Hand 2 Hand Combat - Marty Mathis Shares the Highs and Lows of Two Tournament Hands

Hand No. 1
Event: PokerStars six-max no-limit hold’em tournament
Buy-in: $200
Players in the Event: 280
First Place: $12,320

Blinds: 1,500-3,000

Antes: 375

Players at the Table: 5

Stacks: Marty “TheLipoFund” Mathis – 57,514 Villain – 618,252

Craig Tapscott: Marty, set this final table up for us.

Marty “TheLipoFund” Mathis: The villain has been running over the table. The other players are fairly weak. The villain, who was already notorious for being one of the most aggressive players on PokerStars, had taken his aggression to a new level.

The villain raises to 6,000 from the small blind. TheLipoFund holds the J♣ 9♥ in the big blind.

CT: What goes through your head when making a decision regarding what to do against such an aggressive opponent in this situation?

MM: Well, I have a few options:

Fold: This seems easy. I can keep letting him run over the table, and fold up a few pay spots. I have position on him and a resteal stack, and can easily find a better spot, especially with the ICM (Independent Chip Model) considerations created by the shorter stacks.

Reraise: The villain is such an aggressive player that even though he knows who I am, and respects my game, given the way the stacks are set up, I honestly feel that his opening range from the small blind is nearly 100 percent of his hands. I have enough chips that he can fold a lot of the hands that he opens, and at the same time, I pick up a good amount. Even when he calls me with better than J-9 offsuit, he has pretty good equity against almost anything. Shoving here would show an immediate profit, but I felt like there was a better option, given the exact stack sizes, game flow, and the other opponents at the table. I’ll admit that most of the time, this is a shove-or-fold spot for me.

Call: I’m only 20 big blinds deep. With the villain opening so wide, I am way ahead of his opening range, and I have a hand that is going to flop well. Since I’m in position, I have another big advantage, because I am getting to act behind an aggressive player. By calling, I expect the villain to fire on almost every flop. The great part about having a stack of 20 big blinds is that it gives me just enough to jam over a continuation-bet and have him fold the bad hands in his range. So, I don’t even need to connect with flops to shove over his continuation-bet; I can get it in with gutshots, overcards, open-enders, pairs, and so on.

So, I decided to …

TheLipoFund calls.

Flop: K♠ 9♠ 3♦ (pot: 13,875)

The villain bets 7,800.

CT: You’ve flopped pretty well here.

MM: Yes. And I think this is the best kind of flop for him to bet, since I’ve either connected with it or haven’t. So, I continue by calling against his really wide range.

TheLipoFund calls.

MM: Note that on the flop, he is leaving a pot-sized bet behind, more or less. So, he’s setting me up for a shove, but I feel like he’s doing this with all of his continuation-bets on the flop.

Turn: A♦ (pot: 29,475)

The villain checks.

CT: That seems like the perfect card for him to represent, but he checks.

MM: Yes. I was shocked that he didn’t jam here. I have a pot-sized bet left and the ace is a good card to shove. I’m glad that he didn’t, because we might otherwise never be talking about this hand (although I still might have called).

TheLipoFund checks.

MM: I check back, because at this point, I’m sure that my hand is the best, and there’s not a river I’m folding on, including the flush hitting. I don’t think he’s the type of opponent who would check with a king on the turn and then shove on the river for value. He’d likely check-call all of my potential bluffs, especially if the flush misses.

River: 3♥ (pot: 29,475)

MM: When the river brings another 3, we’re chopping with all nines now (aside from K-9 and A-9, obviously).

The villain shoves all in.

CT: That’s a strange line to take.

MM: I know. The way the hand played out, I can’t see him having a king. I feel like there are few combinations of threes. And he’d probably just jam the ace on the turn with a 3, because it’s not like his hand has showdown value, and he can still get it in with equity.

TheLipoFund calls and is all in. The villain reveals the 4♥ 2♠. TheLipoFund wins the pot of 116,153.

CT: Nicely played.

MM: Thanks. I had my mind made up on the turn to follow through to the end. From that point on, the two of us continued to run the table, until he edged me out in a close heads-up battle. But I feel great about the way that this hand played out.

Hand No. 2

Event 2011 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic
Buy-in: $10,000
Players in the Event: 681
First Place: $1,654,120

Blinds: 150-300
Antes: 25
Players at the Table: 9
Stacks: Marty Mathis – 70,000 Villain1 – 41,500 Villain2 – 75,000

Villain1 limps in from early position. Villain2 limps in from middle position. Marty Mathis raises to 1,100 from the button with the K♠ 10♥. Villain1 and Villain2 call.

Flop: Q♠ J♥ 5♦ (pot: 3,975)

Villain1 and Villain2 check. Mathis bets 2,600. Villain1 folds. Villain2 calls.

Turn: 9♥ (pot: 9,175)

CT: Bingo!

MM: Yes. This was an amazing card, since it gave me the nut straight, but it also brought a backdoor-flush draw.

Villain2 checks. Mathis bets 8,000. Villain2 calls.

River: Q♥ (pot: 25,175)

CT: It’s never easy.

MM: So, my straight isn’t very good anymore.

Villain2 checks.

MM: I thought about checking, also, for maybe about half a second, but decided that it wasn’t the best decision. He was the type of guy who would always call my bet with a queen, overpairs, and even some jacks.

Mathis bets 14,000.

MM: The gentleman went to make a standard fold, but then quickly asked me how much I had behind.

CT: What did you say?

MM: I try not to answer questions for people at the table that will give them free information, so I let him count himself, without saying anything. I would have done the same with Q-Q. He tanked for about a minute before throwing 10 5,000-denomination chips into the middle of the pot, which put me all in.

CT: Sounds like a lot of Hollywood going on. What’s going through your head?

MM: That I could beat only a bluff. I can’t beat any hand that he would jam here for value. But then again, what hands can he really get to the river with for value? I felt like he’d raise with Q-J or 5-5 on the flop, and if not, certainly on the turn. I didn’t think he’d call with 9-9 on the flop. And I don’t think he’s shoving queens for value, or can turn a jack into a bluff.

CT: So, you kept running the hand through your head.

MM: Yes. I went into the tank for about eight minutes. Nothing made sense; with only about 20 minutes left in day one, this was a tricky spot. It was for nearly 400 big blinds and being the chip leader for the day. So, this was my big shot, but I couldn’t pull the trigger, even though I knew that nothing made sense.

Mathis folds. Villian2 wins the pot of 39,175.

MM: The guy then flipped over 6-5 offsuit for a total bluff. I was upset, and aggressively threw my cards at the dealer in frustration. It was not a proud moment of mine, for a lot of reasons, because I’m a better player and a better person. I let things get under my skin when I shouldn’t. I was glad that it was the end of the day, as I could regain my composure for day two. ♠

Martin (Marty) Mathis started playing poker seriously in college, when he had a lot of extra time and no money. He attended Florida State University and graduated with a degree in economics. He spends all of his poker earnings traveling the world. At the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, he finished 17th, for $87,500. He has more than $1 million in career online-tournament cashes. To read more about his adventures in poker, visit www.mathispoker.com.