After my 15th place finish in the June 12 Venetian tourney I headed over to Little Budda for some delicious sushi with a coaching buddy. My plan was to then head over to the Rio and sign up for the $500 mega satellite to qualify for the WSOP Main Event. The idea is everyone buys in for $500; for every $10,000 in the prize pool they give out a Main Event seat to the winner. It's a way to attempt to get in for cheap. However, when I got to the Rio I realized I was pretty wiped out, so I decided not to play. I just gave my brother some advice the other day that if he wasn't ready to play then don't. Poker tables will always be there the next day. I didn't want to be one of those "do as I say, not as I do" guys, so I didn't enter. Derrick was up in his room so I went up there to hang out and talk poker.
We were both very satisfied with my play, but once again I flamed out on the final two tables. Am I doing something wrong? Am I unlucky? Derrick's point - and I agree with him - is you need to build a big stack so you can use it towards the end of the tournament. Absent of the deck falling all over you with AA, KK, etc. how do you get a big stack? His advice is to get more aggressive in the middle of the tournament when the opportunities present themselves. You might get knocked out earlier but if you survive with a bigger stack you will have a better chance to win. My plan was to take this advice to me for the Deep Stack tourney on June 14.
I sat down in the $1100 buy in event at noon. We started with 15,000 chips but with one hour levels, the same time as you get in WSOP events. The following are, to the best of my recollection, the details of the key hands throughout my tournament.
50/100 level
1. The player in seat two (S2) earlier had raised 225 from early position and when the hand was done showed 85c. It's important to watch what hands people are raising in what position and what amounts they raise to. It will give you a lot of information you can use when you are battling that opponent. In this hand he again opens to 225 from early position. I am on the button and look at TT. I make it 525 and he calls after the blinds fold. The pot is 1125. I now have position, initiative, almost certainly the best hand and, given that he doesn't look like a sophisticated player, most likely a skill advantage. If you've been reading Derrick's blog (dypoker.blogspot.com) you know these are the four things you look for in a hand. The flop comes out lower cards, he checks, I bet half the pot and he folds. Easy peezy.
2. The very next hand he opens again to 225. This time I have 87s in the cutoff and I again raise to 525. This was uncharacteristic for me; I tend to play a more conservative game and look to build a solid image to my opponents that I can exploit to my advantage later in the tournament, but today it is Aggressive Williams in S6! Again, he is the only caller. The pot is 1125 and the flop falls QcTs9s. I flopped an open ended straight flush draw. Even if he flopped a set I am a 50/50 against him, and I'm probably a mathematical favorite against whatever hand he has at this point. He checks. Here are my options:
- CHECK in position to see the turn. I only have 8 high. I have a monster draw and I want to build a pot so when and if I hit my hand I can make some serious chips. BAD IDEA!
- RAISE A LARGE AMOUNT to win the hand right now. Notice that this flop contains all high cards. It is much more likely this flop hit the range of hands he might raise with, especially given it's his second raise in a row. Let's say I bet the pot 1125. The pot is now 2250. If he likes his hand, which is very likely, he can check raise me. A reasonable check raise would be my bet of 1125+2500 more, so now the pot would be 5875 and when I called his raise (I ain't folding this!) the pot is almost 8500 and I would have about 10,000 left in my stack. If a blank comes on the turn he can make a large bet and force me to fold my hand. NOT THE BEST IDEA. (Also note if the flop was 6s5s2d, I still have an open ended straight flush draw but the board most likely didn't hit him, I might choose to bet bigger, and if he check-raises me I can then put the ultimate pressure on him by moving him all in. I certainly don't want to get it all in this early in the tournament but in this scenario I have a ton of fold equity, something I probably don't have in our current situation.)
- RAISE A SMALL AMOUNT. I can win the hand now if he completely missed, and if he did hit the flop hard enough to raise I can now get to the river. If I bet 500 the pot is now 1625. He can check raise me 500+1500 so now the pot is 5100. If he bets 1/2 to 2/3 pot on the turn I can now afford it and call to see the river. NO BRAINER!
