Max Steinberg Discusses Big Hero Call Gone Wrong Deep In World Series Of Poker Main EventPoker Pro Ended Up Finishing In 131st For $50,752 |
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Poker pro Max Steinberg made a deep run in the 2013 World Series of Poker main event just a couple of weeks ago, finishing in 131st place out of more than 6,000 players.
He was near the top of the chip counts after Day 3 and Day 4, but his fifth day of play didn’t go very well. Steinberg, not surpringsly, wanted to use his big stack to put the pressure on opponents and have room to go with his reads. However, it cost him one hand when he made a big hero call and was wrong. But Steinberg was happy with his thought process.
Max Steinberg versus Dan Owen
The WSOP main attracts players from all over the world, and thus it’s often very hard to know the identities, or ascertain the experience level, of who is at your table.
Steinberg said he pegged his opponent as an “amateur recreational player” and that his foe had actually been raising a “good amount” before the hand in question went down. “It was surprising for what he looked like; he’s like a 60-year-old American guy.”
Dan Owen, Steinberg’s opponent, has nearly $600,000 in live tournament earnings.
The hand began with Owen opening in the hijack and Steinberg calling from the button.
The flop fell, and while Steinberg didn’t have anything at the time, there were numerous cards in the deck that could give him a decent-sized flush or a straight.
Owen bet 80,000, which Steinberg classified as “pretty large,” into a pot of about 100,000.
“I assumed at this point he had a pretty strong hand already, but given my draw and my pot odds, I elected to call. It was likely that if he had a hand he is worried about a club, and if he doesn’t have a club I think he’d eventually let me know.”
The turn completed Steinberg’s straight draw.
Owen fired a “very large bet” of 300,000.
“At this point I still think he is afraid of a club, but the bottom that I think he’d bet there is queen-jack or aces with the ace of clubs,” Steinberg said. “I felt like if he had A-Q with the ace of clubs or aces with the aces of clubs, he’d check there because he wouldn’t want to build a big pot — and he’s not really afraid of anything. And I am pretty confident that calling is better because if I raise he is going to put me on a flush, or what I have, and probably fold.”
The river brought another club, invalidating Steinberg’s straight, but still leaving him with a 10-high flush. Owen bombed 650,000 into a pot of about 860,000.
“I went back and really thought that he probably wouldn’t have played aces or A-Q this way, which are the only hands that include the ace of clubs,” Steinberg said. "I didn’t think he was savvy enough to have A-K with the ace of clubs, or any bare ace, and just be bluffing. Given that I can’t really figure out which ace of clubs he has, I felt like I had to call given his recreational player image, that he might have just panicked with a set or a low flush and did something crazy. The pot is too big, and I felt like I couldn’t fold.
He ended up showing aces with the ace of clubs, which sucks for me, but if the river blanked I probably end up winning a big pot too. In the end, I could not be happier with the logic I used. I think it was really sound, but I was just wrong. I think if I spent more time with him I might have realized he would never just do that on the river without the ace of clubs, but after the hand I felt good. You can’t be mad about something like that happening."
Owen used the chips to go on to finish in 32nd place.
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