Final-Table Takedown: Ryan Eriquezzo Wields an Under Control Maniac Image to Baffle Opponents

Ryan Eriquezzo was first introduced to poker in 2004 while attending the University of Connecticut. Music is Eriquezzo’s first passion, as he can sing, and play guitar and piano. After honing his live and online play during his college years, he placed third for $25,666 at the 2008 Foxwoods World Final $3,000 prelim event. It was his first deep live cash against a field of great players. In 2010 he won the WSOP Circuit event Bayou Poker Challenge and that same year he took 131st at the WSOP main event in Vegas. To date, Eriquezzo has $627,000 in career tournament cashes.

Event: 2012 WSOP Circuit – Caesars Atlantic City Main Event
Players: 635
Entry: $1,600
First Prize: $191,194
Finish: 1st

Hand No. 1

Key Concepts: Being able to give up on multi-street barrel bluffs with unfavorable runouts.

Garry Gates raises to 110,000 from UTG+2.

Ryan Eriquezzo: I looked down at Q J in the hijack seat. The players in the blinds were two of the more passive players remaining in the tournament and I felt that a squeeze from either player was unlikely unless they found a hand, so I decided to flat and play a pot in position.

Flop: 10 9 4 (pot: 335,000)

Gates checks.

Craig Tapscott: What does this check indicate to you from an early position raiser?

RE: What this said to me was that he had a holding that had some showdown value, or possibly a draw. I immediately put him on a K-Q, Q-J, or 8-7 suited type of hand, or a pair like 8-8 or 7-7 that he wanted to get to showdown with.

CT: You have a huge hand. I assume it’s time to start getting some value?

RE: Yes. At this point I felt I was going to win this pot one way or another a majority of the time, as I had great equity to win by making a hand. In the event that I missed, I planned on applying maximum pressure and barreling him off most unfavorable runouts.

Eriquezzo bets 125,000.

CT: What’s your thinking behind the bet sizing?

RE: My hand is playing much better at this point than pretty much any holding he can have besides a set. And in the event that I got check-raised, I didn’t want the pot to be inflated to the point where I was going to have to put my stack in by the turn if I missed the turn card.

Gates calls.

Turn: 10 (pot: 585,000)

CT: Not exactly the card you were looking for. What now?

RE: The turn card clearly does nothing positive for my hand against his perceived range. He would have continuation bet any overpairs on the flop, so the ten does nothing to scare him or change his hand strength whatsoever.

Gates checks. Eriquezzo bets 285,000.

CT: How did you determine your turn bet sizing?

RE: Well I decided to barrel bigger this time so that I could put him to a decision for a massive river bet if I missed.

Gates snap calls.

CT: How does his hand range change now with that immediate call of your turn bet?

RE: I eliminated any draws from his range. At this point I had him pegged on a pair below the board that he was desperately trying to get to showdown with as cheaply as possible. On most river cards I was going to bet close to pot size and it would be nearly impossible for him to continue.

River: 10 (pot: 1,155,000)

CT: You’ve made your flush but … not a good card.

RE: I know. This is essentially the absolute best card in the deck for Garry’s perceived range.

Gates checks.

CT: You can’t really bet here can you?

RE: Well a few years prior to now I would have just disregarded how awful this card was for what I was trying to do (what am I repping here by betting this river?) and just barrel around 700,000.

CT: What would that bet be saying?

RE: That I’m entirely polarized. And I know that Garry is a thinking player who is willing to look me up light, as his curiosity is going to get the better of him. My line is going to seem more and more like a missed draw and betting every street of this runout he would come to the conclusion that I was empty. After a 20-second tank, I knuckled in frustration…

Eriquezzo checks. Gates reveals 7 7. Gates wins the pot of 1,115,000.

RE: I said to him, “I should have barreled again I suppose” to see where his head was at. And he told me, “I was calling any amount on the river.” OK Garry, good to know…

Hand No. 2

Key Concepts: Metagame; Extracting maximum value on three streets with big hands against sticky opponents.

Eriquezzo raises to 130,000 holding 7 7. Roland Israelashvili calls from middle position. Gates calls from the big blind.

CT: Did the metagame continue between you and Gates between these two hands?

RE: Yes. The earlier hand above had set the tone. I had taken some significant post-flop pots from Garry as well as from another player at the table, in one of which I set Garry all-in on the river and he hesitantly folded. It was clear that he had had it with me.

Flop: 7 4 5 (pot: 500,000)

Gates checks. Eriquezzo bets 185,000.

RE: I bet 185,000 into the two players, which was a bit bigger than my normal continuation bet size, due to the fact that we were three-handed.
Israelashvili folds. Gates snap calls.

RE: The snap call was nice to see because from what I had experienced with him, when he became sticky on a flop, not much was going to change his mind on later streets.

Turn: 7 (pot: 870,000)

CT: Wow!

RE: At this point, all I could think about was how I could extract maximum value from Garry. I knew he was still stinging from the hand where I ended up setting him in on the river. Even though I had had the nuts on that hand, he didn’t know that, and he was questioning that decision.

CT: So how do you go about setting him up using your previous history with each other?

RE: Well I decided to go into a long tank before betting this turn card as if I was contemplating whether or not he had a 7 in his hand. I was really hoping that he would attempt to rep the 7 in the event that he had a draw, and I would get him to check-raise the turn and barrel the river. After a minute or so I bet…

Eriquezzo bets 325,000. Gates snap calls.

CT: What could he be calling you with?

RE: At this point I’m having some trouble putting him on a hand. I thought 8-8, 9-9, T-T were in his range, but I thought it was more than likely a heart draw, possibly a combo draw… and unlikely, but not impossibly, a flopped straight that he was just bluff catching with.

River: 2 (pot: 1,520,000)

Gates checks.

CT: Can you get any more value from his range with this blank on the river?

RE: This card seemingly filled no draws, which eliminated getting value from any of his drawing range, but was a very ideal card to get value from his range of middle pairs that remained overpairs to the board.

CT: So what’s the plan?

RE: Well I tanked for a very long time on this river, just as I had when I had lost the hand to his 7-7 earlier. This time I tried to make it look like I was contemplating checking behind and giving up again. After this long tank, I decided to go for value and bet about half-pot instead of shoving in, just in case he did miss a draw. I wanted to give him room to check raise-all in and turn his hand into a bluff.

Eriquezzo bets 650,000. Gates calls and mucks when he sees Eriquezzo’s quads. Eriquezzo won the pot of 2,820,000.

RE: He later said he made a wheel on the river holding A 3, but I’m still not sure if I believe it. Had I known this, I would have 100 percent jammed the river and gotten his entire stack.

CT: What do you think he held?

RE: I’m pretty sure he actually was just heroing me off with a one pair type of hand such as 8-8 or 9-9. But I feel that the way I had set my image up for the entire final table, as a laggy and relentlessly aggressive maniac, got me paid off on three streets with quads regardless of his holding. ♠