I chose to bet 425 I believe and he check raised me to 1500. (Also note when I bet smaller on the flop it looks like a weaker bet so his subsequent raises and bets are going to be smaller because he wants to keep me in the pot.) I called and the pot is now 4125. The turn is 4d. That can't help anyone. He bets 2300 and I call. The pot is now 8725. As the river was dealt I focused my eyes solely on my opponent. I did not see the card. I did this for two reasons: 1. I want to see if he liked the card and more importantly 2. I don't want him to see my reaction to the card. His reaction was a thing of beauty - he hated it! He checked and I looked down to see the 3s. Clearly he loves his hand but is afraid of that card, so I bet an amount I felt he would pay - 4100. One of the many things that makes a bad player bad is they pay off. He did. I wonder what he thought I had that he could still beat? When I turned my hand over he said "Good thing you didn't make your straight - for your sake." That tells me a J improved his hand, so he must have had KQ. Notice how poorly he played his hand. He had a one pair hand and he built a pot out of position that cost him a large portion of his stack. You should always build pots in relation to your hands. If he had 20-30 bb it's ok to build a pot and go with a top pair hand, but when he has 150+bb as he did here he should be check calling and controlling the pot size. The question he needed to ask himself is this: If I end up putting in 83bb with top pair will I have the winning hand? The answer is an unequivocal NO! No competent opponent will put in that many big blinds and not have top pair crushed. I hope he learned his lesson but I suspect he'll only remember how unlucky he was I hit my flush. Hope he's not reading this!
3. This was a fun hand: it was folded to me on the button and I r250 with KT. A very competent player called from the bb. The flop came QhJh7. He checked, and I bet 225 with the same principle as the last hand. He check raised me a small amount and I called. I doubt he has a one pair hand as he is a good player and good players will check call and control the pot mostly. He either had QJ hand or a draw. AQ is possible as well. I called and the turn came a small card. He bet and I again called. If I hit my hand I'm going to punish him and if a heart comes out I'm going to represent a flush. The river was an 8c and he bet yet again. I really wanted to raise the river as there are so many draws he missed, but if he had T9 the draw just came in and I decided to chicken out and give this one up. Might have butchered it, might have played it well, but I did have fun during it!
4. I r225 from utg+1 with JTh. The same villain from the previous hand called, as did another player from late position and the bb. The pot is 950. The flop came JsJ3s. The bb checked. I bet 525. The villain called and others folded. Why did he call? Always ask this question!! He could have a pair between 33 and JJ. Very likely. He could have a flush draw. Very possible. He could have a J in his hand, but this is pretty unlikely as three of the J are accounted for. The pot is now 2000 and the turn fell a Qc. This seems like a great card for me, and I think this player is good enough to steal if he senses weakness, so I bet 525 again. After a short deliberation he called again. It seems like the middle pairs are much less likely. He might have QXs and now made top pair or just a flush draw. The river was the Kc. I bet 525 once again and this time he raised me to 2000! What the heck? Did he have T9s or ATs? Better? I called pretty quickly as the point of my small bets was to induce a bluff. I paid for him to show the QJ!!! Maybe I should have thought about my river call a bit longer because the way the board ran out there wasn't much I could beat. My biggest mistake in the hand was I believe I flipped it up after to show the cooler I was part of. Shame on me! NEVER give your opponent any information; now he saw how I bet that particular hand. I won't do that again...
