Final Table Takedown: Dominik Nitsche Becomes the Youngest Player in WSOP History to Win Three Gold Bracelets

Dominik Nitsche, 23, began playing poker online like most of today’s young guns. He entered his first live event after turning eighteen and won it, taking down the 2009 Latin Poker Tour’s Mar del Plata main event in Argentina. This year, he took down a WSOP $1,000 no-limit event for $335,000 and in 2012 won another WSOP $1,000 no-limit event for $654,000. In 2013, he finished third in the WSOP Europe main event for $551,000. He is also a World Poker Tour champion, capturing the 2012 WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic. Nitsche has more than $3.5 million in lifetime career earnings.

Event: 2013/2014 WSOP National Championship
Players: 126
Entry: $10,000
First Prize: $352,800
Finish: 1st

Hand No. 1

Key Concepts: Value-betting without inflating the pot; playing a medium-strong hand when in position

Craig Tapscott: Set this final table up for us, Dominik.

Dominik Nitsche: I have been very selective and have mostly been getting involved with the amateurs at the table and staying out of Athanasios’ and Matthew’s ways. 

Nitsche raises from the button to 50,000 holding K J. Polychronopoulos calls from the small blind and Bibb calls from the big blind.

CT: Can you nail them to an approximate kind of range of hands after playing with these players for the last few days?

DN: I’m assuming right now that Athanasios is indeed capable of flatting with a pretty strong hand here from the small blind. He does not want play a big pot with me at this point, so keeping the pot small with hands such as A-Q or K-Q is a very sound play in my opinion. He could also be holding pairs such as 10-10 to 6-6 or some weaker Broadway combinations. He might also have a few suited connectors.

CT: And Bibb?

DN: His range is super wide and almost impossible to narrow down, but he probably does not have a lot of ace-highs, Broadways or pairs, since these hands make excellent shoving hands.

Flop: J 7 3 (pot:  166,000)

Polychronopoulos checks. Bibb checks. Nitsche bets 60,000.

CT: Why that sizing?

DN: Well, looking back on it now, I think my bet was slightly too small. I feel like a bet of 80,000 to 85,000 would have been the perfect amount on this board. I do want to get value now and my hand does benefit from some protection since we are three-way.  

Polychronopoulos calls.

CT: Any thoughts on his call?

DN: I think he will defend pretty much any pair against my tiny bet. Given that I bet so small, he might also call with some sort of A Qx type hand. Those would be pretty loose calls with Chris still left to act, but they are certainly possible.  

Bibb folds.

Turn: 4  (pot: 286,000)

Polychronopoulos checks.

CT: The four is pretty much a blank unless he has exactly 7-6.

DN: Yes. It didn’t change anything, and my hand is way ahead of his range.

Nitsche bets 110,000.

CT: So I have to ask again, why that sizing?

DN: I know. My bet, once again, is on the small side. I’m hoping he’s going to pay me off one more street with his medium hands or flush draws. Maybe he will even call once more with his A Qx-type hands that beat all my draws. Although, in my opinion, he should definitely fold these types of hands now, as I’m not going to let him to get showdown cheaply on most rivers. 

CT: So you are happy with your bet sizing this time?

DN: I like my 40% pot bet here, as it keeps the pot small and, if I am behind, it allows to me to bet again for thin value on certain rivers. I really want to stress here how important it is that this pot doesn’t get too big. My hand is simply not strong enough; especially with the ICM (Independent Chip Model) considerations and the weaker player being on the short stack. I also don’t expect to get check-raised on this turn at all, so that’s another argument for betting small.

Polychronopoulos calls.

River: 8 (pot: 506,000)

Polychronopoulos checks.

CT: Can you continue to bet for value when the third spade shows up?

DN: No. It was an easy decision to check. There is no way I would value bet this and no way would I have wanted to turn this into a bluff.

Nitsche checks. Polychronopoulos reveals A Q. Nitsche wins the pot of 506,000.

DN: Athanasios shows up with A Q, which, as I said, was a bit of a loose call. I can certainly see why he did though. I still feel like he made a mistake by calling the turn. He might be getting a good price, but the river is going to be impossible for him to play. I can bluff the spades with my busted straight draws and I can value-bet very effectively against him. I can also check behind if a spade hits and win the pot with my top pair. 

