Billy Kopp Defends His Play in WSOP Elimination HandKopp Bubbles Final Table, But Remains Positive About His Summer |
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Despite what you may have heard, Billy Kopp is having a fantastic year of poker. The online player has won a slew of big tournaments this year, including the Sunday $200,000 guarantee on UltimateBet, the Sunday Second Chance and Nightly Hundred Grand on PokerStars, and even the Sunday Brawl on Full Tilt.
On the live circuit, the 23-year-old college student from Kentucky has already chopped the WSOP Circuit main event in New Orleans for about $170,000 and then followed that up with three very deep finishes in the World Series of Poker. In event No. 15, he finished eighth for $71,115. In event No. 45, he just missed out on his second final table, finishing in 11th for $57,645. Then, in the main event, Kopp went on an incredible run before an even more incredible hand sent him to the rail in 12th place, good for $896,730.
Card Player caught up with the recently-signed UltimateBet pro while on a much-deserved vacation in Hawaii. In this interview, Kopp explains his thought process on the hand that put an end to his main-event run.
| Event – Blinds/Antes | WSOP Main Event | 120,000-240,000 with a 30,000 ante |
| Player | Billy Kopp | Darvin Moon |
| Hand | 5 3 |
Q J |
| Chip Count | 21,380,000 | 23,200,000 |
The Hand
Billy Kopp raised to 600,000 in early position and was called by Darvin Moon in the small blind. The flop came out K 9 2, and Moon checked. Kopp fired out 750,000, and Moon made the call.
The turn was the 2
, and Moon checked once again. Kopp bet 2 million, and Moon check-raised to 6 million. Kopp then moved all in for about 20 million, and Moon wasted no time before calling.
Kopp showed down 5 3 for a flopped flush, but Moon showed Q J for a higher flopped flush. Kopp was drawing dead, and the inconsequential river card was the 7
, sending him out of the tournament in 12th place.
After the hand, Moon took back the chip lead with 45 million in chips.
The Interview
Julio Rodriguez: Let’s discuss that fateful hand that has the whole poker world talking. Was there anything that happened leading up to it?
Billy Kopp: I guess I’ll just explain it from my standpoint. I had been chip leader or close to it for about two days when one of my friends, Jordan Smith, was moved to my table. I just happened to get it in with him with A-K against his pocket queens, and his hand held to bring my stack down to about 13 million. It was a pretty standard hand. He raised, I three-bet, and he instantly moved all in. If he has kings or aces in that spot, then he wouldn’t have instantly pushed, so I called, and unfortunately lost the race. Had I won, I would have been up over 30 million and had a pretty big chip lead at the time. Instead, I was forced to grind over the next level or so back up over the 20-million mark.
JR: Can you give us the setting for your elimination hand?
BK: We were short-handed, and I had been playing with most of the table for a couple days and thought I had pretty good reads on all of them, except for Darvin Moon, who I didn’t really know about.
JR: Well, what was your opinion about his play from the little that you did know?
BK: Right, well, because I had barely played with him, I spoke to a couple players who said he had been basically hit with the deck. He’s not a very known player, but I figured that it was kind of the same thing with Jamie Gold when he made his deep run. You know, if you are running good, then anything can happen.
JR: It’s safe to say that you weren’t playing to creep up a few spots in the money.
BK: I’ve always been in it for the money, but at this point, I want the bracelet, as well. You know I picked up some negative feedback from some of the forums where some people said that I should have folded just to make sure I made the November Nine and moved up in the money, but I’m taking every opportunity that I possibly can to win each and every tournament. I think I played near perfect tournament poker for eight days and just happened to run into a bad situation to end it.
JR: The hand played out pretty straightforwardly until the turn, where you seem to be getting a lot of heat from the virtual rail.
BK: On the turn, when he checked, I bet, and he raised me to 6 million. When he check-raised me, yes, it’s possible to fold there, but I still had a lot of fold equity, as well. Not to mention he could have a hand I’m crushing like A-2 or K-Q with a diamond, A-K with a diamond.
When I flopped the flush, the last thing I was putting him on was a higher flush. He was playing a lot of pots, he had a big stack, so I thought he was very capable of having a lot of different hands in that spot.
JR: What about a boat?
BK: I just don’t see him raising a full house there. To be honest, the board pairing really didn’t matter to me. If the turn comes pretty much any other blank card and he raises, then I’m still getting it in. A lot of people were telling me to just call behind and see the river, but I’m not looking to see the board double-pair or another diamond roll off. The pot was so big already, and taking it down right there would’ve put me in second place.
Like I said, you play near-perfect, or what you believe is near-perfect poker for so many days, it’s just really tough to run into a hand like that.
JR: Was there any possibility that you were turning your hand into a bluff? Did you think there was a chance that he could lay down a flush?
BK: Right. The other thing too is that when I move in on a paired board, he’s supposed to at least consider folding the higher flushes, as well. My buddies on the rail, who are very good players, all thought that I was sitting on a full house, so it’s odd that it seemed never to have crossed his mind, considering how fast he called me.
I’m not sure what type of player he is, but I’m not really disappointed with my decision at the time. Like I said, I’m pretty much going to take any edge that I can to pick up a lot of chips. Another thing that went through my mind was that I didn’t want to go into the final table with just 20 big blinds, either.
JR: Because he called so fast, almost recklessly, doesn’t that justify your play, since he’d theoretically be doing the same with plenty of hands you can beat?
BK: Yeah. Like I said earlier, when he check-raised the turn, there are just so many hands that I can get value from. It’s possible that he called a raise from the blinds with A-2 and now thinks it’s good. It’s possible he’s raising me with top pair and a diamond draw. I think people underestimate how many times I’m getting it in as a big favorite when he can’t get away from trips or possibly even worse.
Like you said, he may have just been blind to the fact that the board paired and was just married to his flush, but that’s just more evidence to the fact that he’d be willing to stack off holding a pair with a diamond draw or trips with a diamond draw. If that’s the case, then I’m happy to get it in knowing that it will be to my advantage in the long run.
JR: Finally, let’s dispel some of the rumors that you immediately went looking for the nearest cliff after the hand took place.
BK: It’s frustrating and disappointing, but I had a great Series overall and can’t look at it as the end of the world. I read on one of the sites that it said I looked like I wanted to cry and ran away before the river was even dealt. That wasn’t even close to the case. I stayed until the river even though I knew I was drawing dead. I walked out for a bit but then I came back just a few minutes later to shake everyone’s hand. I guess that’s just the way it goes.
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