Final Table Takedown: Rob Grossglauser Scores First WSOP Circuit Ring

Rob Grossglauser is an amateur poker player with a huge love for the game. As a competitive person who loves figuring out problems, Grossglauser finds tournament poker the ultimate challenge and a perfect fit for his personality.

The California regular has satellited into the World Series of Poker main event on multiple occasions, and in 2015 made a run to the money, finishing in 880th place. Grossglauser blew that score out of the water, however, when he took down the WSOP Circuit main event at the Thunder Valley Resort and Casino in Lincoln, California for a whopping $205,203.

“It was a tough three days,” Grossglauser told reporters after his win. “Coming into day 2 I was at about 25th place, so not that high up on the board. I waited for the right cards and the right spots to come, I think the biggest key for me in this tournament was never looking at the pay jumps. I never really looked at the money bubble or worried about where I was in regard to chip average. I just played my hands and tried to stay focused.”

Card Player caught up with Grossglauser to break down a few key hands from his run to the title.

Event: WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley
Buy-In: $1,700
Entrants: 726
Prize Pool: $1,099,890
First Place Prize: $202,203

Robert Grossglauser: We were only an hour into the ten-handed final table and we hadn’t lost a player. The pay jumps were starting to get more significant and the table was playing fairly tight.

Craig Tapscott: What was your chip position?

RG: I was the chip leader at the table and there were three relatively short stacks (12, 15, and 16 big blinds). The villain (Brian Battistone) on my immediate left had already played more hands than anyone else at the final table. He raised my opens twice before this hand and each time I conceded and folded (A-J offsuit and 7-7).

Stacks: Robert Grossglauser – 5,200,000 (104 BB) Brian Battistone – 1,900,000 (38 BB)
Blinds: 25,000-50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 10 

It folded to Grossglauser in the lojack holding A 10, who raised to 110,000. Battistone reraised 275,000 from the highjack, and Grossglauser called.

RG: I believed that if the play the last hour was staying true to form, each time I was likely behind. Because of this history, I decided to take a stand and call with A 10. This was a hand that I had been folding out of position when facing a raise every time over the last three days. I figured I had the chip lead and there was a chance Battistone was getting out of line. And even if he wasn’t too out of line, I could make the best hand or push him off if the opportunity arose.

Flop: 7 6 2
Grossglauser checked.

RG: This board missed my actual hand completely. However, it could be good for my calling range preflop. I would have flatted any pair up to Q-Q.

CT: So, what range of hands did you put him on?

RG: The flop missed hands that originally had me crushed (A-K thru A-J) and if he is holding 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 it would be difficult to continue with a check-raise from me. I don’t put him on a small pair, but A-A thru 9-9 are all still in his range. I’m thinking because he had played so actively already, it might even be possible his hand included any suited ace and maybe even an ace with a kicker that paired the board.

CT: Independent Chip Model (ICM) considerations had to be also on your mind.

RG: Tenth place was $15,445 and first was $205,000. My plan was, if I check-raised the flop, I’d pretty much get to see his hand as soon as he acted. If he called my check-raise then I believed his hand (whatever he would just call with) couldn’t withstand my continuing on the turn and he’d have to release. If he folded, then of course he didn’t have a pair nor a good flush draw. If he four-bet all-in, he had at least the nut flush draw or a big overpair.

Battistone bet 225,000, and Grossglauser check-raised to 625,000.

RG: He quickly responded…

Battistone raised all-in.

RG: I’m getting a great price to call 1,000,000 to win 2,900,000, but I’m fairly certain I screwed up at this point. I figured I’m crushed and likely dead unless an ace hits the turn or river. And even then my ace could be dead if he is sitting on A K or A Q.

Grossglauser folded. Battistone won the pot of 1,525,000.

RG: He says he had K-K, but I don’t know. I had to think about it in case he was shoving with 8-8 or 9-9 and I had two live cards. But I believed I was so far behind in the hand and that he couldn’t be getting out of line at that point. I believe I made a mistake calling with the A 10. Thinking back on it, I like a four-bet or fold and moving on to a better spot.

