Final-Table Takedown: Jonathan Chehanske Takes Home a World Series of Poker Circuit Championship Ring

Jonathan Chehanske is a Las Vegas based professional poker player originally from Howell, New Jersey. He has been playing poker professionally since 2005. Jonathan began his career playing mostly mid/high stakes limit cash games but eventually transitioned to no-limit hold’em cash games and multi-table tournaments. He currently has over $250,000 in tournament cashes. Jonathan first started playing poker in college while getting his BA in Media Arts. After graduating, Jonathan decided to take a shot at poker, moving to the Atlantic City area, and has successfully made a career of poker ever since.

Hand No. 1

Key Concepts: Study your opponent’s tendencies: Always go with your reads

Craig Tapscott: Set this table up for us.

Jonathan Chehanske: At this point everyone else was pretty even in chips and I had the second largest stack at the table.

Chehanske raises to 65,000 from the button holding K Q.

JC: In this situation, being four handed and on the button this is a raise 100 percent of the time. I have a good hand against one aggressive player, Soi [Nguyen] and a taggy-type player in Lynda, and I will have position. So I am feeling good preflop.

Nguyen calls from the small blind and Tran calls from the big blind.

Flop: K 7 2 (pot: 215,000)

Nguyen checks. Tran checks. Chehanske bets 115,000. Nguyen raises to 260,000.

CT: What did you make of the check-raise from your experience playing with Nguyen?

JC: At this point, even with the check-raise, I am still very confident that I have the best hand. I initially put Soi on a weaker king or a flush draw. I am not worried about A-K because Soi would have definitely reraised preflop with that hand and I really don’t think he would play a set this way here. Plus, just like A-K, he probably three-bets a pocket pair facing a button raise in this situation. It is possible he could have a disguised two pair hand like K-2 or K-7 which he might play in this fashion.

Tran folds. Chehanske calls.

JC: I decide to slow down and make the call and wait to see what Soi does on the turn.

Turn: 4 (pot: 735,000)

Nguyen bets 315,000.

CT: Is he posturing here after what is essentially a brick hit the turn?

JC: Well this is a really big bet when compared to my stack size. If I make the call I would have committed 640,000 of my chips or a little less than half my stack. Even so, I really have no intention of folding here.

CT: What did you make of this bet? Did you pick up anything?

JC: When Soi made this bet it seemed a little weak. The pot was around 700,000 at this point, so his bet was less than half the size of the pot. In a situation like this, if Soi had a made hand, he probably would have bet a little bigger, making it difficult for me to call with my draws.  I tank for a few minutes for two reasons: I want to disguise my hand and make Soi think that I could be on a flush draw, and second, I wanted to reassess the action of the hand prior to this bet. So I……

Chehanske calls.

JC: I called knowing that Soi will have a tough time betting the river with his weaker hands and busted draws, so I was actually anticipating a river check by him.

River: 9 (pot: 1,365,000)

JC: Another brick.

Nguyen checks.

CT: Can you value bet here? And what do you do if you get check-raised?

JC: I am fairly confident that Soi would not be able to call a river bet here, but also if Soi put me on a busted flush draw he could be checking for value. If I check behind and I’m beat, I will still have around 800,000 in chips. If I bet and get raised, I will be pot committed and will have to make the call. If I bet and get called and I’m beat I will be extremely short stacked. Given these factors and the size of the pot already, a value bet here is out of the question.

Chehanske checks and reveals the K Q. Nguyen mucks. Chehanske wins the pot of 1,365,000.

JC: This pot was significant because it gave me a lot of chips allowing me to play a more loose-aggressive style afterwards and giving me the opportunity to put a lot of pressure on the short stacks.

Hand No. 2

Key Concepts: Don’t overplay weak hands out of position, especially against competent opponents.

Chehanske raises to 65,000 holding K 2 from the small blind.

JC: Although king-high will often be ahead of a lot of the big blinds random ranges here, the fact that I am unconnected and unsuited as well as out of position with an aggressive player in the big blind makes this hand tough to play. I honestly will probably fold this hand more often than I will call or raise with it in this situation given all the factors, but I decided to play.

CT: What kinds of general factors do you weigh when deciding how to handle blind on blind situations?

JC: In blind versus blind situations, I typically take into consideration my hand strength, my stack size, my opponent’s stack size, and my opponent’s tendencies (does he release blinds easily or does he defend often). Generally, I play relatively tight from the small blind when in a blind versus blind situation. I will also limp a fair amount with my medium range hands and fold most of my weak hands. The most important thing to remember when playing from the small blind in a blind versus blind situation is that you will have to play the entire hand out of position, so my main focus is to not overplay weak hands (which is easily done in these spots) and if need be, wait for a better spot to step up aggression when I will have position.

Nguyen calls.

Flop: A 10 6 (pot: 150,000)

JC: This is a perfect flop for me to continuation bet.

Chehanske bets 85,000

JC: I am very confident at this point that Soi does not hold an ace. I am certain that Soi would have three-bet me from the big blind with any ace, so I was expecting to take the pot down right then, but….

Nguyen calls.

Turn: 10 (pot: 320,000)

CT: Does this card help or hurt the story you are trying to tell?

JC: I actually like this card on the turn. It doesn’t complete any draws and allows me the chance to rep a big hand. If Soi doesn’t have a ten in this spot, a strong bet makes it difficult for him to continue with his weaker hands and forces him to fold a lot of his draws. So I fire again.

Chehanske bets 115,000

JC: Soi tanks for a short time and…

Nguyen calls.

River: 4 (pot: 550,000)

CT: Can you fire a third barrel and get a fold?

JC: Well when the river brings a brick I am left with a big decision.

CT: What are you best options?

JC: If I check, I am certain that Soi will make a big bet with his weak hands as a semi-bluff and will definitely bet his busted draws at this point.

CT: What do you think he is holding?

JC: I can’t completely discount the possibility that Soi had floated me on two streets with a hand like K-J or K-Q, making it possible that he has not made a hand but still has the best hand with a better king-high. I decide to fire a third barrel, continuing my line of repping a big hand but also as kind of a blocking bet. This is something that I don’t typically do either, three-barrel bluffing out of position into an aggressive player, but I am not prepared at this stage to make a hero call with K-2 high on the river. So I have to bet and put Soi to the test. I make a moderately big bet…

Chehanske bets 250,000

JC: Soi tanks for a minute before putting out what was basically a min-raise.

Nguyen raises 550,000.

CT: Obviously you can’t continue.

JC: No. This raise definitely took me by surprise and although I heard something about me hollywooding here before my fold, I was actually breaking down the hand to try and determine if my king-high could be good. Soi was an aggressive player and a min-raise here looks to me to be either a super strong hand or a bluff. After breaking down the hand it just seemed very unlikely that Soi was bluffing here and I made an easy fold.

Chehanske folds. Nguyen reveals J 10 and wins the pot of 800,000. ♠