5. This hand made up for the previous one! A young player sat to my right and proceeded to tell the table how he just busted out of the WSOP four handed event a short time earlier. The player in the hijack opened to 250. The young player called from the cutoff and I looked down to see Ah4c. Normally I dump bad AX hands, but: 1. I have the button which means I will have position throughout the hand. 2. It's possible i have the best hand as the first raise came from the hijack position. The later a player opens a pot the more likely the hand is a weaker one. 3. We are all very deep stacked early in the tournament so I might flop a monster and extract a lot of chips. I would never call with this hand if we were in the 20-30bb range. The pot was 825 and the flop came out QhJh5h. The original raiser bet 600 and the young kid raised to 1500. It was here I decided to make a play. I have THE card in my hand - the Ah - so I am the only one that can have the nut flush. I also think there is a decent chance the kid is goofing around as young players play much faster in the beginning stages, trying to accumulate chips. He is also a very smart player I am sure, so I flat called his raise. This has to look ultra strong to him. The original raiser called and the pot was now 5325. The turn was the Ad. This card makes me top pair but is really irrelevant. The kid would never raise a one pair hand, so he either has a draw, a bluff or a flush or set. The original raiser checked, the kid bet 3000 and I raised to 6600. The first player disgustedly folded (he must have had AQ minimum but clearly he cannot continue) and the kid tanked, counted out his chips, counted my chips, saw I had him covered, tanked some more and mucked 7h6h face up. Two other critical points: (1) he already announced he busted from a big buy in tournament today, so did he really want to bust from another one in five minutes? I was betting he didn't, and it's another example of never give away any information at the table as players can use that against you. (2) he was a good player with a brain, capable of understanding what my betting represented. If I tried this against the 60 year old tourist from Florida he would have re-raised me all in on the turn and if his hand was second best, so be it. Make sure you know who you are bluffing before you attempt it. Great hand and super fun!!!
100/200 level
Shortly after that hand I was moved to a new table. A quick look around told me most of these players are very serious about their poker. I had a ton of chips early on was going to sit back and wait for great spots. Some fun hands came up:
1. I opened to 450 from utg+1 with AA. The first time I've seen this hand in a tournament this trip!! (I saw it earlier in a satellite tournament three handed and got it all in vs 88 only to watch the player flop quads. Oh wait, am I whining? I digress....) The bb called and the pot was 1000. The flop was T93. He checked and I checked. I want to induce a bet out of him I might not otherwise get, and I also don't want to start building a pot so big that a one pair hand won't like. The turn was an 8. He bet 600 and I raised him to 1500. He called. The river was a 7 and it went check/check. He showed QQ! I told you I was playing with very good players. If he was the 60 year old tourist from Florida we would have gotten it all in pre-flop and I would have won his entire stack. Very well played by my adversary. And lucky for him too that the river card was so scary because I was getting one more bet out of him no doubt.
Not much else happened at this level that I can recall...
100/200/25 level
1. S9 opened from middle position to 450. I called from the bb with 66. The pot is now 1200. The flop came out Tc84c. I checked and called a bet of 400. The pot is now 2000. The turn card was the 5c. I checked and he bet 900. Notice that I am keeping the pot as small as I can as my hand may be the winning hand. I chose to call the turn, not just because I picked up a straight draw but now he might have picked up a flush draw with a hand like AcQ, KcQ, etc. The river paired the board and after I checked he fired 2200. Well, if the turn wasn't a club I would have given up on the river, but given that I now found some hands in my imagination I could beat I called to look him up. He showed QQ and I mucked. It cost me a little; I definitely could afford it, and I think I'm ok with it all. A fold on the river would have been fine as well. Without a club on the turn I fold the river for sure.
