Inside the Mind Of A Fish Versus Dan Colman

Darryll Fish is a 31-year-old professional poker player from Miami, FL and is a representative of the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood. When he isn’t playing poker tournaments around the world or live pot-limit Omaha cash games in his home state, he likes to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. He is passionate about fitness, nutrition and meditation. Some of his other hobbies include reading, cycling, dancing, hiking, traveling, and thinking about life’s big questions. Fish has career online and live tournament cashes of more than $4.7 million.

Event: 2017 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock

Players: 1,207 • Entry: $3,500 • First Prize: $661,283 • Finish: 2nd

Key Concepts: Perceived ranges; Unexploitability

Darryll Fish raises to 250,000 holding K 10 from the hijack. Dan Colman reraises to 700,000 from the button.

Craig Tapscott: Has Dan been overly aggressive with you a lot so far at this final table?

Darryll Fish: Dan had actually not been three-betting me very much at all. Now, while I’m not thrilled about the idea of playing a bloated pot out of position vs. the best player at the table, a fold here would mean I’d be playing super exploitably. In the long run I’d be giving up a ton of equity. Given that we are fairly deep and I’m getting a pretty good price with a hand that can flop a royal flush.

Fish calls.

Flop: A 2 J (pot: 1,475,000)

Fish checks.

DF: I check, as I would with all my hands in this spot.

Colman bets 500,000.

CT: Can you continue in the hand?

DF: I do have pretty much the bottom of my range here, but it’s important to keep in mind that my range also includes some very strong hands like A-J and J-J. Against a thoughtful player like Dan, my perceived range will often be more important than my actual hand. Because my perceived range for calling the flop includes a fair number of strong hands, it will be more difficult for Dan to keep firing with the bluffs in his range, especially because they will have little to no equity against my calls. Due to a combination of pot odds, the fact that I can credibly represent a strong hand on later streets, and still having a gutshot to the nuts.

Fish calls.

Turn: 5 (pot: 2,625,000)

Fish checks. Colman checks.

CT: Dan’s check has to give you a ton of information.

DF: Yes. Once he checks back, I can be pretty certain that Dan doesn’t have a value hand. I don’t think there is any A-x hand he would play this way (maybe A-K sometimes) so I am now confident that his best hand is something with a random pair, otherwise my king high is actually best. That is unless he happens to have K-Q, which I think he is more likely to just call preflop. 

River: K (pot: 2,625,000)

CT: If the king had not hit the river, what was your plan?

DF: Before the river, I was planning to bet on nearly any card. Even though my hand is ahead fairly often, I still need to fold out the few combos that beat me. When I check-call the flop, my range is weighted towards strong hands, so I don’t think Dan would be likely to bluff-catch on the river; when the king hits, however, the situation changes. Additionally, Dan has more Q-10 combos than me, so by betting, I could potentially set Dan up for a sick bluff shove, especially if he has a hand with a queen or ten blocker. It would just be so hard for me to bet and call off on this river with any hand in my range aside from Q-10 suited.

Fish checks. Colman checks. Colman reveals 8 4. Fish wins the pot of 2,625,000.

CT: What kind of things do you consider when sitting down at the final table with Dan Colman to your left?

DF: I had played with Dan to my left for most of the previous day, so I had been able to evaluate his strategy and adjust mine accordingly. Even though Dan had not been out of line against me so far (I’d assume as a result of his awareness of the big picture that I’d likely be his toughest opponent), I still know he’s capable of putting me in some really tough spots, so I was not opening quite as often as I would be with a less experienced player on my left. I open folded some hands in the cutoff that would be mandatory opens under normal circumstances, simply because I wanted to avoid confrontations with Dan. Before this tournament, I had played with Dan very little if at all, so I didn’t have much of a read other than ‘he’s really good.’ After playing together for many hours, I was no longer intimidated by his presence, as he plays a very solid, GTO-based style of poker. He doesn’t go out of his way to three-bet with junk hands preflop, and his post flop play is very strong, but not exactly wild or unpredictable. I think Dan excels at paying attention to game flow and adjusting based on his opponent(s), he also capitalizes on the fact that most people are scared to play against him.

Key Concepts: ICM: Deep stack play, image

Fish raises to 275,000 from the cutoff holding A K.

