Hand 2 Hand Combat: Taking Advantage At The WSOP

Dominik Nitsche: We have been playing for almost two hours at this point. I felt like I had a good idea how everyone on my table would play. Most of them were inexperienced amateurs taking their shot at a big tourney — they usually play very predictable and straight forward. Except for my opponent in the upcoming hand — a young kid about my age, who looks kind of nervous and I guess a little scared to be here. So I knew he wouldn’t want to make any big mistakes early on.

Rebecca McAdam: Do you have rough chip counts for the players involved in the hand?

DN: The young kid [villain] has 5,000, an amateur has 4,000, and I have 5,000.

Villain opens under the gun (UTG) for 125, amateur calls from the cutoff, Nitsche overcalls with 9 7 on the button. Everyone else folds.

RM: So you obviously felt very comfortable at this stage and with some control due to your experience… but sometimes it can be just as dangerous playing with amateurs, don’t you think?

DN: Sure, sometimes they can do something completely unpredictable which will confuse you and cause you to make mistakes but that happens. I feel like I will make less mistakes after the flop than them, especially in these World Series events players tend to play super straightforward for the most part, no one is running big bluffs. The only reason I called here was because of the player in the cutoff who I thought was one of the weakest at the table.

RM: So would it be regardless of cards that you would be getting involved here… more likely to play the person involved and your position?

DN: Given our stack sizes and how strong I perceive UTG’s [the villain’s] range to be here I think 9 7 is already pretty close. I like playing hands in these spots that are very unlikely to be dominated, such as 5-4 suited. I would snap-fold hands like K-Q or J-T off-suit.

RM: So what happens next?

DN: The flop comes down T-6-5 with one spade giving me a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw.

Flop: 10 6 5

Villain bets 300, amateur folds.

RM: The amateur isn’t involved any more, so does that change the way you were going to play it from here?

DN: Of course it does. I’m now not looking to make a big hand anymore or take away the pots on low boards, as all I have is a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw, I need to have a good plan for future streets if I want to call here… like I can’t just call to hit my outs, that strategy is sure to be a losing one. I figured that if I want to continue in the hand the turn needs to be a spade (hopefully a low one such as the 4) or any 4, 6, 7, or 9. Those cards would greatly improve my equity against his range and I could use those to run a big and credible bluff with equity on him. Even if he has aces on the turn I am fairly confident he’s not going to win the hand if I put him under enough pressure. The eight would obviously be my dream card but that’s a pretty long shot. A 10 wouldn’t be a bad card either if I can pick up a tell on him on the turn. So I call.

RM: What hands do you put him on?

DN: Given where he raised from his range is pretty narrow. His most likely hand at this point is obviously A-K or A-Q given that there are more combinations of those than (over)pairs. However I’m not sure he c-bets [continuation bets] those 100 percent of the time. However most people tend to c-bet too much, so there is a good chance he has those. It’s pretty hard for him to have a 10 or a set as most players don’t have a lot of tens in their preflop raising range from ep [early position] on a ten-handed table. He’s most likely to have an overpair at this point though to be honest but even then I feel like I have to continue in the hand given how many turn cards I can continue on.

Turn: 10

DN: He tanks for at least two minutes before betting 500.

RM: What are your thoughts?

DN: My first reaction to the turn card was that I didn’t like it. If he bombs it here I can’t do anything but give up. However when he started thinking for that long I figured he wouldn’t need to think that long with a 10 or better in his hand. His betsizing pretty much confirmed my read that he was trying to go for a thin value-bet on the turn. Most players have a tell that they like to bet small with the weaker part of the value range. In general, the biggest mistake you can make against those hands is to call down too much. So if I had a hand like, let’s say, jacks here, I wouldn’t be calling the turn to get to showdown, I would be calling to bluff the river.

RM: What’s the point of a bet like that though? Surely, it wouldn’t put many people off, so it wouldn’t get too much value?

