Final Table Takedown: John Holley Wins Ninth WSOP Circuit Ring

John Holley has been highly competitive since he was a young kid, whether it was sports or any game with a strategy component. He even became a champion fisherman. Holley clearly remembers the day he told his parents that he was going to opt out of medical school in order to become a professional tournament fisherman. As it turns out, Holley has always had a knack for winning tournaments.

He began playing poker with his friends on bad weather days that kept him from going out on the water. Holley confesses he was actually the huge fish to start, but his brain lit up one day when a player used the term ‘pot odds.’

Holley read a couple of strategy poker books and was off to the races. He began with home cash games, but his competitive spirit pushed him toward tournaments. He started online and in 2008 won a seat to the WSOP main event for just $63.

From that point on, he was hooked. In fact, Holley believes that there was a five-year stretch where he played more live poker tournaments than anyone else in the world. As a result, the Destin, Florida resident has racked up more than $2.1 million in live tournament earnings.

Although he doesn’t play as often these days, Holley still has no trouble finding the winner’s circle. In January, he secured his eighth Hard Rock Poker Open title at the nearby Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida in the $600 seniors event. Then in February, he took down a $400 WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in North Carolina. The win was his ninth Circuit ring overall, which puts him in a tie for 10th place on the all-time list.

Card Player caught up with Holley to talk about a couple key hands from his latest victory.

Event: WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee
Tournament: $400 Six-Max NLH
Entrants: 879 • Prize Pool: $290,070 
First-Place Prize: $51,534

Craig Tapscott: You weren’t planning on playing this event, were you?

John Holley: I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the six-max and PLO tourneys were not going to be held on the same day as they had been for the last few years. I love both six-max and PLO, but I would always choose PLO over 6-max. But they moved the PLO, so I could play both. I entered the six-max event in level three and quickly accumulated about seven starting stacks by the first break. 

CT: What’s the structure like in these events?

JH: I hadn’t played the WSOP Circuit much lately and saw that they adjusted the structure to shorten the tourney and try to make it a one-day event. I couldn’t imagine how 879 players could finish a six-max in one day, especially since I once played just the heads-up portion of a six-max event for over five hours. What a nightmare that was. 

CT: Did you really play this event all in one day?

JH: There was no way we could have finished. The floor decided to bag for day 2 after 16 hours.

CT: That must have been a relief. Did you know any of the players at the final table?

JH: I only knew two of my opponents. David Bach (who has three bracelets) and Cody Pack (who has five rings). The other players all seemed competent and knew who I was. I had bagged the chip lead, but none of the other players were crazy short.

On the first hand of day 2, Cody and Matthew Johnson got all in preflop. Cody busted, giving my least favorite opponent the chip lead. If I was allowed to choose which villain I could get heads-up with, this kid would have been my last choice. Obviously, it did come down to the two of us and he had a 2:1 chip advantage over me when we started heads-up play.

Matthew was a tricky player. I quickly deduced that his heads-up button strategy seemed to be geared toward playing post-flop. He played about 80 percent limps with 15 percent min-raises and 5 percent larger raises. He played very well and beat me down to where he had about a 3:1 chip advantage when this first key hand took place. Matthew’s checks were consistent, but I had begun to notice a timing tell.

Stacks: John Holley – 4,800,000 (16 BB) Matthew Johnson – 12,600,000 (42 BB) 
Blinds: 150,000-300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 2 

Holley limped in from the button holding Q 5. Johnson checked his option.
Flop: A 2 10
Johnson checked. Holley bet 400,000, and Johnson called.

CT: So what hand range are you putting him on after the call?

JH: I put him on any pair except the ace. Perhaps a high gutshot or low gutshot or spades, but I thought he might have raised this flop with spades.

Turn: A
Johnson checked, and Holley checked behind.

CT: You took your foot off the gas pedal and slowed down.

JH: If I had an ace I’m not sure I would have bet the turn, perhaps hoping to get some value on the river if he had the 2 or 10.

River: 3
Johnson bet 1,100,000, and Holley went into the tank.

CT: What were you thinking about?

JH: I only have about 4.2 million behind, but I feel like he is trying to buy the pot. If I’m wrong I’ll be left with 10 big blinds, which I’ve come back from in the past. I feel very comfortable with my short stack heads-up game.

His hand was rather polarized. I feel like he would have checked a king-high or queen-high type hand since he had decent showdown value. I grabbed 1.1 million and asked him, “Would you like to trade hands before we show?”

I was trying to make him believe I was probably going to call. He kind of shook his head a little like maybe. So I called and he rolled over…

Johnson revealed 7 6. Holley wins the pot of 3,900,000.

JH: I was on the other end of the table and can’t see his hand very well. The dealer announced his hand as seven high and I raked the pot. 

CT: Calling with queen high had to surprise him.

JH: It did. After this hand, his friends on the rail started talking amongst themselves. I felt like that call might have rattled him a little. I then started to take over the match and win the majority of the small pots. 

Stacks: John Holley – 7,200,000 (24 BB) Matthew Johnson – 10,200,000 (34 BB) 
Blinds: 150,000-300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 2 

JH: I was getting closer to even in chips and we were only a few minutes from a scheduled break. The floor had just brought us a rack each as we were going to color up the 25,000 green chips on break. So I had a full rack of chips ready when this hand started. 

CT: Had your plan of attack changed at all at this juncture in the match?

JH: Not really. I was still feeling him out but a lot more confident that I had begun to gain momentum.

CT: You have so much experience playing heads-up for titles. Can you share some common mistakes you see players make?

JH: There are a variety of mistakes that players make and most have to do with their limited experience when it comes down to two players. Many tournaments are settled with an ICM chop. In this tournament, Alan Sacks brought it up while we were four-handed, but Johnson quickly said he wanted to play it out, which was fine with me. For all I knew, he could have a lot of experience heads-up in online tourneys, but so do I. But live, it’s way different when your opponent is staring at you and your friends are sweating on the rail.

Johnson limped from the button. Holley checked his option holding 9 3.
Flop: 7 3 3
Holley checked, and Johnson checked behind.
Turn: J
Holley bet 400,000, and Johnson called.

CT: What possible hand range do you have him holding at that point?

JH: When he calls my turn bet, I can see him having either the high gutshot or the low gutshot. He also could have a pair, or even a king-high or queen-high hand like Q-9 or Q-10. I think he’s most likely just calling in position even with a jack because I could just be repping a three or betting a flush draw, and he might want to give me a chance to bluff the river.

River: 9

CT: Wow, great river! What kind of sizing are you looking to bet for value?

JH: Well there is a possible straight, but it’s unlikely he hit a runner-runner. Now I had to decide what size bet he would most likely call. I have used chips in a rack to try and confuse my opponents before, so I reached for my rack, removed one stack, and slide the remaining racked chips in the middle.

Holley bet 2,000,000.

JH: He threw out one chip confidently signaling a call.

Johnson called.

JH: He shook his head when I showed my hand and mucked.

Holley won the pot of 5,700,000.

JH: We went on break shortly after this hand, with me holding a significant chip lead. I would have to pick my spot to call him as he went into short-stack shove mode. I eventually won his stack calling him with A-5 offsuit vs his A-9 offsuit when I rivered a wheel.

Matthew had me a little worried as he was whittling me down for a while. When it was over, I told him that I thought he played the best at the final table and that I was certain big things were in his future. I truly believe that.

But in retrospect, it never really felt like I wasn’t going to win this event once we got to the final table.

Find John Holley on Twitter @hohnjolley. ♠

Photos courtesy of WSOP and World Poker Tour.