Winning Poker Tournaments III –- Hand No. 50

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 fifty 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. 50.

Seat 1: 11,621,234 Small Blind
Seat 2: 11,478,040 Big Blind Hero
Seat 3: 11,931,280
Seat 4: 2,669,487
Seat 5: 8,822,367
Seat 6: 5,391,002
Seat 7: 14,171,999
Seat 8: 11,721,199
Seat 9: 6,943,392 Button

Blinds – 250,000-500,000

Ante – 50,000

Setup: Matthew observed this hand at the final table of a $215 Sunday online major. There were 8,540 entrants. First place pays $251,000 and ninth place pays $13,000. The final table just started, so I don’t have any reads on the players as I am just observing.

Preflop (1,200,000) K 6: Seat nine raises to 1,000,000. The small blind folds.

What do you do?

PearlJammer

I am dealt a marginal hand in the big blind as this major final table gets underway with relatively short stacks all around, thus making every decision all the more crucial. The action folds to the button, who min-raises with only 14 big blinds. When an opponent raises with fewer than 20 big blinds, or especially with fewer than 15 big blinds, I will usually give them credit for a strong hand unless I have observed them making similar plays with weak hands. Therefore, even though I am getting a great price, I should definitely fold K-6 suited out of position and wait for better spots.

Rizen

Without any additional reads, I just fold. If the stacks were deeper, this is a really good spot to reraise, as you can put a lot of pressure on Seat 9, who isn’t going to want to bust out before some of the shorter stacks.

Apestyles

Because the original raiser has only 14 big blinds, and because I am playing at a final table that is almost certainly huge money for the raiser, I elect to go all in. The amazing thing about being at a Sunday major final table is that the players are usually very inexperienced and very tight. I think the best play is go all in, followed by folding, with calling a distant third. With an effective stack of 14 big blinds, it’s very hard to show a profit by calling preflop.

If I know this player is a very good, experienced player, then I’ll just fold, as he most likely isn’t going to raise/fold with fewer than 15 big blinds.

Action: You call.

Flop (2,700,000) A A 2: You check. Your opponent bets 500,000.

What do you do?

PearlJammer

I chose to ignore my opponent’s stack size and called preflop. I checked, and my opponent bet the absolute minimum. While this small bet often means extreme strength or extreme weakness because of such a small effective stack size, my opponent is not necessarily polarizing his range.

He may be very strong (A-x) and begging for action with his tiny bet. He may also have a pocket pair, such as KK-88, that has now become a marginal hand that could be drawing to only two outs. Yet because of his short stack, with such a hand, he has already planned to play it to the death on this board.

He probably feels relatively safe, considering how unlikely it is for me to have an ace in this spot. I probably would have shoved preflop with a strong A-x and folded a weak one. Thus, his small bet appears to give me room to make a move on him (when he is ready for it) without even having to have a monster. Lastly, he could have air, such as Q-J suited, and just be trying to win the pot as cheaply as possible, knowing that I am unlikely to have connected with this board and may be scared away by the small bet.

It is tempting to read his bet as weakness and either make a play at the pot now or float out of position, looking to take it down later. However, because my range is unlikely to have hit this board, and he likely has a strong hand, raising with a 14 big blind stack, I need to cut my losses and get out of this pot right now! I fold.

Rizen

If I decided to call preflop, I would have to plan on winning this pot sometimes by making a play at it. My opponent’s bet looks really weak. The only problem with raising is that it is tough for me to represent an ace because I didn’t reraise preflop. I would still raise to 2,000,000, knowing it would be really tough for my opponent to continue without having at least a pair, and he has shown weakness by making such a small continuation bet.

Apestyles

This hand illustrates why calling preflop can be so bad. A-A-2 “hot-and-cold” is one of the best flops for my hand that doesn’t contain a king, six, or draw of any sort. I don’t think I can fold to a minimum bet on this board. After making this tiny bet, my opponent can either have an ace or boat with which he’s trying to induce action, or he’s trying to get away with a cheap bluff. I suspect the villain is bluffing, simply because it is hard to hit a flop in hold’em poker. The problem is that there are no turn cards upon which I can happily call a bet. I feel like calling this minimum bet is the equivalent of giving away a big blind. Luckily, I have a fun option that is better than calling!

If I raise to 1,400,000, I should get a very honest response from my opponent. With very little additional risk, I force the villain to play for his entire stack. I do not think a random player will go all in without an ace in his hand at a final table with such massive payouts and other shorter stacks still alive. He might shove or call with 33-KK as well, but that is just a small part of his range.

With such a short stack, I do not see him “floating” this check-raise with air, either. Therefore, I think a small raise is just as effective as a large raise. If he does call my raise, I will put him on 33-KK or an ace, and shut down on the turn. One of my main objectives in tournament poker is making bets that force my opponent to risk his entire stack, while risking very little myself.

Matthew

All great players are able to make creative plays. The villain makes a bet on the flop, and we now have to react. It is a very difficult situation, given the stack sizes, the board, and little history upon which to base our play. The small check-raise is a way to use leverage to put your opponent’s stack at risk, while risking very little yourself. In this case, it worked to perfection, as the villain folded.

You check-raised to 1,500,000, and your opponent folded K 4.

Matthew is the owner of Dimat Enterprises, “Publishing Today’s Best Poker Books”. Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume III is available at pokerbooks.InternetTexasHoldem.com in both print and e-book format.