Hand 2 Hand Combat: Ben Wilinofsky

Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky wasn’t long in the poker business when he hit it big in Berlin. Having already raked in plenty of healthy online scores, the Canadian then earned his first live cash in the form of €825,000. After the above hand, Wilinofsky did not stop until he held the trophy and the title. At time of writing, the friendly youngster has more than $2 million in tournament winnings.

Rebecca McAdam: It’s day 3 of the EPT Berlin when this key hand occurs. What were your chip stacks like?

Ben Wilinofsky: At that point in the tournament I think I had a medium sized stack, of around 45-50 big blinds, about 410,000. I think Timo Pfützenreuter [villain] had 9-11 big blinds more than me.

I have some pretty extensive history with the player in question. We’ve played a bunch online and played some very aggressive hands in San Remo.

RM: Ok, so he has a wide range here then?

BW: Yes, he had been opening very frequently. He opens to 25,000 under the gun (UTG) at 5,000-10,000. He had been opening a lot since getting his stack over 40 big blinds. His usual sizing at this level had been 21,000 but I was fairly confident he just grabbed a chip of the wrong size. I think he was going to be opening quite loosely UTG, stealing with a lot of suited cards and some unsuited connectors, as well as all his value hands.

I called with K-Q off-suit in middle position and everyone else folded. I think stacks are awkward to three-bet and face a four-bet, and I want to keep all his worse kings and queens in, and I think he’s going to fire multiple barrels at queen- and king-high flops a lot.

Flop: A 7 4

Villain bets 37,000, Wilinofsky calls.

RM: So, why are you calling here? Tell me your thoughts behind it. It must be so hard to read this player, he could have a weak ace. How do you know where you stand and do you have a plan for what could happen next?

BW: On the flop I expect him to continuation bet his entire range. I think I’m ahead of a lot of unpaired hands, he’s less likely to have A-K and A-Q, and I’m also just not ready to give up on the hand. I think my Q and K, when paired, will be good very often, and I don’t think he’s going to fire a lot of barrels at someone he knows is competent and doesn’t like to fold when his range is really wide, and he knows I know that, especially when there are very few hands that will have much equity against the Ax hands in my range.

RM: Are you largely calling in the hopes of turning a Q or a K?

BW: Not necessarily. I’m calling suspecting that when I make a pair, it will be good very often, but also expecting it to be difficult for him to bluff much with his non-Ax hands and expecting to win the pot frequently when he has hands that are worse than top pair on later streets.

Turn: Q

Villain checks, Wilinofsky bets 32,000.

BW: This bet serves a bunch of purposes. First and foremost, it keeps floats in my perceived range, so it looks like I can still have all my air. It’s hard for him to call a bet with worse at any point if I bet big so I bet smallish on the turn so I can get called by worse. I think it freezes him a little bit so that he’ll very often check to me on the river instead of facing a large bet. It’s also a confusing bet size, and when I throw someone a confusing bet size in a live tournament, it gives them more of a chance to give up tells while they’re trying to evaluate unusual action, which will give me a chance to check the river and get to showdown cheaply if necessary, or possibly to put in a river bet for value if I think it’s warranted.

It also makes stack sizes fairly awkward, as I think we had somewhere between 350-400,000 behind at this point, and there will be 150,000 in the pot, which makes a potential check-raise more awkard than if I had bet, say, 70,000, there would be 200,000 in the pot and we’d have closer to 300,000 behind.

Villain raises all in very quickly.

RM: That was unexpected!

BW: Yeah, especially because, in my experience, he takes his time before making any decisions live, usually tanking at least 15 seconds.

RM: What impression does that give you then?

BW: Well, after about 5 seconds I said “I don’t see how I can fold!” My reasoning was that when he check-raised instantly, he didn’t take any time to evaluate my strange bet sizing. I think he had decided to check-raise all-in on the turn regardless of the action and I think most of the hands that he chooses to do this with aren’t value hands. He chose the bet sizing that makes it impossible for me to continue with my bluffs, which, given our aggressive history and my reputation as a very tricky aggressive player, doesn’t make sense with any of his strong hands that play for value. So when he ignored my strange sizing, didn’t take any time to re-evaluate the situation, and decided to play for stacks, I expected him to have a hand that doesn’t want me to continue but still has a decent chance to win the pot when I do.

RM: So you would have been way more worried if he had raised but not all in.

BW: Yes absolutely, especially if he had taken some time to do so. If he had thought for two minutes and check-raised small, he could have been doing it with medium-strength aces to get me to continue with bluffs as well as all his really strong hands, but his timing and his deicision to pick a sizing that I couldn’t re-bluff made me suspect a strong draw. It all just didn’t add up to a better paired hand, so I called.

Wilinofsky calls. Villain turns over J 7

RM: So exactly as you said… he doesn’t really want you to call but if you do he has a chance.

BW: Exactly!

RM: So what happened?

BW: The river bricked, I won a sizeable pot, and the table got really scared of me because I made what looked like a really big call with second pair for a huge pot and I got a lot of respect after that.

RM: Great, they must have thought you were a genius!

BW: A few did; one guy jumped out of his chair. It was a bit of a scene.

RM: Nice and that was a key hand in the journey towards your win!

BW: Yeah it was very crucial.

RM: Sometimes the image you create, and the respect you get is worth just as much as the chips in the grander scheme of things.

BW: Yeah because it won me a lot of chips and because it allowed me a lot of leeway to apply pressure at the table and get a lot of respect and make it unlikely for other people to try any big bluffs.

RM: Poor Timo, what did he say?

BW: He smirked about the “I don’t see how I can fold” comment; he’s a very good-humored guy.

RM: He may not play the same way with you any more. You obviously know what he’s up to!

BW: Oh we know what the other is up to pretty frequently. We have each other’s Skype and play heads up sometimes now. It makes for some fun battles! ♠