DN: I honestly think it’s just a leak most players have. Their reasoning is “I want him to pay me off with the bottom of his range and I don’t think he can call much more” — well if you do that to a good player he will realize how face up your hand is and play accordingly. In my example I think there is pretty much no way my jacks are ever good on the turn. He’s far more likely to have Q-Q+, so yeah, I would bluff that river 100 percent.

Nitsche calls.

River: 2

Villain checks.

RM: What does that say to you?

DN: I’m almost 100 percent sure he’s looking to get to showdown cheaply with the marginal part of his value range a.k.a overpairs. There is about 2,000 in chips in the middle and now I just have to decide how big I should go. I thought about it for like 15 seconds and figured an overbet would give me the best chance of winning here. I can credibly represent a ton of hands that are effectively the nuts here as it’s very unlikely for him to have a 10. I, on the other hand, can have a lot of full houses and even hands such as T-9 suited – A-T suited.

RM: So although you believe he has better you think he will be good enough to realise what you are trying to represent and fold? Are you just weighing up the risk… like how married to his cards he is, and how good he is really?

DN: At the time I was obviously hoping he was a good, but not amazing, player because then his thought process will be something like this on the river, “He knows I have a strong hand so why would he float the turn and then overbet without a 10?” Very few people try to make people fold overpairs — especially early in a $1,500.
An amazing player might have recognized how good of a spot to bluff this is for me and that he can’t fold an overpair on this board to me given it’s the very top of his range. However, I was fairly sure he wasn’t on that level yet, especially because he gave away so much information on the turn. I picked the scariest betsizing possible — a slight overbet of 2,200, leaving me with exactly 2,000 chips behind. He tanked for three minutes and folded. Honestly as soon as he didn’t snap-call I felt like there was no way I was getting called. He just needed some extra time to convince himself how good of a fold hes making with his A-A [smiles].

RM: Nicely played. Obviously this all changes as you go deeper in the event and amateurs drop off. In events like the WSOP (specifically lower buy-in no-limit hold’em events) would you tend to be more aggressive as there are so many amateurs who don’t want to lose their chips so early on… they may be only playing one or a couple of events? Does this tactic pay off largely?

DN: Thanks! Well I usually love to play more aggressive but unfortunately the WSOP tourneys start tenhanded so there is not enough room to splash around. I usually prefer to three-bet a lot while the tables are still shorthanded then tighten up once we have seven or more players at the table. This way people will view me way more aggressive than I actually am and just pay me off lighter. In general I’m always trying not get into big pots unless I have it — it’s very rare for me to run a big bluff like this one early on in a soft field.

The thing with playing amateurs is — they like to call a lot, especially with draws. I therefore tend to semibluff them much less and valuebet them much thinner.

RM: Can I ask you, roughly how differently would you have played this if it was against the other opponent, at least initially?

DN: Yeah, sure. If the young player checked and the amateur bet 300 I most likely would have folded right there. He can have a lot of tens and I am not going to try to bluff him off top pair — a hand inexperienced players think is pretty much the nuts. And well if it checked to me I would have obviously taken a stab at it expecting to win the pot most of the time.

RM: So advice to amateurs — get aggressive, they’ll think you have it! [Smiles]

DN: That’s always good advice! Unless you take it too far in which case…

RM: Did you have any further run-ins with your opponent? In fact, was the table more wary of you from here on in?

DN: The table broke like 10 minutes later. I guess in hindsight maybe I should have shown the bluff but most of the table had already left to go on break, and well, I honestly didn’t want to rub it in his face. Sometimes I think it’s better to keep them guessing instead of confirming their read. ♠

Dominik Nitsche hit the World Series of Poker for the first time this year and is looking to make a dent. The 21-year-old poker millionaire is highly regarded in European and online circles, and it’s only a matter of time before the USA sees what he has to offer. He is one of a group of highly-skilled young players on the up in the poker world, ever since his first major live score at the 2009 LAPT main event where he demolished a field of 291 to take home the $381,030 top prize. The young pro is hoping to be the next German to bag a WSOP bracelet.