Elliot Smith Wins the Inaugural PokerStars Macau Championship Main Event

Elliot Smith currently lives in Vancouver, Canada and travels the poker scene regularly. He went to Langara College where he was given a scholarship to play on the basketball team, however found poker around that time and soon fell in love with the game. Smith has more than $1.9 million in career cashes.

Event :2017 PokerStars Championship Macau
Players: 536   •   Entry: $5,457   •   First Prize: $374,075   •   Finish: 1st

Key Concepts: Blind defense; Antes; Heads-up play

Craig Tapscott: How do you usually prepare for a final table?

Elliot Smith: The night before a final table is really special, but one should be careful to not get overexcited or too invested in the next day. After I’ve wrapped up going over researching the players and some situations, I will shut the poker thinking down. I do my best to stay present, relax, and enjoy myself. I like to watch some sort of action flick.

Before this final table I went through some of the highlights of two of my favorite movies Gladiator and Apocalypto. These movies are great for inspiration and going up against all odds. 

Villain raises to 2,400 from mid-position. Smith calls from the big blind holding J 6.

CT: That’s a pretty weak hand to defend.

ES: Yes. It’s a weak hand. But based on antes and blinds my pot odds are good.

CT: Could you please breakdown the math for our less experienced readers.

ES: Here’s the math. Let’s count the big blinds (BB) in the pot. There is my BB, the two BB my opponent raised, the 1.5 BB from the antes, the .5 BB from the small blind. That’s a total of 5 BB in this pot. It costs me 1 BB to call and see a flop. The pot is laying me 5:1, so every time I put one BB in the pot I have a chance of winning 5 BB. So if I call and lose five times and win the sixth I break even. 

CT: Were there any other factors that came into play?

ES: The Villain was an experienced player. But the main point is I can’t turn down those kinds of odds. 

Flop: A 3 2 (pot: 7,200)

Elliot checks. Villain checks.

Turn: 4 (pot: 7,200)

CT: So is this a good card for you to make a stab at this pot?

ES: Well if you look at who has more fives in their hand you can see this card clearly favors me. My opponent had opened preflop from mid-position with four or five people left to act behind him. He can have A-5 suited or 5-5, that’s about it. This flop is quite good for those hands, but 5-5 needs protection from over cards. So I think most opponents would bet 5-5 if they held it on the flop. However, A-5 suited is a possibility, but out of the all the combinations of hands my opponent can have here only three make sense to have a five in their hand. Where I can have plenty of 5x given my good pot odds; as most players should be defending wide out of the big blind. So this makes A-2-3-4 a very good bluff spot.

Elliot bets 4,700. Villain calls.

ES: I bet three-quarters pot with about pot size left to go in on the river. I am planning on bluffing almost every river for my tournament life. But as fate would have it, the river comes…

River: 5 (pot: 16,600)

ES: I make a higher straight then the board with my six. This is an incredibly lucky card, because it also gives my opponent a straight and we will be chopping the pot a high percentage of the time.

Elliot moves all-in. Villain calls and reveals A-9 offsuit. Smith wins the pot of 46,000.
CT: I am sure your opponent was a bit stumped by the way things unfolded.

ES: Yes. After the hand my opponent was very confused with my call preflop. I think at the sight of my hand he was surprised and decided to table his A-9 offsuit and show the rest of the table how I got lucky. I wonder if he would have made the call had the river not been a five.  We will never know. But if you look at our preflop equity (the percentage of the time J-6 offsuit will win vs. A-9 offsuit) I have more than enough pot odds to call and see a flop. This is an important concept to realize, proper blind defense is a big part in tournament success.

CT: Let’s dig a little deeper. Share a few other key strategy points when it comes to defense of your big blind.

ES: When playing from the big blind you should take into consideration how big the antes are, what position your opponent has raised from (the later position the more hands you can defend). Also, how many players are in the pot. It’s much better to defend a weak hand against one player than two or three; your immediate odds go up, but winning the hand becomes much tougher. 