Stacks: Robert Grossglauser – 7,500,000 (75 BB) Altynai Fung – 5,400,000 (54 BB)
Blinds: 50,000-100,000 with a 100,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 4

RG: This hand was the hand that I felt won me the tournament. The moment after I won the hand, I told myself I was going to win. The pay jumps were big with four left: $70,000, $93,500, $127,000, and $205,500.

Grossglauser raised to 225,000 from the button holding 5 5. Fung called from the big blind.

CT: Do you have a solid read on Fung?

RG: This particular player and I had stayed away from each other going back to day 2. We were the bigger stacks and there wasn’t any need that made either of us tango beyond a turn. She appeared to be a TAG and generally had a hand when involved in pots.

Flop: K 10 3
Fung checked, and Grossglauser bet 250,000. Fung raised to 575,000.

RG: A check-raise from her [signaled] a real hand, but also on this board it was almost also guaranteed that she didn’t have a monster. If I believably applied pressure, she would have to fold to preserve her tournament life.

CT: If it isn’t a monster, what was her hand range?

RG: Her range included a suited K-x diamond combo, any set, K-10, maybe A-10. I took A-A, K-K, A-K, and 10-10 out of the range when she didn’t reraise my open before the flop.

If she had Q-Q or J-J, I didn’t believe she would check-raise the flop. It was more likely she would check-call and then evaluate. So, I took those out of her range. My range was not well defined at this point either. Since midway through day 2 in the tournament I had been playing tighter than normal and not once had I been caught getting out of line.

CT: It sounds like you were very focused and tuned in at the final table.

RG: Starting on day 2, I went into the zone and I stayed there. I was playing the best, and the tightest poker of my life. I maybe got out of line (bluffed) three times and each time I did, it worked as I had planned it. I’m not a pro, but I felt that I was able to make good decisions. Or better yet, I had luck on my side and my decisions were all working out.

CT: Back to the hand.

RG: With the preflop action and then with the check-raise of this size on a king-high flop with two diamonds, I thought her range was down to K-Q thru K-9. Thus, I was fairly confident I could take the pot away if I represented better (such as A-K, 10-10, 3-3). I contemplated three-betting the flop raise and trying to take it down there. But I felt that if I did indeed have A-K, I would want more value, and even perhaps I would provide some rope to get her entire stack.

I decided I would bet big on the turn if it checked to me and that if she led out on the turn, I would raise if the bet sizing allowed me room for fold equity. In my mind, I was hoping the story I was trying to tell said A-K more to my opponent if I just called the flop and applied the pressure on the turn. 

Just in case I was wrong about removing a flush draw from my opponent’s range, there was also some benefit of my being in position and reading my opponent and their turn bet/check if a diamond hit.

Grossglauser called.
Turn: 2

RG: The perfect card for my plan. It now brought a double flushed board and a low card that most likely couldn’t have improved my opponent’s range.

Fung led for 600,000.  

RG: My opponent had now put 1.4 million into the pot and only had 4 million behind. I took my time and…

Grossglauser raised to 2,100,000.

CT: For an amateur, that was an aggressive pro move.

RG: Super nice of you to call it a pro move. Some pros may say it was a ridiculous attempt and maybe they’d be right. If my read was right, for me the spot just made sense.

She was getting a decent price to call 1.5 million to win 5.8 million. So, yes, my story kind of begged for a call. If my story was weak and my opponent thought I was full of it, my bet size also needed to be big enough to be painful for my opponent based on the rest of the stack sizes at the table if she was wrong. I wanted my opponent to fold because now wasn’t the time to take a stand with just a weak top pair.

My opponent only had 2.5 million behind. Their fold equity was low if they tried to jam over the top of my raise. I intentionally tried to set up this multi-street bluff in a way that removed their ability to bluff or semi-bluff all in and take the hand away from me.

Fung folded, and Grossglauser won the pot of 2,350,000.

CT: Well played.

RG: Thanks. The spot was good for me. I took a commanding chip lead and started pulling away after the hand.

The Result: Grossglauser held more than three-fourths of the total chips in play by the time Fung was eliminated in fourth place. His dominated aces were able to come from behind in two all-in scenarios to take out Jared Smith in third place and Randall Chamberlain as the runner-up, securing himself the gold WSOP Circuit ring and $205,203. ♠