Michael Katz: What's My LineKatz Shows Us How to Get Value From Underpairs |
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Every Thursday, Card Player sits down with some of the best in the game to discuss pivotal hands from the week’s biggest tournaments on the circuit.
This week, due to the lull in the live tournament circuit, I spoke with Michael Katz about his recent second-place finish in the weekly $500 buy-in tournament on PokerStars. Katz made a nice run to the final table without the help of many big hands, and once he got there, he made sure to take control of his opponents, resulting in a runner-up finish for nearly $70,000.
Katz, who plays online as Bonzo9876, has earned more than $150,000 in Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) tournaments alone. In addition, he has scored for nearly $400,000 on the live tournament circuit, despite excelling at cash game play. Katz had a solid summer, cashing five times at the World Series of Poker. All told, he and his roommates (Shannon Shorr, Adam Geyer, Eric Baldwin, and Cody Slaubaugh) earned almost $1.5 million this summer alone.
Check out the summer home of the five players listed above who dominated the WSOP.
| Event, Blinds/Ante | $250K PokerStars | 4,000-8,000 with a 800 ante |
| Player | Michael "Bonzo9876" Katz | artbrancusi |
| Chip Count | 325,641 | 197,740 |
| Hand | A Q |
9 9 |
Player artbrancusi raised to 20,000 under the gun and Michael Katz decided to just call with A Q in the big blind. The flop came out A A
8, and Katz checked. Artbrancusi checked behind.
The turn was the 6, and Katz bet 27,200. After some thought, artbrancusi made the call. The river was the K, and Katz bet 41,200, much less than half of the pot. Artbrancusi made the call, and his pocket nines automatically went into the muck.
The Interview
Julio Rodriguez: Why did you decide to just call preflop?
Michael Katz: He had been playing fairly tight and raised under the gun to just 2.5 times the big blind. It was folded to me in the big blind, and I thought about my options. I was fairly deep, with more than 40 blinds, and he was sitting with almost 25 blinds. I decided to just call here for two reasons. I could reraise for value, but sometimes I would actually be turning my hand into a bluff. He is so tight that if I reraise and he shoves, I am getting less than 2-1, despite almost always being worse than 2-1 against his range.
JR: Why check the flop? Were you going for the check-raise, or were you planning on calling a flop bet?
MK: The flop gave me trips, and I decided to check. I was thinking about check-calling and possibly leading the turn, but he checked behind. His check tells me that he probably has a big pair that missed or a big ace and now he is trying to trap.
JR: You bet the turn. Why not take one more chance to let him bet, considering you're probably either way ahead or way behind?
MK: The turn was a six, which should be a pretty irrelevant card against his range. I decided I could not check here because he may check behind again with a big pair. I thought I could bet the turn and river and hopefully get two calls. In hindsight, I probably could have bet even more, because I couldn't think of a hand that he would raise with preflop that would fold in that spot on the turn.
JR: The river brings a king. Any chance he was playing pocket kings?
MK: I did not like the king on the river. Not just because K-K is a possibility, but because all of the other pairs in his range now might be afraid of what I'm holding, given two overcards to his pair on the board. I led out for about 40 percent of the pot with the intention of probably throwing up and folding if he moved all in, which would have given me about 1.8-1.
JR: In reality, he just called with pocket nines. What do you think of his play in this hand?
MK: I think that his raise under the gun with pocket nines was correct in that spot. I may have raised a little larger than 2.5 times the big blind, but it wasn't a bad play. I do not think he played the hand poorly, but there are a few things that he could have done differently. He might want to bet that flop in the hopes of taking it down right there. He doesn't have that strong of a hand and will be playing guess-and-check later on in the hand. If he does check the flop, he might have wanted to put in a min-raise on the turn to control the pot with his position, which would make it look like he's holding a much bigger hand than he really does. This would probably slow me down, and many times save him from facing a large bet on the river.
| Event, Blinds/Ante | $250K PokerStars | 15,000-30,000 with a 3,000 ante |
| Player | Michael "Bonzo9876" Katz | Ian "Ian J" Johns |
| Chip Count | 1,054,892 | 661,100 |
| Hand | K Q |
10 10 |
Still at the nine-handed final table, Michael Katz raised to 78,300 in early position with K Q. Ian Johns quickly called in middle position, and the blinds folded. The flop came Q 6 2, and Katz checked with top pair, second kicker. Johns checked behind.
The turn was the 5 and Katz checked once again. Johns also checked. The river was the 6, pairing the board. Katz bet 121,200, more than half the pot. Johns made the call, and his pocket tens were automatically mucked.
The Interview
Julio Rodriguez: Okay, a similar situation, this time at the final table. You are out of position again, and have probably flopped the best hand.
Michael Katz: I raised just over 2.5 times the big blind with K Q here because the table was playing extremely tight. I thought a raise would probably take down the pot, but Ian Johns called quickly from middle position. He had been playing fairly tight thus far, and I had been the most active player at the table. I thought with that call that he had to have a medium-sized pair.
The flop gave me top pair, second kicker, and I figured I had to be either way ahead or way behind in the hand. I liked the table I was playing at and did not really want to play a big pot at this time. I thought that it was going to be nearly impossible for me to stack Ian in this hand, so I decided to control the pot and hopefully get one bet out of him. It was very likely that he only had two outs, and I was willing to give him a few free looks, so I checked the flop, and, like I imagined, he checked behind.
JR: In the last situation, you bet the turn. Why check now?
MK: The turn was a five, and I decided to check again. If I bet and he raises, I put myself in a very tough spot, and I wanted to control the pot further. I thought that it was going to be easy to pick up chips at this table from the three players who weren't playing any hands, so I was willing to give up a little value in this hand to avoid the risk of a big decision.
JR: You bet much bigger on the river here than you did in the last hand. Is that a pretty standard value bet?
MK: The river 6 was a great card for me. It was very unlikely that he would check a hand twice that could beat me on this board. Also, it was unlikely that he didn't have a hand at all, because he probably would've tried to push me out of the pot with something that didn't have any showdown value. The entire hand, he was also trying to control the pot, which told me that he was sitting on a medium pair. I ended up betting a little more than half of the pot, and he quickly called me with his tens. Once again, I probably should have bet more, because it was pretty obvious that he was going to call in that spot.
JR: How do you think he played the hand?
MK: I think he was in a very tough spot with pocket tens preflop. I had been fairly aggressive early on and opened in early position. He started the hand with only 22 blinds, so there were limited options from his perspective. Just calling is fine here but difficult to figure out where you are sometimes. It will confuse the raiser, because it was the first time anyone had flatted at the final table. He is in position, and many times the raiser will only bet once or give up when called in this spot. His other option was to move all in, but that's tough, considering there are still five players behind him, and I could have a legitimate monster. Reraising would essentially turn his hand into a bluff unless he is going to go with it. He could have made a small raise to about 190,000, which would commit him to calling if a few of the short stacks behind him shoved. If it got folded back to me and I moved all in, he will be getting less than 2-1 and he would have a very difficult call for all of his chips. If he is going to reraise and then fold to a four-bet, having pocket tens is pretty irrelevant. So, I can't really fault him for just making the call preflop.
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