A Stud Hand Gone Wrong

I'm 39 years old and for about 15 years I've been grinding WSOP events regularly. The days are longer now than they used to be, and there are three times as many events as when I started! I typically sleep like a baby, but I've been quite tired this summer after making lots of consecutive deep runs that cut into my sleep.

I knew this coming into the WSOP, so part of my plan to address it was to late register most of the events and I've done that. Rather than play from 4pm to 3am, I usually play from about 6:30pm to 3:00am on the day ones.

I went to the gym around 2pm yesterday then decided to head straight over to the $1500 Stud starting at level 2 around 5:00pm. By the end of the first night, around 2:30am I was taking naps in between hands! I still managed to get through the day with a healthy stack despite several mistakes throughout the day.

I felt good on day 2, and late in the day went on a rush to get me to 110k in chips. Down to 10 players, I was sitting on about 80k when the following hand happened:

Bring in: 2d
Kravchenko: Jd Raise
Me: (J9) Q Call
Other: Q Fold
Other: 5 Fold
Bring in: calls

This is a HUGE mistake! Just massive and I was so tired I wasn't thinking clearly. For those of you who don't play Stud, this is a huge mistake for various reasons. First of all, with that board Kravchenko is going to raise 100% of the time in that spot. Yes, even with a 2-3 in the hole, he is going to raise into two dead Queens, a 5, and a 2. It's essentially automatic. On top of that, I have a Jack on the hole, making it less likely he has a pair of them.

The correct play is to re-raise. Since there is another Queen out, Kravchenko would actually give me MORE credit for having at least a pair of Queens. Either way, if he has junk in the hole, the hand is over and I win it on 3rd street.

Right after I put the call in I thought to myself, "What are you doing, you idiot?" Anyway, the bring in came along with (K-6) 2 rainbow, an awful hand to defend for one bet, but certainly he would have folded if I re-raised.

To make a long story short, the bring in, who started with three off suit cards, caught 4 consecutive diamonds to make a flush and ultimately beat the two pair that I made. I ended up making an excellent read on 5th street on against this player, but the point is, it's not a situation I should have ever been in. Also, even though my read was correct, that my opponent didn't have the flush on 5th or 6th street, I put him on KK with a visible flush draw. That is a lot of outs against my Jacks up and a straight draw.

Of all the tournaments I played this summer, including my second place finish to Paul Volpe in the $10k NL 2-7 Single Draw, this one was the most gutting. I was in a great spot to win a bracelet, and had a brain fart that could have cost me #7.

Oh well! Tonight is my favorite game, $10k Stud 8 and I'll likely show up around 5pm and do my absolute best!

Daniel Negreanu is the 2004 CardPlayer Magazine and World Poker Tour Player of the Year. He presents his poker strategies in one-on-one virtual training at pokervt.com and writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column.
Read all of Daniel Negreanu's poker blog and poker articles at Full Contact Poker.