Brent Hanks Analyzes Key Hand Vs. Vanessa Selbst In Event No. 2 Of 2012 World Series Of PokerNew Bracelet Winner Explains Why He Didn't Raise River With Full House |
|
Brent Hanks was the first open-event bracelet winner of the 2012 World Series of Poker, taking down event no. 2, a $1,500 no-limit hold’em tournament that boasted 2,101 players. Hanks picked up the biggest payday of his career, more than $400,000 after a heads-up deal, along with the coveted gold bracelet and in the process boosted his lifetime live tournament winnings to over $1.1 million.
To do so, he had to overcome a stacked final table that included J.P. Kelly, Andrew Badecker, Jacob Bazeley and the hyper-aggressive Vanessa Selbst, with whom he played a pivotal pot during the final table.
Here, Hanks takes us through the hand, which was a major turning point in the tournament, and explains why he couldn’t raise on the river, despite holding the near nuts.
Julio Rodriguez: Can you talk us through the hand where you made a full house against Vanessa Selbst’s straight?
Brent Hanks: She opens to 70,000 in the small blind, which is just a little more than a min-raise, so obviously I’m never folding pocket sixes. The real question is whether I should three-bet or not. Vanessa Selbst is a very aggressive player and I was afraid that if I three-bet her, she could very easily four-bet me and put me in a difficult situation. It’s almost as if she wants to be three-bet, to be honest. Perhaps against another opponent, I might raise, but it just didn’t make sense in that situation, plus I’m much more comfortable playing a hand like pocket sixes post flop, so I just called.
JR: The flop comes down 8
6
2
.
BH: She bets 70,000 and because her range is so wide and I’m likely to be way ahead, I can’t really raise in this spot. I definitely don’t want to push her out of the pot. Also, I’m in position, so even if she has nothing, I want to give her a chance to bluff the turn.
JR: Are you worried about protecting your hand at all?
BH: There are a few hands that I’m worried about here, but nothing that I really have to protect against because they mostly include gut shots and maybe 5-4, which is doubled gutted.
JR: The turn is the 7, Selbst bet again and you called.
BH: The turn is pretty much the worst card I can imagine, since it completes not only 5-4, but also 10-9. She settled on a bet of 110,000, which was kind of interesting. I really felt like she wanted me to raise her, like I was being baited into it. Obviously I’m afraid of a straight, but there are some hands I beat in her range such as top two pair or a pair and a straight draw.
JR: The river was the 8, pairing the board and Selbst bet 520,000.
BH: The river is great because not only does it pair the board, obviously letting me beat a straight, but it’s also a card that I could very easily be holding in Vanessa’s mind, a card that wouldn’t really worry her since she’d be trying to get value from trip eights. That being said, I can’t really raise her river bet either. Vanessa is too good to call a shove with a hand like 10-9 in that situation because she knows that I’m not going in with any less. Furthermore, I’m only getting called by hand that beats me, which in this case could be 8-7, 8-6 or pocket sevens. So for those reasons, I just called.
JR: How important was this hand to your victory?
BH: It was a pretty huge swing in momentum for me. Of course, it gave me the chip lead, but it also got me going for the rest of the final table. I was able to ride that momentum all the way to the bracelet.
For complete coverage of the summer poker festival, check out our WSOP landing page.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
