Poker Hand of the Week: James Romero vs. Chris KlodnickiLet Us Know How You Would Have Played The Hand |
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Give us your opinion in the comments section below for your chance at winning a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
Ask any group of poker players how you played your hand and they’ll come up with dozens of different opinions. That’s just the nature of the game.
Each week, Card Player will select a hand from the high-stakes, big buy-in poker world, break it down and show that there’s more than one way to get the job done.
The Hand
With seven players remaining on the televised final table bubble of the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic main event at Bellagio, shortest stack Jake Schindler raised to 110,000 from the cutoff.
Chip leader James Romero called from the button and fourth-place stack Chris Klodnicki defended his big blind. The flop came down K
9
7 and Klodnicki bet 220,000.
Schindler called and Romero went into the tank. After more than four minutes, the clock was called and Romero raised to 510,000. Klodnicki called, as did Schindler.
The turn was the 4
and it was checked to Romero, who bet another 510,000. Klodnicki then moved all in and Schindler folded. Romero quickly called with 77
for a set and Klodnicki was left drawing to four outs with K9.
The river was the 5 and Romero dragged the pot.
The Questions
What do you think of Klodnicki’s preflop big blind defense with K-9 offsuit? Why did Klodnicki choose to lead out with top two pair from out of position? Did Romero raise the flop to protect himself against drawing hands or did he do it to disguise the strength of his hand? What kind of hand is Schindler representing, and how does the presence of his short stack in the hand change things? How would the hand have played out if the turn was instead the 4?
The Aftermath
The pot not only sent Klodnicki to the rail just short of the televised final table, but it also gave Romero a monster stack worth just over 41 percent of the chips in play. For his seventh-place finish, Klodnicki picked up $207,163.
Despite entering the final table short stacked, Schindler managed to claw his way up the money ladder to third place, banking $736,579. Romero’s lead was never in any real jeopardy after knocking out Klodnicki, and he went on to win the tournament and claim the title and the $1,938,118 first-place prize.
What would you have done and why? Let us know in the comments section below and try not to be results oriented. The best answer will receive a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
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