blind.

Craig Tapscott: What’s your thinking when you get called in two spots with this hand? Set the table up for us.

David Chicotsky: Steve O’Dwyer had been doing a ton of calling in position throughout the day and playing tough post-flop, so it was hard to put him on anything other than a playable hand, like K-J, A-9 suited, 7-7, and so on. The big blind was a weak player who was calling out of position repeatedly, so I wasn’t too concerned with his call.

Flop: 8♦ 8♣ 5♦ (pot: 3,350)

Villain2 checks.

CT: Is it an automatic continuation-bet with this hand? What’s the plan?

DC: I thought about betting pot and going with the hand (if called on the flop, leaving me a nice bullet to fire if I missed on the turn), but decided to check it to Steve and check-raise all in, instead.

CT: It’s the biggest live event of the year. It’s still day one. Are you going to risk your tournament life with this hand in this situation?

DC: There is no glory or extra money for making day two, so if I think a play has positive expected value, I’m going to go for it. Also keep in mind that I have low relative equity in the tournament, as my chip stack had been depleted, giving me even more of a positive weight to pick up chips. Having around 30 big blinds to start the hand, I knew that if I hit the flop big, it was very likely that I would be going with the hand. Here, I hit a big flop relative to my hand, and was in a situation where I could leverage my stack, hoping to pick up chips. An overcard and the nut-flush draw on a dry board is flopping huge. It’s never fun to get all in on day one of the WSOP main event, but it’s not a perfect world.

CT: Do you know Steve’s game very well?

DC: I had been playing with Steve all day, and also had played with him in a Venetian tournament a week or two prior to the main event. I think very highly of his game, but he’s definitely not the spokesperson for pot control (he’s great at playing big ball and putting tons of pressure on his opponents post-flop across multiple streets), so I was confident that he not only would bet, but would bet around the size of the pot.

Chicotsky checks. O’Dwyer bets 2,800. Villain2 folds. Chicotsky shoves all in for 12,300. O’Dwyer calls and reveals the A♠ A♣.

Turn: 10♣ (pot: 27,950)

River: 2♣ (pot: 27,950)

CT: You’re a very accomplished coach, having taught thousands of players tournament strategy. What wisdom did you walk away with from this hand?

DC: In general, when an advanced player flat-calls in position for 5 percent to 10 percent of my stack, it might cause some suspicion. But the thing is, Steve had been doing a bunch of calling in position, even cold-calling three-bets preflop. So, his just calling me preflop in position with aces really disguised his hand well. I didn’t put him on such a strong holding. With the way that he played the hand and my hand strength on the flop, I’m pretty much never folding with that stack. So, all you can do is tip your hat to him for playing it well and trapping me.
O’Dwyer wins the pot of 27,950.

Hand No. 2

Event: PokerStars no-limit hold’em rebuy tournament
Buy-in: $10
Players in the Event: 1,796
First Place: $10,243

Villain1 shoves all in from the button. Villain2 shoves all in from the small blind. Chicotsky is in the big blind with the A♥ K♣.

CT: What can you do in this spot? Isn’t this an easy fold with A-K in most cases?

DC: When we’re talking tournaments, A-K is generally the preflop nuts. I hated to overcall a big all-in bet, but I had a very strong hand. It’s a bit of a dilemma.
CT: Do you know the two villains well?

DC: I had looked up the players’ stats, and Villain1 was a winning player, up $65,000 online, with 5,500 tournaments played on PokerStars. Villain2 also was a winning player, up around $50,000 online, with more than 10,000 tournaments played.

CT: What now? This is such a common spot with A-K when you play a ton of tournaments every day. Can you estimate any ranges here?

DC: Villain1’s shove with 20-plus big blinds reeks of a small pocket pair, paint cards, or a decent ace, like A-9 or A-10. Oftentimes, the all-in move is a decent alternative to raise-folding or raise-calling with this stack size, especially on the button with loose players in the blinds. The reason why this call was even close is because both opponents had tight Tracker statistics. Villain1 was playing 18/9 and Villain2 was playing 6/6. My stats were very loose, 28/26 with a 10 percent three-bet.
CT: Quickly explain what those stats mean, for those who are not familiar with the common online tracker statistics.

DC: When I say that Villain1 is 18/9, I am describing a player who plays 18 percent of his hands voluntarily and raises 9 percent of the time preflop, which is a rather normal profile. Villain2 was playing 6 percent of all hands, never calling or limping preflop, and raising only one out of every 17 hands; basically, he was playing ultra-tight. Inasmuch as both players were on the tight side, it made overcalling off my stack a much tougher decision.

CT: But you’re probably well ahead of the open-shove from Villain1, right?

DC: Yes. Obviously, I am killing the open-shove; now, I had to assess the overshove. Villain2’s overshove is going to be in a relatively narrow range, but again, A-K is just so strong that even though I was forced to race off my stack by overcalling, it was just one of those tournament spots where you wish for the best and put your chips in.

Chicotsky shoves all in. Villain1 reveals the Q♠ J♠. Villain2 reveals the J♦ J♣.

Flop: 10♦ 10♠ 8♣ (pot: 2,465,941)
Turn: 7♣ (pot: 2,465,941)
River: A♣ (pot: 2,465,941)

Chicotsky wins the pot of 2,465,941.

DC: I was lucky to hit my ace on the river, giving me the chip lead of the tournament with 20 players left. Progressive payouts in tournaments make a huge difference in equity distributions, so being willing to play a massive pot deep in this tournament paid its benefits, as I went on to win the event.

CT: I know that A-K is overplayed and played badly during every stage of a tournament by players who don’t seem to have a clue. They think it’s the nuts, and never fold the hand, even when it misses the flop and turn. Can you give us a quick recap of some of the strategy behind wielding A-K as a lethal weapon, but also knowing when to let it go?

DC: For the casual tournament player, if you get isolated preflop, fire about half of the pot at almost every flop. If you are up against multiple players post-flop and have missed the flop, especially if you are out of position, check-folding the flop is often a decent option.

With less than 30 or 40 big blinds, it’s the preflop nuts. To make a car analogy, A-K is a Ferrari. When you hear someone say, “I hate A-K, I always lose with it,” that’s generally a sign that the player plays scared-tight, or is very much an amateur. A-K is a massively profitable hand to play, especially in tournaments. But if you don’t have a plan of attack with A-K, it can definitely be a trouble hand. If you play the hand strongly preflop and look to raise or reraise to get isolated, you shouldn’t have too much trouble firing on the flop and taking down most flops that you miss. Being aware of your opponents’ stack sizes and their implications is also extremely important, as it enables you to decide how you want to go about playing the hand, both preflop and post-flop. ♠

David “The Maven” Chicotsky was the 2008 Online Player of the Year, and he owns and operates a state-of-the-art poker-training facility in Las Vegas. He can be contacted at TheMavenTraining.com.