Alex Masek Captures a Record Ninth WSOP Circuit Ring in Los Angeles

Alex Masek is a professional poker player currently residing in Irvine, California. Since completing a law degree from University of San Diego in 2011, he has over $1.3 million in tournament cashes and currently holds the record for most World Series Of Poker Circuit rings with nine. Masek won the Commerce Casino Hold’em Series main event in 2011 for $78,000, finished second in the 2012 WSOP Circuit main event in Los Angeles for $106,000, captured a fourth place finish at WPT Legends of Poker in 2013 for $156,000, and narrowly missed out on his first bracelet by finishing second in the 2015 WSOP National Championship for $211,000.

Event:  2015 WSOP Circuit Los Angeles Event #7    
Players: 143 • Entry: $365 • First Prize: $12,000 • Finish:  1st

Key Concepts: Bluffing as the short stack; Reading board textures

Craig Tapscott: Alex, please set up the table dynamics before this final table began.

Alex Masek:  Well, we started day two of this tournament with seven players left and I was sixth in chips. A local player, Erick Lee, dominated the end of day one by playing a smart, solid game and ended up bagging the chiplead with 524,000, which was more than second and third place combined. 

CT: How did your day start?

AM: On the first hand, I picked up 10-10 from under the gun and shoved without getting called, increasing my stack to 142,000.

CT: And how did you approach being on the short stack?

AM: I have to say that, despite having a short stack, I didn’t lose confidence, because I felt like I was very in tune with the table dynamics. Also I had the most experience playing short effective stacks given the high volume of online tournaments that I’ve played over the years. This hand illustrates the maneuverability available with even a short stack, as well as the value of going with your read.

Lee calls from the small blind. Masek checks holding 8 5 in the big blind.

CT: What is your read on Lee’s limp?

AM: I didn’t think he necessarily had a great hand here. I felt that he was tricky enough to be limp/calling a shove with a hand like K-10, Q-J, or 7-7. So I…

Masek checks.

Flop:  Q 4 3 (pot: 38,000)

Lee checks. Masek bets 18,000.

AM: This was a very dry flop, and when Lee checked, I decided it was a good opportunity to try to steal the pot. My bet only needed to work 33 percent of the time to be immediately profitable, not counting any additional equity I might have on future streets if he just called. Given that, I checked back from the big blind preflop. I thought my bet would be believable on a board texture that appeared to connect with a weak preflop hand at a reasonably high frequency. 

Lee calls.

CT: And when he called, what is the plan?

AM: I thought he could definitely be trapping with top pair, but I thought it was also very possible that he had middle pair or bottom pair, or even some sort of draw like 6-5, A-5, or A-2. I then started to think about which type of turn cards I should continue my bluff on, and which ones would likely force me to shut down.

Turn: K (pot: 74,000)

Lee checks.

CT: Is this a good card to represent?

AM: Yes. I thought the king on the turn was the perfect bluff card for me. It completed the rainbow board, so there were no flush draws with which Lee might feel he was priced in to call. It was an overcard to the board, and, while I didn’t think he would fold a queen if he indeed did flop top pair, I thought it was going to be tough for him to call off with a 4 or a 3, or even if he was trapping preflop with a mid pocket pair like 6-6 to 9-9. I would often take the same overbet line with a value hand in this spot given my stack size, so that made it tougher for Lee to hero call my shove. 

Masek shoves for 110,000.

CT: Explain why you shoved?

AM: I really liked the dynamic of bluffing all in here. Since most people generally don’t try to bluff into the chip leader in these types of scenarios. I think this play works an unusually high frequency of the time, especially given that the chip leader here was a smart player, and not one willing to gamble recklessly. It also really helped that my stack size allowed for an overbet, since it forced Lee to make a really tough decision even if he was skeptical of the strength of my hand.

Lee folds. Masek wins the pot of 74,000.

AM: Although I only increased my stack by three to four big blinds, it was a pretty important boost given how short stacked I was. It also helped me from a psychological standpoint, because it confirmed my belief that I was making good reads and felt in tune with the table dynamics. Additionally, other than Lee, everyone at the table had a stack size between 6-23 big blinds. Now my stack gave me significantly more opportunity to apply ICM pressure compared to the 110,000-chip stack I would have had if I had given up on my bluff after the flop bet.

Key Concepts: Deciphering opponent ranges; Willingness to take marginal spots against good players

CT: Set up heads-up play versus Lee for us.

