Keven Stammen -- What's My Line?

Keven Stammen, otherwise known as Stammdogg, was having a great tournament. Sitting at the final table with a mountain of chips, only one other opponent had the stack to take Stammen out of the running for his first bracelet. Then a hand came down that took all the wind out his opponent’s sails and put him in the lead for good.

Stammen, a top online player, has finally broken through for his first big live tournament win. He pocketed $506,786 for the victory, now has over $1.6 million in combined earnings, and is in the top 100 for both live and online play in 2009.

Event – Blinds/ Antes	WSOP — Event No. 13	15,000-30,000 with a 4,000 ante
Player Name	Keven Stammen	Bahado Ahmadi
Hand	9 5	?
Chip Counts	2,287,000	2,056,000

The Hand

Bahado Ahmadi raised to 72,000 from under the gun, and Keven Stammen called in the big blind. The flop came out 9 5 3, and Stammen checked.

Ahmadi bet 110,000, and Stammen called. The turn was the A, and Stammen checked once again. Ahmadi bet 175,000, and Stammen check-raised to 600,000. Ahamadi called, and the river was the 4.

Stammen bet 600,000, and Ahamadi called, mucking his cards when Stammen showed him 9 5 for two pair. After the hand, Stammen’s stack increased to 3.7 million, while Ahmadi took a major hit down to 670,000.

The Interview

Julio Rodriguez: Why pick 9 5 to defend your big blind, especially against an under-the-gun raiser?

Keven Stammen: He was hella-deep, and so was I. Also, I hadn’t really been defending or splashing around too much at that point, and I felt like if I hit the flop big, I would be able to take down a huge pot. He was also a little bit on tilt from before, and I thought he might not be able to lay down a big hand.

JR: You hit the flop with top two pair on a rainbow flop. If you think he has big hand like an overpair, why not check-raise on the flop?

KS: I decided to wait on the check-raise simply because he could have anything with that continuation-bet. I don’t know for sure he has the overpair, because he could just as easily have any two Broadway cards that missed. Either way, I wanted to wait until the turn to raise, because I didn’t want to scare him off. Seeing the turn also helped me know where he was at. If the turn was a trey that counterfeited me or put a scare card out there, I’d be able to continue in the hand with a better understanding of what he’s holding and how strong my hand is compared to his.

JR: So, you decided to wait a street for the check-raise and did it when an ace rolled off.

KS: Yeah, the turn was an ace, and I checked raised his bet to 600,000. He thought for about five seconds before calling.

JR: So with that fairly quick call, what kind of hand are you putting him on?

KS: To be honest, I thought he hit that ace with A-K or A-Q, but it also did cross my mind that he was being stubborn with an overpair on the flop like tens through kings.

JR: On the river, you bet pretty small relative to the pot. Just 600,000. Was that kind of a blocker bet since the board got rough?

KS: It was kind of a wicked river, because backdoor hearts got there, and it put a four-liner to a straight on the board. But, looking back on his line throughout the hand, I don’t think he has hearts, and I don’t see a deuce, either. The 600,000 was more of a value-bet that I thought would for sure get called by A-K or A-Q and more than likely called by the overpair.

JR: Did he ever reveal what he had?

KS: Supposedly, he paid me off with pocket tens. Of course, I never saw his cards, but I’m pretty sure he was telling the truth.

JR: Assuming he was telling the truth, do you think you could have gotten paid off a bit more had you played your hand differently?

KS: Maybe. He actually said, “Oh, if you had check-raised the flop, then I would’ve doubled you up.” I’m not so sure. It’s possible, but I think he’s too good of a player to commit that much of his stack on the flop. If I check-raise his flop bet to 300,000, I just don’t see him re-popping it to 1 million or something. Even if he did, I’d have to move in, and he probably wouldn’t have put another chip in the pot. So, I think I made the maximum on the hand, though I possibly could have bet more on the river.

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