2. Seat 8 opened a pot to 425. The button raised him to 875. It was the second time the button three bet this player. When you are observing at the poker table look for how often players are doing certain things from certain positions. When he three bets him twice from the button did he really have monster hands both times? Possibly, but more likely he was just trying to apply pressure. I looked down and saw AK from the bb. Even though the button was super deep and I didn't really want to battle him out of position I think I certainly have the best hand so I four bet to 2000. S8 didn't see my 4 bet and put out chips to call the three bet. When the dealer told him what was going on he took his chips back and put them in his stack! Um, you can't do that sir. He called over the floor and tried to explain that there's a rule in the rule book that let's him do this, but there isn't. I announced raise, my raising chips were clearly visible, and the dealer announced raise. He just wasn't paying attention. The floor ruled correctly that his 875 chips had to stay in the pot so instead of just conceding his error he decided to call my bet! The button instantly folded which means he was just trying to steal with a garbage hand. The pot was roughly 5400 and the flop came out Ad22d. I lead out with a bet of 1600. This small bet looks very weak and hopefully he interprets it as I had a pair like TT-KK and hated the A. He did as he instantly raised me to 5000 with only 4000 chips back. The pot was so big now and he had so little behind I chose to just put him all in and he quickly mucked. I think the better play would have been to call and then lead super small on the turn again. But no matter. It was fun to watch tilt boy in action!
150/300/25 level
1. The very first hand at this level I opened to 900 from utg+2 with AhQc. (I thought it was 200/400 as no Venetian tournaments had a 150/300 level... until now! Everyone folded and the bb called. the pot is 2200. The flop came 7h62h. He checked, I bet 900 and he called. the pot is now 4000. He checked, I bet 2000 and he called again. The pot is now 8000. I really believe based on this board texture that he has a hand similar to the 66 hand I wrote about earlier. The BIG difference here is where I could afford a river call, he cannot. The river fell the 5h. He checked again. I asked him how many chips he had left, and he said 9-10K. After short deliberation I put him all in. It's so much fun being the bully! He tanked, and tanked, and tanked, and finally disgustedly mucked his hand. Good players check and call to control the pot size with a hand that has show down value, and I took advantage of this knowledge by putting him to a decision for his tournament life. A win for the good guys!
2. S1 opened to 675 from late position. He was the big chip leader at the table and was getting more and more active. True to my plan I stayed aggressive and I three bet him to 1500 from the button with Q9. He called and we were heads up. I have the initiative and the position. I probably don't have the best hand and I certainly respect his skills, so I have 2 of the 4 necessary ingredients for a successful hand. The pot is now 3650 and the flop came 9c6c6. He led into me for 2300! Wow, that surprised me. I certainly am not folding top pair so I call and will re-evaluate on the turn. The pot is now 8250 and the turn was the Kd. He now bet 5100 into me! OK, what's going on here? His bet sizing is telling me that a big ass bet is coming on the river, probably one for my tournament life as I only have about 21K behind. If I call this bet the pot will be around 19000 and I'll have less than that in my stack. What does he have? I put him on a very strong range here. A good player bets a 6X hand so that I don't have the opportunity to check behind. He could also have AA/KK/QQ and is now firing for the same reasons. About the only hand I can beat would be something like 8c7c or Tc8c and I really didn't want to pay to guess, so I mucked my hand. Very interesting hand.
3. A little while later the same player opened to 675 again. I called in position with AK. My hand is now very disguised as most players re raise with this hand. If I flop something good I can go for a big pot and if I whiff the flop I haven't lost much. The pot is about 2000 and the flop comes AsJs6c. He bets 900 and I raise him to 2400. He calls. The pot is now 6800. Once he calls I am fairly certain he has either AQ or AT and is trying to now keep the pot small. The turn was the 3c. He checked and I bet 5100. He slowly called. The river was a harmless 7c and after he checked I moved all in. He tanked. I stared down at my chips, never lifting my head, never moving. I don't want to give off any physical information. I know the way I played the hand looks like I could have had a draw that missed (KTs, KQs, etc.) and eventually he reluctantly called. I showed my hand and he looked pretty incredulously at my hand as he mucked. The player on my right said "sick value!". It was! I started the hand with about 68-70bb and you don't want to get into the habit of getting that many bb into the pot with a one pair hand, but given that he was an excellent player I knew he was trying to control the pot with AQ type hand, and given that I knew his hand I was going for it. One of my favorite hands I've played to date.