AM: Lee had proven to be one of the toughest players I’d battled with. My initial strategy of trying to grind him down using a smallball strategy hadn’t been working, mainly because he was taking creative lines. Just prior to this hand I decided to switch up my strategy and try to get him to play bigger pots in the hopes that I could take him out of his comfort zone and get him to make a big mistake.

Masek raises from the Button to 45,000 holding A 4.

CT: Did you choose this opening bet sizing for a reason?

AM: Once we hit the 10,000/20,000 level, I raised every button to exactly 45,000 in order to prevent my bet sizing from giving away any information regarding the strength of my hand.

Lee calls.

Flop: A 6 5 (pot: 96,000) 

Lee checks.

CT: Pretty good flop.

AM: Yes. I certainly liked this flop, both because I hit top pair and because it was coordinated enough that Lee might call me down or check-raise with a flush or straight draw.

Masek bets 50,000.

AM: By this point in our heads-up battle, Lee had proved himself willing to take creative lines, and I anticipated that he might check-raise in order to set up a shove on the turn. His stack-to-pot ratio seemed a bit large for him to check-raise all-in on the flop, but I was prepared to call if he did so.

Lee calls.

CT: What is your read on his hand range?

AM: When he called, I thought his range consisted primarily of draws, along with some middle to bottom pair hands. I didn’t think that he had me out-kicked with a top pair hand too often, since I believe he would have usually reraised with A-K to A-9 preflop. I thought there was a chance he could be trapping with hands like A-A, 6-6, 5-5, A-6, A-5, and 6-5, but I didn’t think that made up nearly as large of a portion of his range as the drawing hands or medium-strength middle to bottom pair hands.

Turn: K (pot:  196,000)

Lee checks.

CT: Does this turn work for your plan?

AM: I considered this to be a really good turn card, given that the only hands in Lee’s range that were behind on the flop but ahead on the turn were K-6, K-5, and K-K.

CT: How do you decide what bet sizing to barrel now?

AM: I decided to bet around 60 percent of the pot to entice him to check-raise all in with his drawing hands if he believed that I was trying to barrel him off of a marginal strength holding with a hand lacking showdown value.

Masek bets 116,000.

AM: I thought this sizing was big enough that he wouldn’t simply call with the drawing hands in his range.

Lee shoves all in.

CT: Everything is going according to plan. This is an easy call, right?

AM: My initial reaction was to go with my plan and call. However, given that I was closing the action and there was no need to make a snap decision, I ended up tanking for several minutes while running all the scenarios through my head.

CT: Share some of your thoughts.

AM: Well, I tried to figure out roughly how many permutations of drawing hands he could have, as well as how many two pair (or better) combinations he might have. He could have A-6, A-5, 6-5, K-6, K-5, A-A, K-K, 6-6, and 5-5 for value, although I discounted A-6 and A-5 to some extent, and A-A especially.

CT: Why?

AM: Because I had a blocker to those hands and because I thought our heads-up dynamic indicated that he would often reraise preflop with those hands. I believed K-6, K-5, and 6-5 to be the most likely hands in his value range. I thought there were a lot of drawing hands that made up his check-raising range on the turn, although I discounted A X and K X because it would make more sense for him to play those hands as bluff catchers if he was willing to commit with them. Since I had to call off 406,000 more to win a total pot of 1.43 million, I needed 33 percent equity to make it a profitable call. So I…
Masek calls. Lee shows 6 5.

CT: One of the hands you expected.

AM: Yes. I was certainly unhappy to see that Lee had two pair, not only because I had just an 18 percent chance to win the hand, but also because it made me wonder whether I had misread the situation and over-weighed drawing hands in my assessment of his range.

River: A (pot: 1,430,000) 

Masek wins the event and the pot of 1,240,000.

AM: When the river card came, I initially had conflicting emotions. I didn’t fist pump or celebrate since I was still trying to process whether I had made the right call on the turn. Throughout the entire tournament, I tried not to be results-oriented and focused solely on evaluating my play from an objective standpoint, and although I had just won the tournament, I still had that same mindset. It wouldn’t have been satisfying to me to have won by getting lucky after making a major mistake, so I wasn’t ready to celebrate.

CT: Still a little luck never hurts. Congrats on the win and your record-extending ninth WSOP Circuit ring.

AM: Thanks, Craig. ♠