Winning Poker Tournaments – Hand No. 32

Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume III by Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet, and yours truly, analyzes 50 online poker hands. In Volume III, PearlJammer, Rizen, and Apestyles analyze the same hands and then I give a summary of lessons learned at the end of the hand. This article looks at hand No. 32.

Seat 3: 908,970 Small Blind
Seat 4: 2,729,532 Big Blind
Seat 5: 245,318
Seat 7: 2,694,195 Hero
Seat 8: 41,856
Seat 9: 1,017,372 Button

25,000-50,000 Blinds, 6,000 Ante

Setup: This is about an orbit later in the same tournament. The blinds have increased. There are about 20 players remaining in the tournament.

Preflop K K (111,000): You raise to 120,000, and Seat 3 reraises to 250,000.

What do you do?

PearlJammer

I pick up a huge hand and raise just under two-and-a-half times the big blind. Seat 3 makes a small three-bet from out of position with only 18 big blinds. Although this action usually indicates enormous strength, one should never fold kings in a spot like this. Seat 3’s stack size, combined with the fact that he reraised, means that I expect him to call for the rest of his stack. Thus, my decision to move all in is elementary; I shove.

Note that just calling Seat 3’s three-bet with kings or even aces can be tempting. However, since he will virtually never fold preflop after making this play, I am much better off getting the chips in the pot now rather than risking something coming on the flop that scares him out of putting in the rest of his chips. For example, if he has A-K and the flop comes 10-9-8, he may decide to bet/fold or check/fold. Also, he could easily have Q-Q – 10-10 and be scared off by an ace-high flop. It is much better to get the chips in now, with such a strong hand, before I potentially give him a reason to save any chips.

Rizen

The choice here is between calling and shoving all in. Seat 3 reraised to 250,000, putting over 25 percent of his stack in. This is a very strong play, and it is not likely that Seat 3 plans to fold this hand. That being said, if I call, the pot will be 586,000, and Seat 3 will have just about 658,000 behind, so getting Seat 3 to commit the rest of his chips with a continuation bet, particularly when he has to act first, is quite likely. While it may seem I’m splitting hairs here, I prefer just to flat call with these stacks in order to ensure that Seat 3 commits the rest of his stack on the flop, rather than giving him any chance to make a fold preflop. In order to make this play though, I have to be willing to commit the rest of my chips, whatever comes on the flop, even an ace. If I can’t do that, then I’m better off simply going all-in preflop to avoid making a bad fold postflop.

Apestyles

When I have kings in the cutoff and another player reraises from the small blind with a short stack, my only concern is how to get all of the chips in the middle and (hopefully) send my opponent to the rail. In my opinion, the difference between going all-in and calling is negligible since I rarely expect my opponent to three-bet and then fold with 18 big blinds. Because his range is very strong and he is normally willing to call all-in preflop, I usually go all in now so I don’t risk losing value postflop. I must admit, there have been times I’ve gone all in expecting a snap call in this spot, and, to my dismay, I get a snap fold instead. If I think there’s a high chance this opponent will fold, a call would be correct. However, I usually just push my chips into the middle.

Matthew

Players like to talk about marginal hands like jacks and A-Q. Premium pairs like aces and kings seem easy to play in comparison. However, you don’t get these hands very often, so it’s critical that you get as much value as possible from them when you do get them. I’ve selected a few hands in this book that look at how to play these premium pairs preflop to maximize value.

This particular hand is close to that gray area in terms of stack size and what the best choice is — slow play preflop or play aggressively? Some questions you should ask yourself include:

How often do you think your opponent would call your reraise preflop? Obviously, if you believe he would do so very often, then the answer is easy. This frequently depends on your opponent’s stack size. In this hand, with less than 20 big blinds, my opponent should rarely fold.

How likely are you to get your opponent to commit a lot of chips postflop? One problem that PearlJammer notes is that often the flop can actually slow down your action. If your opponent has A-K and misses or a medium pocket pair with a lot of high cards on the flop, you may be hard-pressed to get him to commit more chips. This is especially true when you hold kings, as you may be in a situation against A-K where your opponent would not commit additional chips unless an ace flops.

Are there opponents behind you who might try a squeeze play? This can be the difference between deciding to reraise or slow-play and call.

In the actual hand, I called preflop. The flop came A 6 4, and the villain bet 250,000, and I called. The turn was the 2 and we both checked. The river was the 5, and we both checked. I won when he showed down pocket nines. This particular hand illustrates how slow playing can cost chips, as an ace did flop and slowed down the action from both of us, whereas there would have been a good chance to have gotten all of my chips into the pot had I reraised preflop. In general, if there’s a good chance you’ll get action from your opponent, as in this hand given his stack of 18 big blinds, you’re generally better off simply reraising. However, against opponents behind you who have a propensity for squeeze bets, a slow play call can be a great play. ♠

Matthew is the owner of Dimat Enterprises, which just released Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume III available at pokerbooks.InternetTexasHoldem.com in both print and e-book format.