4. A player from early position opened to 700. A couple of players called, and I looked at KK from the sb. I raised to 2500, the original raiser called and the others folded. The pot was around 7000. The flop came out 622. That's a great great flop for my hand. It was so good I chose to check and give him a chance to try and win the pot. He checked behind. The turn was an 8. I bet 5000 and he called. The pot is now 17000 and he has around 9-10,000 behind. The river was another small card. I moved all in and he thought for awhile and mucked TT face up. I'm pretty disappointed I didn't get more than one bet out of him. Maybe if I bet small on the flop I might get more? I'm not sure. I think he played the hand well, not losing too much with an over pair to the flop. A bet of 4-5000 on the river probably gets called but I went for the kill shot. I'll have to think about this one some more.
200/400/50 level
1. My coaching buddy and poker enthusiast Greg arrived at my table to say hello, and I jokingly said to him "let me muck this hand and I'll come say hi". Well, I looked at KK and decided he could wait a couple minutes! I r900 and the small blind call. He was not a good player and I hoped to maximize this hand. The pot was 2600 and the flop came out JcTc5d. He checked, I bet 1300 and he called. The pot was 5200 and he had 10,000 behind. The turn was an 8h. He checked again. I think he mostly has one pair hands and is bad enough to call a big bet. I chose to over bet the pot and move all in. He instantly called with Q9h and I was the loser. You hate to lose with such a big hand against a single opponent but he was super lucky to hit his straight card on the turn. Obviously he wasn't going to see the river if he missed, but that's poker. I liked how I played this hand. I think if he has a pair I have a great chance of getting his entire stack.
I got moved to a new table and only won two more hands the next two levels. Here they are:
2. As the dealer was pitching the cards one of mine got exposed - a J. He replaced my card with another and everyone folded to me. I looked to see an A on my first card; I would have had AJ. Damn! I looked at the other card and it was an upgrade - another A! haha. I raised on the button, both the blinds folded, and I had to show the hand just for the story...
3. A player in late position min-raised to 800. I called from the bb with 75. The pot was 2200 and the flop was A79. I checked, he bet 1500 and I called. He could be raising with any two cards from late position and I am going to call one time with a pair. If he doesn't have a strong hand he will check the turn. If I do not improve and he bets again I will be mucking my hand. The pot is 5200 and the turn brought a 6. We both checked. The river was a 5. I now have two pair and it's very likely he either has a hand like KQ, KJ, QJ, QT, etc. or a hand like AX and he was controlling the pot on the turn. As there is four to a straight on the board I don't think he'll bet his AX hands. He might bluff his other hands if I check but there is no guarantee of that. I chose to bet 3200 and he reluctantly called. He saw my hand and showed an A when he mucked.
That was it for the 200/400 and 300/600 level. And I tried to win pots! I raised and someone three bet. I would three bet and someone four bet. I called raises and someone three bet us both. I raised and continue bet on the flop - that didn't work. I didn't make a hand and I couldn't win a hand when I tried betting without cards. I did my best to work on growing my stack, but sometimes it just doesn't go according to plan. Finally, this hand came up on the last hand before the dinner break. The previous hand I raised pre-flop, got called, and continue bet the flop. The opponent called that bet, then led out and bet the turn. As I had nothing I mucked. The very next hand I opened to 1300 utg with 35s. Two players called and the cutoff player three bet to 4500. He had three bet a couple times and maybe he thought I was opening weak since I had lost the previous pot. I four bet him to 11,000. I had about 35k behind me so this was less than 25% of my stack and left me plenty of chips in case I was wrong. I was wrong! He thought for a bit and moved all in. Clearly I was not calling, but I wasn't happy about losing this pot so I sat there for quite awhile. I wasn't getting his chips but at least I got some of his dinner time! I counted the pot, counted my chips, did the whole routine, and finally mucked my hand and went to find some sushi.