This is very profitable situation for me. It feels like I will be able to play this river perfectly against him, unless an ace or queen shows up on the river. In my opinion, this situation for Athanasios is best played by folding the turn. Position is crucial in this spot.

Hand No. 2

Key Concepts: Playing against three-bets in position; how to correctly exploit polarized three-betting ranges

DN: I would probably say this was the key hand on my way to winning WSOP bracelet number two.

Nitsche raises to 60,000 from the button holding A 9. Polychronopoulos folds.

DN: I later found out that Athanasios had folded K-9 suited from the small blind, which I think was a mistake, as it is a pretty strong hand three-handed.  He’s ahead of my opening range and can certainly three-bet here. It is not a big mistake, but just something I thought I would mention in regards to short-handed strategy. The K-9 suited is an excellent three-betting hand from the small blind in this spot and I would hate folding it to a button open (especially against a button open from an aggressive player like myself). But I would soon find out that Matthew has plans of his own.

Ashton raises to 185,000.

CT: What’s his hand range from your experience of playing with him?

DN: At this point, I put him on a whole lot of low suited connectors as well as 8-8+ and A-Q+. Matthew has been quite erratic throughout the final table, so I didn’t completely out rule any fancy plays with very poor hands like K-5 offsuit.

CT: Do you know Matthew’s game well?

DN: Matthew is an amazing player, but no-imit isn’t his best game. I feel like he might be making some mistakes when it comes to building a solid three-betting range in spots like these. I’m not 100 percent sure what his range actually looks like and this might get me into a few tricky spots.

CT: So does that mean a four-bet is in order?

DN: Well, a lot of players like to four-bet here. But I believe that it is, plain and simple, a mistake because A 9 does pretty well against an aggressive player’s three-bet range, especially in position. A call here is the only possible option.

Nitsche calls.

Flop: 4 2 2 (pot: 394,000)

CT: Is this flop good or bad in your mind in regards to your hand vs. Matthew’s range?

DN: It is a super dry flop, so not much has changed here. Some of his bluffs picked up quite a bit of equity though (think 6-5 type hands and wheel aces like A-5 or A-3). We are still ahead of basically any type of bluff he could be three-betting with though. Also worth mentioning is that we have the backdoor flush draw, which means that we will be able to call another street on more turn cards.

CT: So what is going through your crafty mind?

DN: Right now, I’m thinking that I definitely want to keep calling on any spade turn and any deuce, trey, four, or five and any nine and any ace. Always ask yourself what kind of turn cards you want to see when deciding to stick around with a marginal hand like A-9 on this type of flop. Also, have a clear plan for the rest of the hand, otherwise you will end up making big mistakes.

Ashton bets 130,000. Nitsche calls.

DN: I call for all the reasons mentioned above.  His bet is super small and I would be very inclined to call him even wider. But, without going into too much detail, I believe calling any sort of Broadway hand is fine because I don’t think they are dominated very often, and maybe once in a while you will even dominate him and/or turn a pair, which he is then going to try and represent.

Turn: 6 (pot:  654,000)

Ashton bets 350,000.

DN: Easy call.

Nitsche calls.

CT: Sure, but can you further define his range at this point? Because I am sure that figures into your plan in case all your outs miss.

DN: Yes. For a start he can obviously still have all premium pairs, but also quite a lot of random bluffs such as K-5 or whatever he decided to three-bet with. The 6 didn’t improve very many hands and I think his range at this point is full of a lot of bluffs, which makes me even not want to fold any of my ace high hands. And that is regardless of the spade on the turn.

CT: Yet his turn bet is large.

DN: Yes. Actually it is really big, almost triple his flop bet.

CT: Which makes you believe what?

DN: Well, it leads me to believe he is more polarized, so I sort of figured he doesn’t have very many 6x hands. It is also good thing I have a flush draw here, so I definitely have to stick around for one more street.

River: 6 (pot: 1,354,000) 

Ashton checks.

DN: I have showdown value and see absolutely no need to turn my hand into a bluff.

Ashton reveals J 9. Nitsche wins the pot of 1,354,000.

CT: Any more thoughts on the way this hand went down?

DN: His play in this hand seemed rather erratic to me. He picks a pretty poor hand to three-bet with and then fires twice with no equity other than his two overcards. In my opinion, he had an excellent hand to call and see a flop with. Instead, he decided to bloat the pot with a hand that is easily dominated and going to be in a whole lot of trouble if he runs into a real hand. ♠