Final Table Takedown: Heads-Up Specialist Ankush Mandavia Captures First WSOP Gold Bracelet

Ankush Mandavia is a graduate of the University of Georgia. He achieved Supernova elite status on PokerStars for three years, and has won two World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events and two WSOP bracelets. He was also the European Poker Tour’s Heads-Up Player of the Year in 2012. Mandavia lives in Houston, Texas, but is a fan of all Detroit sports teams, and what most would consider a super fan of the University of Georgia football team. Mandavia has earned more than $3 million in combined online and live tournament cashes.

Event: World Series of Poker $5,000 Turbo (30-minute levels)
Players: 524 • Entry: $5,000 • First Prize:  $548,139 • Finish: 1st

Key Concepts: Hand ranges; Knowing your opponent; ICM pressure

Craig Tapscott: Can you please set up the final table for us before we breakdown this hand?

Ankush Mandavia: The background setting previous to this hand was that I had just won a massive all-in holding 9-9 vs. 7-7 for over 5 million of the 11.5 million chips in play. With a big stack I would be able to put more Independent Chip Model (ICM) pressure on my opponents and accumulate chips easier, because everyone was in a folding race with similar stacks to move up in the pay jumps.

Mandavia raises to 225,000 from the hijack holding K J. Villain raises to 450,000 from the cutoff.

CT: What’s your read on the Villain?

AM: My read on the Villain is that he is on the tighter side and has rarely gotten out of line thus far at the final table. And that many of the remaining players have a similar stack to his, which is pretty short. I considered folding, but I’m getting too good of a price with my specific holding. 

Mandavia calls.

CT: Were there any other reasons you called the raise from out of position?

AM: With 5.8 million in chips and covering everyone at the table by a mile, I could afford to call and lose this pot without undermining my big stack potential pressure.

CT: Before we go any further can you share some tips on playing the big stack in relation to ICM at the table.

AM: As a big stack, ICM play is relatively straight forward. You want to put as much pressure as possible on the short stacks, because they have an incentive to wait for other people at the table to bust. The nature of no-limit hold’em is it’s difficult to make hands, and if you can get people to fold stronger ranges it benefits you a lot. I tend to open a lot as a big stack because people won’t want to risk a post-flop altercation unless they have the top of their range. Another consideration as a big stack is that you don’t necessarily want to bust the shorter stacks, because with them in it sort of creates a bubble. This can alter your preflop decisions when facing an all-in vs. a shorter stack. You might decide you want to fold a hand you normally would call based on the math of the situation.

Flop: 9 5 2 (pot: 1,110,000)

Mandavia checks. Villain checks.

CT: That seems like kind of strange check from the Villain. I would think that with most all of his range he would slide out a continuation bet. Then again, perhaps he is setting a trap with a huge hand. What did you make of it?

AK: I started to try to dissect my opponent’s range here a bit. Most people with overpairs would protect their equity on these types of textures with a continuation bet. And 9-9 is a possible check-back hand for value. And flush draws continue on this flop as well, as do most bluffs quite often.

CT: So what do you believe he’s holding?

AK: It is becoming more and more apparent that a likely hand range here includes a lot of overcards that don’t want to bet the flop and potentially get raised.

Turn: 3 (pot: 1,110,000)

CT: Can you take a stab at it and lead out?

AM: I did consider leading this card, but opted to…

Mandavia checks. Villian checks.

CT: What stopped you from pulling the trigger and leading out?

AM: Okay. So let’s review my turn analysis more in-depth. The Villain has a lot of overcards (A-K to A-Q) type of hands. These can also include many combos of one club hands that are unlikely to fold the turn. Keeping in mind he doesn’t have a ton of chips back relative to the pot, the Villain may very well shove over a bet with new found club equity or just call with direct odds. And by checking we also have the option to bluff river.

River: 6 (pot: 1,110,000)

CT: Does this card fit the bluff option in relation to your possible holdings in his mind?

AK: Actually it does. This is a great card to bluff. 

CT: How so?

AK: Although neither one of us have a four very often, I have one more than my opponent. It’s also a very difficult call for the Villain with his entire range besides 9-9. Does he really want to be wrong here and end his tournament life in sixth, when he can just fold and ladder up the pay jumps? I think it’s very unlikely and that’s why I opted to….

Mandavia moves all-in. Villain folds. Mandavia wins the pot of 1,110,000.

AK: I came to this conclusion by starting on the flop and breaking down his range through the river. Sometimes I will be wrong here, but that’s OK since we still have a chip lead stack to work with. Poker is all about trying to make the best possible play based on the information you have. The opponent ended up having A 10, which is a lot lighter than I had envisioned his preflop raise would be, but nevertheless it fits in with the range of hands I was attempting to fold out.

Key Concepts: Hand ranges; Max value; Stack sizes

CT: What are some of the strategy keys you tune into during heads-up play?

AM: I usually just go with the flow in regards to heads-up play. I used to play it as my main game, so I just try to determine what type of player my opponent is and then go from there. I will use different strategies such as limping, three-bet and check-raising dependent on if my opponent is tight or aggressive or somewhere in between. It’s also important to be aware of stack sizes and make decisions based on that. 

CT: How far are we into heads-up play when this hand occurs?

AM: So far we’ve only played three hands; all which have been raise and take it. (Daniel twice and myself once.)

Strelitz raises to 525,000 from the button. Mandavia calls from the big blind holding 4 2.

CT: This is a pretty easy call I assume, correct?

AM: Yes. This is very standard so far. I’m unlikely to fold any suited hand here in the big blind and he is an aggressive player so his opening range is wide.

Flop: 10 4 2 (pot: 1,100,000)

Strelitz bets 500,000.

CT: Any idea of his hand range? Because you’ve flopped huge and I am sure there are many options of how you can continue to get the most value.

AM: In heads-up play it is much more difficult to define someone’s range quickly. There are so many possible hands he could be continuing with, ranging from complete air to top set and anything else in between. My bottom two pair is vulnerable to getting counterfeited. But at the same time I am trying to get as much money as possible in as I can now, because I view my opponent as very aggressive. And I believe he views me as the same.

CT: How do the stack sizes come into play when you are laying out your options?

AK: Well one major thing to keep in mind here is that on 22 big blinds I’m very likely to three-bet shove with a hand like 2-2 or 4-4, and will never raise 10-10 on the flop here. It allows for the Villain to exclude those from my range, so he could potentially continue with medium and low strength hands and probably never fold a ten. I am also unlikely to raise a ten here. So I opted to…

Mandavia raises to 1,400,000. Strelitz calls.

Turn: 9 (pot: 3,900,000)

Strelitz checks.

CT: What can you do now to get the most value?

AM: First off, this is a great card for me; I pick up a flush draw increasing my equity. The pot is now almost 4 million and we have 3.9 million behind. We have two options here. We can make a small bet and shove most rivers, or we can opt to shove here and hope he calls off with worse. There are definitely hands that he has that are beating us here, but we can chalk those up to coolers and move on. Because I think my opponent is good enough to take 4-4, 2-2, and 10-X out of my range, my value to him only consists of 10-2 suited, 10-4 suited and 4-2 suited, and a plethora of bluff combos in his mind. So I decide that shoving now is best. Because I don’t think he can find a fold with a ten and could call off worse, because I’m representing a thin value range.

Mandavia moves all-in. Strelitz calls holding J 4.

CT: I am very surprised he called with only a four.

AM: I’m not. This might seem like a crazy call at first, but breaking down my range and value combos it make some sense.

River: 7 (pot: 10,560,000)

Mandavia wins the pot of 10,560,000. ♠