400/800/100 level
The End: After folding for a couple levels I had about 30K behind and opened to 1800 utg+1 with JJ. A player two to my left in S9 called as did the big blind. The pot was 6600 and the flop came out 789. That is not a very good flop for my hand. The big blind checked and I went over my two options:
Later that night I went over to the Aria to play some cash game poker with Greg. I sat down at a 2/5 table and immediately recognized the player on my left. Let's call this player Pat. Pat is a professional player so after a bit of chatting I asked Pat if I could discuss my bust out hand. Pat said absolutely. Pat asked me all the details of the hand and after I described the flop Pat asked if I had a plan for the hand. I described my two options above and told Pat which path I chose. Here is how the conversation then went:
Pat: What hands can you beat?
Me: I can beat a hand with a T in it
Pat: Such as?
Me: AT
Pat: Never. You said these are good players at the table and a good player is never calling a raiser that has 30bb with AT.
Me: Good point Pat. How about TT
Pat: So you're telling me they are taking their hand and turning it into a bluff by raising you?
Me: Good point Pat. Quit yelling at me please! (Just kidding, but Pat was very animated...)
Pat: How about T9s? Could they have that?
Me: Of course.
Pat: Again, they would be turning their hand into a bluff. I don't think so. In fact, I don't think there is any hand that can raise you in this spot that you can beat.
Me: Good point Pat. Can I leave now please? (Just kidding, I ain't leaving. I'm getting an education!)
Pat: So it looks like option 1 was your only course of action. You can check and call one bet. You probably have to fold to a second bet....
Me: Yep, that all makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the feedback.
Pat: No worries. FYI, I usually charge $250 an hour to coach poker so you're getting a free one here.
Me: Thanks. I'll take it easy on you in the cash game!
It was great to get feedback from another professional player on how to play the hand. And honestly, I usually play this hand with a check/call/re-evaluate when the turn comes out. There's no doubt my aggressive approach for this tournament influenced my decision and I'm ok with it now (after two days of beating myself up over it) because I learned a great lesson about separating pre-flop and post-flop play. It's going to help me a lot in an upcoming tournament.
I'm also ok with it because outside of this one hand I think I played some of my best tournament hands ever this tournament. I will be even more prepared to play my next event: WSOP event #41, a $3000 buy in Friday, June 22. I will be studying and talking poker all week and will be prepared to play my very best. My time is coming. I deserve it and can't wait to do something great and share it with all my friends.
JWB
200/400/50 level
1. My coaching buddy and poker enthusiast Greg arrived at my table to say hello, and I jokingly said to him "let me muck this hand and I'll come say hi". Well, I looked at KK and decided he could wait a couple minutes! I r900 and the small blind call. He was not a good player and I hoped to maximize this hand. The pot was 2600 and the flop came out JcTc5d. He checked, I bet 1300 and he called. The pot was 5200 and he had 10,000 behind. The turn was an 8h. He checked again. I think he mostly has one pair hands and is bad enough to call a big bet. I chose to over bet the pot and move all in. He instantly called with Q9h and I was the loser. You hate to lose with such a big hand against a single opponent but he was super lucky to hit his straight card on the turn. Obviously he wasn't going to see the river if he missed, but that's poker. I liked how I played this hand. I think if he has a pair I have a great chance of getting his entire stack.
I got moved to a new table and only won two more hands the next two levels. Here they are:
2. As the dealer was pitching the cards one of mine got exposed - a J. He replaced my card with another and everyone folded to me. I looked to see an A on my first card; I would have had AJ. Damn! I looked at the other card and it was an upgrade - another A! haha. I raised on the button, both the blinds folded, and I had to show the hand just for the story...
