Final Table Takedown With Kyle Julius

Hand No. 1

Key Concepts: Hand Ranges; being able to make a big fold.

Craig Tapscott: Set this hand up for us?

Kyle Julius: This hand saved my tournament. I don’t remember my opponents by name but I remember their ages and the way they were playing.  

CT: At what stage of the event did this hand occur?

KJ: This hand happened late on day 1.

Julius raises to 1,700 from UTG holding J J. Young Villain calls from UTG +3. Old Villain 2 calls from the button.

Flop: K J Q (pot: 6,150)

Julius bets 2,100. Young Villain calls. Old Villain calls.

CT: Did both players calling give you some pause for thought?

KJ: At this point I’m pretty sure I have the best hand and am hoping for a blank on the turn.

Turn: 3 (pot: 12,450)

Julius bets 3,500. Young Villain folds.

KJ: The older man on the button thinks for a little while, then acts like he’s kind of upset about having to put more chips in the pot, until he finally decides to min raise to…

Old Villain raises to 7,000.

CT: What a huge tell he’s given you.

KJ: Right. At this point there’s a strong possibility that I’m beat, especially since he did the fake tank and then decided to raise. Usually a distraught look and then a raise just screams that he’s holding a super-strong hand.

CT: But you have to call this small raise, right?

KJ: Yes. I’m priced in with the possibility of filling up on the river. And also, in my mind there’s no way he has Q-Q or K-K. So the only hands that beat me are A-10 and 9-10.
So I…

Julius calls.

River: 4 (pot: 26,450)

Julius checks. Old Villain bets 25,000.

KJ: The Old Villain’s pot-sized bet was basically a decision for my tournament life. I thought for a while and finally decided that there was really no bluff in this guy’s range.

Julius folds. Old Villain wins the pot of 26,450.

CT: Did you ever find out what he had?

KJ: Well he thought for a while and finally said, “you seem like a nice kid.” He flipped over A-10 for the nuts. Although I lost the pot, this was a huge momentum boost for me. Just knowing that I made the right fold and saved my tourney was almost as good as winning the pot.

CT: Can you share a couple of tells you’ve picked up on that are easy to spot and are usually pretty reliable?

KJ: Well when it comes to the older men, when they shrug or act like they are distraught about putting chips in the pot, then they somehow raise, that pretty means they have absolute gold.

Hand No. 2

Key Concepts: Hand reading; reviewing the entire hand and the lines taken by an opponent.

Xuan Liu raises to 240,000 from UTG+1.

KJ: I am to Liu’s immediate left. I look down at Q Q and know this is not a good time to 3-bet.

CT: Why?

KJ: Well with all the stack sizes left behind me it’s best to just flat. This will give the shorter stacks the opportunity to reshove, and Liu and I have similar stacks. Also, ICM (Independent Chip Model) is very important to pay attention to at this juncture.

CT: Can you explain ICM so the players who have never heard of it can understand your thinking?

KJ: ICM stands for independent chip model. It represents your current equity in a tournament prize pool based on the stack sizes of the remaining players and the payout structure.

CT: So back to your reasons for not raising Liu? Were there more?

KJ: Yes. If somehow she has me beat with K-K or A-A or if she even has A-K, there is no reason for me to put myself in a spot to flip for my tourney life. Also, the odds are more in favor of me having her dominated. So I’m going to be able to play a nice pot in position with Q-Q.

Flop: K 9 7 (pot: 740,000)

Liu bets 325,000.

CT: Can you continue?

KJ: The bet was her standard continuation bet-sizing. And whatever hand I have at this point, I’m never folding to her c-bet. No matter what she is holding, it’s going to be very hard for her to barrel the turn.

Julius calls.

Turn: 3 (pot: 1,390,000)

Liu checks. Julius checks.

CT: Why check in this spot? It seems like she has given up on the pot.

KJ: Her check makes me feel pretty good about my hand. But I feel like if I bet here she is going to fold more often than not, so I choose to check and keep control of the pot.

River: 8 (pot: 1,390,000)

Liu checks.

CT: Can you somehow get any value?

KJ: It does seem very difficult to get value at this point. So I make a very small bet to possibly give her a chance to make a move.

Julius bets 420,000.

KJ: My bet was barely bigger than her continuation bet on the flop.

CT: Why so small?

KJ: I make this bet sizing small because I felt like she could possibly hero call me with something just to get info and see what I have. And the truth is my hand is pretty polarized, and she’s good enough to realize what I have and try to raise me off the hand. Then she finally reached and grabbed a bunch of chips and…

Liu raises to 1,550,000.

CT: You set this up? What now?

KJ: I did. But although this is why I made the small bet to induce a bluff, it is still not the best feeling in the world to have to make a call for this amount. Especially when there’s a bunch of short stacks still at the table and we’re still eight-handed. But with a little thought about how the hand played out, I just went with my instincts and realized I’d made the small bet to induce a bluff.

CT: What hand could she be check-raising the river with?

KJ: I felt like any value hand she has on the river, there’s just no way she’s going to check it. If she backdoored a flush or made a straight with J-10 or even had a pair of kings, I think there’s no way she doesn’t bet the river. So her line really didn’t represent much, which made it a pretty easy call.

Julius calls. Liu reveals 4 4. Julius wins the pot of 4,490,000.

KJ: The line she took never made much sense, betting the flop then checking the turn and the river and then finally raising. She’s only representing very huge hands. She’s never check/raising a king on the river, and if she did I would bow my head to her. All in all, this hand was a huge momentum boost for me at the final table. ♠