DF: This is a trivial open with A-K four-handed, I’m generally looking for action, and a three-bet from Dan would be ideal.

Colman calls from the button.

DF: When Dan calls, given our aggressive dynamic, we can be fairly confident he has a range consisting of almost entirely medium strength hands. That would be small to medium pairs, suited broadways, hands like K-Q offsuit or K-J offsuit. Basically, he has hands too good to three-bet and fold to a four-bet, but not good enough to stack off with either.

Sinishtaj raises to 1,120,000 from the big blind.

CT: What’s your read on Tony so far at the table?

DF: Tony had been playing mostly in line, certainly opening more than his share, but not much in terms of three-betting or squeezing light. Also, I assume he is not looking to play big pots against myself or Dan, especially when he holds a dominating stack position.

CT: So you expect him to be at the top of his range?

DF: When he three-bets, I expect him to be very strong most of the time, with a value range of J-J plus and A-K. I do think he has some bluffs, but I wasn’t sure how often.

CT: Is this a good spot for a reraise with A-K?

DF: On the surface, this seems like a fine spot to go ahead and four-bet with the intention of getting all-in, but there are some things to consider.

CT: Such as?

DF: Primarily the fact that if he showed me J-J or Q-Q, I still wouldn’t want to get in 80 plus big blinds with such heavy ICM implications. The pay jumps when four-handed are quite large percentage wise, and taking a 50/50 flip for all my chips would be a pretty reckless gamble, especially when I believe I have a significant edge on two of my three opponents. So, I didn’t like the idea of four-betting and having to call off so many big blinds. I also hate the idea of four-betting and folding, because I can’t rule out the possibility of Tony going off with a hand like A-Q suited, specifically because I’d seen him do exactly that in a big hand the night before.

Fish calls.

CT: It is certainly a deceptive call, as most people would never expect A-K just to call in your position.

DF: Yes. But there are a couple side benefits of this play. Not only will my hand be under-represented, meaning I’m likely to get a lot of value if I hit my hand, but I also open up the door for Colman to back shove. I don’t expect this to happen often, but if he has a hand like A-Q or 9-9 or 10-10, he could see this as an opportunity to pick up a ton of chips without showdown, possibly assuming my range is mostly medium strength hands, like K-Q suited or 7-7 and 8-8.

Colman calls.

Flop: Q 6 2 (pot: 3,500,000)

CT: Not a great flop for you.

DF: (Laughs) This is a pretty abysmal flop for my hand, not only because I didn’t improve at all, but it’s fairly likely that one of them hit the queen, because both of their ranges include quite a few combos of A-Q, K-Q, Q-Ts Q-Js, etc. 

Sinishtaj bets 1,750,000.

CT: Could he be continuation betting on a bluff here?

DF: Well, I definitely expect Tony to bet with his bluffs here, because he’s not the type of player to check and give up when he has the initiative in a big pot. I also expect him to bet with A-A, K-K, A-Q, and even other random Q-x hands, under the assumption that Dan or I have hands like 8-8 to J-J quite often. 

CT: I guess the million dollar question is – can you continue?

DF: Actually, I did give some consideration to floating here, assuming it will be extremely tough for Tony to continue firing on the turn with his bluffs, but his representation of strength in this hand is very credible. Not to mention I still have Dan behind me.

Fish folds. Colman folds. Sinishtaj wins the pot of 3,500,000.

DF: I later found out that Dan held 4-4 and Tony ended up having K-J offsuit and picking up a very nice pot. 

CT: So you’re happy with your decision preflop?

DF: I’m still not supremely confident in my preflop decision, and if not for the significant money jumps at stake, I wouldn’t hesitate to four-bet and get the money in. But I have to say, ICM can be a pain in the ass.

CT: You’ve really placed a lot of emphasis over the last few years into your fitness and diet. Can you share how this has improved your life, health, and poker game?

DF: For the last five years I have dedicated a lot of my focus to fitness, diet, and nutrition, and my life has improved in several ways as a result. I have more confidence, more energy, and I just feel better. I think health is the most important part of our lives that we have direct control over. Our physical (and mental) state plays a vital role in our ability to optimally perform in all areas of life, so it seems fairly obvious we should care a great deal about this. Poker, for example, requires a great deal of physical stamina and mental acuity if one is to make informed, calculated, and confident decisions for 8-10 hours straight. ♠