Final Table Takedown: Grant Hinkle Captures First Ring and Biggest WSOP Circuit Event of the Season

Grant Hinkle is a graduate of the University of Kansas and works as a marketing professional for a technology firm. Online, he has won many events including a $200 limit hold’em Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event for $145,000.

Last year he placed fifth in the River Poker Series for $207,669. In 2008 he made a poker player’s dream come true when he won a World Series of Poker bracelet in event no. 2 for $831,000. He competes regularly in medium-stakes limit cash games, both live and online. Hinkle has a total of $1.6 million in live career tournament cashes.

Event: World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Main Event
Players: 1451
Entry: $1,500
First Prize: $375,427
Finish: 1st

Key Concepts: Hand ranges; Independent Chip Model; Stack sizes; Table dynamics

Craig Tapscott: Set this final table hand up for us Grant.

Grant Hinkle: The first hand is one that I lost and isn’t the most exciting, but it has a few dynamics that were in play that were important. It also helped me avoid busting early at the final table.

CT: What were the dynamics before this hand got dealt?

GH: We were ten-handed at the time and at the unofficial final table. There were two stacks that were ten or less big blinds and two stacks that were less than 20 big blinds. Nobody wanted to bust and miss a pay jump before some of these stacks either busted or doubled up. I was one of the stacks with less than 20 big blinds and I had been preaching pay jumps to my tablemates since we had made the money on day two.

CT: So what was your mindset at the time?

GH: Well my stack had dwindled to 960,000 or 16 big blinds. I was looking for a spot to double up and give myself more options, but at the same time I didn’t want to make a big mistake with so many players on the verge of busting. I was under the gun and looked down at pocket jacks, just the type of hand I was hoping for despite my uncle Ron’s word of caution.

CT: I am assuming he is not a huge fan of pocket jacks. But I doubt you follow his advice.

GH: (Laughs) He hates pocket jacks and told me to muck them after I had lost a huge pot with them against pocket queens with 13 left in the tournament. 

CT: Sage advice. We all hate pocket jacks. But I can only assume you went in a different direction with no fear.

GH: Yes. I did.

Hinkle raises to 125,000 from UTG. Alexander calls from mid-position.

GH: I was feeling pretty comfortable until…

Goleman moves all-in from the cutoff.

GH: Larry hadn’t messed around in any pots before this shove, so my pocket jacks were shrinking up fast. At the same time it felt like a disaster to raise and fold a premium hand with my starting stack size. But it got more intense when it folded around to one of the chip leaders in John Patterson. He decided to…

Patterson calls.

GH: Now I was sure I was beat, but I was getting a great price that doesn’t come around too often. But even after calculating the pot odds, I was pretty confident I was drawing too thin so I folded.

Hinkle folds. Alexander folds.

GH: I was going to be sick if they both flipped up A-K.

Goleman reveals Q Q. Patterson flips over A A.

CT: No need to be sick. You were crushed. Good fold.

GH: Thanks go to Uncle Ron. I survived.

Flop: 10 9 6
Turn: 9
River: 7

Patterson wins the pot of 3,420,000.

Key Concepts: Player reads from previous hands

GH: This one starts off pretty boring, but there are some fireworks at the end. The short stacks had busted and we had a few pay jumps under our belts, so now people were starting to play the game. So of course I raised.

Hinkle raises from UTG+1 to 250,000 holding 5 4. Alexander calls from the cutoff. Peck calls from the small blind. Fujiwara calls from the big blind.

Flop: 8 7 7 (pot: 1,120,000)

Peck checks. Fujiwara checks.

CT: Did you consider firing a continuation bet with your gutshot?

GH: I thought about it. This was a decent flop for my hand and had I been heads-up I would probably continue and try to win it with a bet on the flop. But with three callers and this hitting a lot of their potential holdings, I just checked and Alexander checked as well and we went to the turn.

Hinkle checks. Alexander checks.

Turn: K (pot: 1,120,000)

Peck checks. Fujiwara checks.

CT: OK. I think it’s time to go for it Grant. But what would your Uncle Ron say?

GH: (Laughs) I decided again that I was drawing thin to get through with my five high with a bet.

CT: Uncle Ron would be proud.

Hinkle checks. Alexander checks.

River: 6 (pot: 1,120,000)

CT: Wow. You do run well. Jackpot!

GH: This was the best card I could hope for as I’ve now made the bottom end of a straight. It checked to me and based on the action, I didn’t think anybody had much of anything.

Hinkle bets 400,000.

CT: What did you think would call you with that bet sizing?

GH: I thought maybe I’d get a call from a pair of kings or eights, or somebody skeptical with a pocket pair.

Alexander calls.

GH: Alexander called and I was going to be happy to turn over my straight as soon as the blinds folded. But then Peck began tanking from the former small blind position. After a bit he then raised…

Peck raises to 1,600,000. Fujiwara folds.

CT: What now? Could he have a full house or the nut straight or a flush that he slowplayed?

GH: Well I was not too pleased with this as I had already locked up the win in the hand in my mind. This was a very serious river check-raise on a board with a lot of possibilities.

CT: Did you have any kind of read on Peck?

GH: Earlier at the table, he had checked through the turn and river heads-up against Viet Vo and did a similar river check-raise to around 1.7 million after Viet’s river bet of 500,000. Viet called and we got to see that Austin had flopped trip nines on a 9 9 3 J 4 board. After that hand, Austin’s rail went bonkers and gave plenty of admiration to the line Austin had taken in that hand. Since that hand Austin really ramped up the number of hands he was playing and was playing them very confidently. 

CT: So perhaps he just has the seven then?

GH: True. We were in a very similar situation. I had a pretty strong hand, but not the greatest hand versus a river check-raise on that board. I felt that Austin was pretty polarized and this was a situation where he was going to have the nut flush or full house type hand or where he was bluffing. In my opinion, he was playing the best of my opponents at the time and was probably one of the only players I expected to be capable of bluffing in this spot.

CT: But there is no way you can fold here.

GH: I can’t. You’re right. After a few minutes of studying and thinking it through, I decided my hand was too strong to let go. I figured that this may be a situation where Austin was feeling pretty invincible from the combination of his momentum at the table and his rail building him up. I decided to call his check-raise.

Hinkle calls. Alexander folds. Peck reveals 9 9. Hinkle wins the pot of 4,320,000.

CT: Nice call.

GH: Thanks. Austin’s pocket nines surprised me. He didn’t really have either of the two outcomes I was expecting. He actually had a hand to take to showdown. After thinking it through a bit more though, I think he was originally planning to check-call a river bet, but after it went bet and then call from Alexander, he may have decided his hand wasn’t strong enough to overcall. At that point with both his momentum and showing down a strong hand earlier in a similar spot, he ultimately got too optimistic and attempted to fold out a King while getting hero called by worse. 

CT: This had to be a crucial win for you on the way to heads-up play.

GH: It was. This pot was critical as it then shifted the momentum my way and crippled one of my strongest opponents. After several more hours of grinding, I was able to eliminate my remaining opponents and capture my first WSOP Circuit ring and the $375,472 at the largest WSOP Circuit event of the season. ♠