CT: How about blind vs. blind? What’s the key to having the advantage in this battle?

ES: There are some common strategies for playing blind vs. blind. However, I like to play this spot more on instinct. Take a long look at your opponent the first time it folds to you in the small blind. Let your presence be known. It’s the worst position in poker, if you’re going to play the hand you want the mental edge right from the get go. I like to 3x raise from the small blind, because if I’m playing I mean business. I’ll be out of position for the duration of the hand, so I want to charge them to play. 

Key Concepts: Leading the turn; Playing tricky opponents: Following your read

Tang raises to 150,000 from the button. Elliot calls holding 9 6.

ES: This isn’t a great hand by any stretch, but good enough to see if I can catch on the flop.

Flop: 7 5 4 (pot: 320,000)

Tang bets 250,000.

CT: What’s the plan? Pretty good flop for you.

ES: To raise or call? I would prefer to raise my stronger draws or weaker bluffs in this spot. Having the six is nice, but my opponent has been reluctant to fold on the flop after a continuation bet.

Smith calls.

Turn: 7 (pot: 820,000)

ES: This is a good card for me.

CT: Why?

ES: Because I can have a lot of sevens in my hand. Of course my opponent could too, however he could have continuation bet the flop with two big cards or an overpair and now be scared of the seven or unwilling to continue. This is a nice spot to lead because the seven has improved the strength of my overall holdings. 

Smith bets 325,000.

CT: Why lead in this situation?

ES: This bet is supposed to accomplish a couple things: let me realize my equity of hitting a pair or straight and possibly produce some fold equity when Tang just has two big cards and would be drawing dead the times I have a seven.

Tang raises to 700,000.

CT: That can’t be good.

ES: I admit I was puzzled; because in my mind he has to have seven or better to make this raise. However, some players will make a cheap raise on the turn so they don’t face a big bet on the river. I considered it to be the likely reason he was making this raise. If I was extremely confident in my read that he had a hand like 10-10 and was making a cheap defensive play, it would be a great time to come over the top and make it 1.7 million. Now that Tang has made a problem for himself, he’s not only getting an expensive river but also an expensive turn. But it was an extremely long heads-up match and I really thought about a raise here, but elected to play it safe.

Smith calls.

River: Q (pot: 2,220,000)

CT: So what now? You’re out of position and you were just reraised on the turn.

ES: I know. But the flush draw missed, and I have nine high like a boss. The tough thing about being out of position is a lead on this river after I just called the raise on the turn would look very suspicious, but against some players maybe a reasonable play. But I…
Smith checks.

ES: I check conceding the pot. But wait…

Tang bets 750,000.

ES: My opponent bets 750,000 into a pot of 2.2 million. Problem being, I have nine high. However, this bet is rather small in relation to the pot. So what’s my opponent putting me on and what is he representing? If he had a seven or better, I think surely he would make a bigger more polarizing bet; although my opponent isn’t likely to be betting an overpair to the seven because the queen hit the river. He could however still have a hand like K-K or A-A or maybe Q X.

CT: So you can push him off the hand?

ES: Yes. I weighed out my decisions and came to the conclusion that there was no way my opponent held a seven or better. He had to be bluffing or making a thin bet with a big pair. It was time to come in for a raise to win this pot, but how much? If I risk 1.7 million and there’s 3.3 million in the pot I have to win 1 out of 3 times to break even. If I can get my opponent to fold a bit above 33.3 percent of the time I’m making money on this play. The great thing about this raise is I get him to fold all his bluffs for cheap. My raise only needs to be attacking his bluffs. I don’t need to worry about raising and getting called, because that’s not the hands I’m trying to make fold. 
Smith raises to 1,700,000… or does he.

ES: I raised to 1.7 million (in my head) and my opponent folded. But in reality…

Smith folds. Tang wins the pot of 2,220,000.

ES: I actually folded this hand, only to see my opponent spring up from the table in celebration, because his bluff worked. I guess we can’t all be bosses. My sage advice – trust your reads. ♠