Final-Table Takedown: Dan Colpoys

Dan Colpoys is a 24-year-old tournament pro from Boston, MA. In his two years of professional play he has amassed just under $2 millions in tournament earnings. In June 2010 he had his breakout score by taking down a $33 online event for $53,000, and since then finished in third place in the PokerStars Sunday Million for $147,000, and then won a 2010 $1,000 WCOOP event for $213,000. Colpoys is a well respected coach for no-limit hold’em, Pot-limit Omaha, and multi-table tournaments at stackguru.com.

Hand No.1

Key Concepts: Hand ranges; specific reads versus a specific type of player.

Craig Tapscott: I want to talk about key hands that stood out for you during this recent win.

Dan Colpoys: So this is very early in the tournament but a key hand. The background to the hand is that Villain #2 was a huge fish and was playing every single pot. Villain #1 is a very good player.

Villain #1 raises to 90 from UTG plus 2. Colpoys calls from mid-position holding A Q.

CT: Could you have raised?

DC: Well, I elected to just call with the A-Q because it would be turning my hand into a bluff to three-bet this early, and it is just too strong to fold against Villain #1.

Villain #2 calls from the button.

Flop: A 9 5 (pot: 315)

Villain #1 bets 180.

DC: The flop comes out pretty drawy, but I feel I am best here. Villain #1’s bet is on the bigger side. But I expect him to do that with all of his heart draws and any ace he would be opening.

Colpoys calls. Villain #2 calls.

CT: When Villain #2 overcalls, what kind of hand are you putting him on?

DC: He’s really fishy like I stated before. So I expect him to have more draws in his range. I don’t think he has any sets in his range as he is very aggressive.

Turn: 9 (pot: 855)

DC: The nine is not the best card in the deck but the button shouldn’t be overcalling with any nines in his range.

Villain #1 bets 450.

CT: Do you still think you’re good? And what variables are going to determine how you proceed on the river?

DC: At this point I am not as sure that I have him beat, but I elect to call and then see what he does on the river. If he fires a third street on a blank river I am just going to fold pretty much. If he fires any river except for an ace, 9, or offsuit queen, I am going to fold. I feel he could have A-J sometimes and might still continue with K X type hands as well as the obvious hands that I am beaten by, but if he has a hand like A 10 or A J or even the same hand as mine, I expect him to bet again.

Colpoys calls. Villain #2 calls.

River: 6 (pot: 2,205)

Villain#1 checks.

CT: So now you’re sure when he checks that you are good, correct?

DC: Yes. When Villain #1 checks to me, I am pretty sure I‘m ahead.

CT: What kind of bet do you think he will call on the river?

DC: I think he will check/call with worse fairly often, so I bet really small…

Colpoys bets 675.

Villain #2 raises all-in to 5,556. Villain #1 folds.

DC: I was surprised when Villain #2 moved all-in and he had me covered.

CT: How do you read this shove?

DC: Normally I wouldn’t give it much thought and just fold, but I was more or less blocking with a bet that size on the river. Even if I was beat I didn’t expect him to immediately shove. Also, if he has a hand like 7 8, I would almost expect a player like him to raise the flop and try to get it in.

CT: What other type hands are you placing him on?

DC: He never has A-A because he was three-betting a large amount preflop; which was outrageous. He was literally three-betting one out of every three hands and playing about 95 percent of hands dealt to him.

CT: So why didn’t you immediately fold?

DC: Normally I would just fold instantly, but the range he is representing is sort of like 5-5 for fives full and 9-6 and maybe A-9. But I feel like Villain #1 most certainly had an ace, so that leaves one ace in the deck for him to have to go with his 9. And without him putting in a raise on the flop or turn I feel like it’s almost certain he hadn’t filled up. This hand was early in the tournament though, so I just let out a sigh and folded and moved on.

Colpoys folds. Villain #2 wins the pot of 2,880.

DC: Again I would almost never contemplate playing the hand the way I did, but against this specific player I nearly found a call in a pretty absurd spot.

Hand No.2

Key Concepts: Adjusting to an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.

CT: What type of opponent are you facing now heads-up?

DC: I was playing a pretty good player who is a fundamentally sound preflop player. After a few hands and seeing his play at the final table, I thought I could get him to pay me off lighter, so the plan was to play solid and try to chip up a bunch. Also to get good value from my hands and try to stay away from big all-ins preflop.

Colpoys completes the small blind from the button holding A K.

CT: What’s the dynamic that you felt you shouldn’t raise with such a huge hand?

DC: He was just playing so tight. He hadn’t been three-betting me at all. So I had been limping in a lot of hands, because I felt I had a big edge playing flops because he played a few hands pretty poorly. And I felt I was more apt to get chips from him post-flop then preflop at this point. Also, I was just trying to balance as he had raised a few of my limps and I had folded.

Villain checks.

Flop: 8 5 J (pot: 132,000)

Villain bets 79,200. Colpoys raises to 158,400.

CT: What’s the strategy with your bet sizing here?

DC: I feel with this bet sizing he still believes I could fold and it would induce him to shove in some of his worse draws. I figure all draws will be shoving here and any pair other than the jack might just call and play it a bit more conservatively. And when he shoves, I’m going to snap call with him beat most of the time with his other draws. Even if he does have a jack or a two-pair type hand, I still have a lot of equity.

Villain calls.

DC: At this point I’m thinking he probably has a hand involving an 8 in it. He could possibly have a gutshot in his range or maybe 6-7 offsuit, because he might not want to get that all-in.

Turn: 9 (pot: 448,000)

Villain checks.

CT: Not a great card.

DC: No. I do not like this card as much, because some of his hands that I previously have beat have just gotten there.

Colpoys checks.

River: 9

Villain bets 270,000.

CT: Once again what do you make of his lead out bet?

DC: After his bet he has about 20 big blinds behind. Sometimes I would just shove, but I feel like if I shove and he folds he can still have a decent chance with 20 blinds.

CT: So what do you think he’s holding?

DC: I honestly expect him to have trip nines a lot, and, on this board, trip nines would fold. I felt like 7-9 was definitely in his range the way the hand played out, as well as Q-9, 10-9, 6-9. Also he could have like 5-9 and 8-9 type hands, but that’s just whatever… if he has it, great. Nothing I can do. He also could have 6-7 and Q-10, which I’m good against. He could have smaller flushes.

CT: So what’s the plan to get a crying call?

DC: I want to raise to an amount that he can call with, because honestly he should be able to fold almost all of that to a raise; because as played, my hand is pretty face up.

Colpoys raises to 540,000.

DC: That amount would leave him with under 1,000,000 if he calls and give me a monstrous chip lead. I just didn’t think I was going to get called too often.

Villain calls and shows 6 2. Colpoys wins the pot of 1,528,800.

DC: I probably could have gotten all of his chips. But I’m happy with the hand as I pulled nearly half of his stack from him and it left me with an over 6-to-1 to chiplead. ♠