Getting Paid In A 20,000-Person Tournament

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Malta to commentate the Global Poker League matches for two weeks. I had a few days off between matches so I decided to play a few PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events, which generally went well. I ended up taking 18th place in a 20,000 person $100 buy-in tournament, perhaps mostly due to the following hand:

With blinds at 2,500-5,000 with a 500 ante, everyone folded to me in the cutoff and I raised to 10,500 out of my 425,000 stack with 7 6. A loose, aggressive player who had been reraising way more than his fair share of the time reraised to 30,000 out of his 330,000 stack from the button. The blinds folded and I decided to make a splashy call. Looking back, I don’t mind my call. As I have become more comfortable with playing postflop, I have been folding to preflop reraises less often.

The flop came 8 7 2, giving me middle pair and a bunch of backdoor draws. I checked, my opponent bet 30,960 into the 72,000 pot, and I called.

While I certainly do not love my situation, folding middle pair plus a backdoor straight and flush draw would be way too tight. It is important to realize that my opponent could easily have a hand like A-K or Q-J that I have in bad shape. Of course, I may get pushed off the best hand by the river if my opponent decides to fire three barrels, but I think sticking around on the flop is worth the risk. I do not think that raising has much merit because my opponent will only call when I am crushed. When I happen to be crushed, I want to keep the pot as small as possible.

The turn was the beautiful 4, giving me a straight and flush draw. I checked and my opponent checked behind.

I was not sure of what to make of my opponent’s turn check. If he plays well, he could easily have all over pairs in his range because he knows that if he bets, I could fold many marginal made hands, such as A-7, that are in horrible shape. He would also likely check behind with many unpaired big cards.

The river was the perfect 5, giving me a straight. I decided to make a large all-in bet for my opponent’s 264,076 into the 133,920 pot.

Given my opponent reraised before the flop, it is quite difficult for him to have a straight or a set because most players call preflop raises with hands like 8 8 and 7 6. This means that, by the river, I should have significantly more premium hands than my opponent. When that is the case, making a large bet is usually ideal. This allows me to profitably bluff with many of my missed draws, such as Q J and 10 9.

My opponent thought for about two minutes before calling with K J for king-high. He clearly thought my large bet was either a premium made hand or a bluff. The problem with my opponent’s call is that he loses to all pairs turned into bluffs, such as 9 7, and Ace-high, such as A 9. While I could certainly be bluffing in this spot, I think my opponent’s hand is too weak to ever consider calling. Even when you think your opponent could be bluffing, as long as they are somewhat in line and balanced, you must fold the bottom hands in your range. This time, my opponent handed me a huge amount of chips, which gave me a great opportunity to make a deep run in a major tournament. ♠

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $6 million in tournament winnings. Each week, he posts an educational blog and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you can get a FREE poker training video that details five things you must master if you want to win at tournament poker. You can also sign up for his FREE Excelling at No Limit Hold’em webinars at HoldemBook.com/signup.