3. A player in late position min-raised to 800. I called from the bb with 75. The pot was 2200 and the flop was A79. I checked, he bet 1500 and I called. He could be raising with any two cards from late position and I am going to call one time with a pair. If he doesn't have a strong hand he will check the turn. If I do not improve and he bets again I will be mucking my hand. The pot is 5200 and the turn brought a 6. We both checked. The river was a 5. I now have two pair and it's very likely he either has a hand like KQ, KJ, QJ, QT, etc. or a hand like AX and he was controlling the pot on the turn. As there is four to a straight on the board I don't think he'll bet his AX hands. He might bluff his other hands if I check but there is no guarantee of that. I chose to bet 3200 and he reluctantly called. He saw my hand and showed an A when he mucked.
That was it for the 200/400 and 300/600 level. And I tried to win pots! I raised and someone three bet. I would three bet and someone four bet. I called raises and someone three bet us both. I raised and continue bet on the flop - that didn't work. I didn't make a hand and I couldn't win a hand when I tried betting without cards. I did my best to work on growing my stack, but sometimes it just doesn't go according to plan. Finally, this hand came up on the last hand before the dinner break. The previous hand I raised pre-flop, got called, and continue bet the flop. The opponent called that bet, then led out and bet the turn. As I had nothing I mucked. The very next hand I opened to 1300 utg with 35s. Two players called and the cutoff player three bet to 4500. He had three bet a couple times and maybe he thought I was opening weak since I had lost the previous pot. I four bet him to 11,000. I had about 35k behind me so this was less than 25% of my stack and left me plenty of chips in case I was wrong. I was wrong! He thought for a bit and moved all in. Clearly I was not calling, but I wasn't happy about losing this pot so I sat there for quite awhile. I wasn't getting his chips but at least I got some of his dinner time! I counted the pot, counted my chips, did the whole routine, and finally mucked my hand and went to find some sushi.
400/800/100 level
The End: After folding for a couple levels I had about 30K behind and opened to 1800 utg+1 with JJ. A player two to my left in S9 called as did the big blind. The pot was 6600 and the flop came out 789. That is not a very good flop for my hand. The big blind checked and I went over my two options:
- Option 1 was to check and see what developed. My hand has value and I don't need to bet it. If S9 bet I could call and see what he did on the turn. Also, if the big blind happened to check raise his bet I could get away from the hand without putting any more chips in the pot. If a blank came on the turn I would probably have to check and call one more bet, and if he bet the river again I would probably have to let it go. Calling two bets would put me under 20bb. My goal this tournament was to be aggressive so this didn't seem like a fun option.
- Option 2 was the aggressive route. I could lead out with a bet to protect my hand against worse hands, and if someone raised me I would probably be committed to the pot but I would have six outs twice (four T and two J). I would be a 25% favorite worse case scenario. I chose to bet 4400. S9 raised me to 11,000, the big blind folded and now the action was on me with a pot of 22,000. By the time I called 7,000 more the pot would be 29,000 and I would have about 17,000 behind, so this was it. I moved all in, he called and showed 88, I whiffed and I was out the door.
Later that night I went over to the Aria to play some cash game poker with Greg. I sat down at a 2/5 table and immediately recognized the player on my left. Let's call this player Pat. Pat is a professional player so after a bit of chatting I asked Pat if I could discuss my bust out hand. Pat said absolutely. Pat asked me all the details of the hand and after I described the flop Pat asked if I had a plan for the hand. I described my two options above and told Pat which path I chose. Here is how the conversation then went:
Pat: What hands can you beat?
Me: I can beat a hand with a T in it
Pat: Such as?
Me: AT
Pat: Never. You said these are good players at the table and a good player is never calling a raiser that has 30bb with AT.
Me: Good point Pat. How about TT
Pat: So you're telling me they are taking their hand and turning it into a bluff by raising you?
Me: Good point Pat. Quit yelling at me please! (Just kidding, but Pat was very animated...)
Pat: How about T9s? Could they have that?
Me: Of course.
Pat: Again, they would be turning their hand into a bluff. I don't think so. In fact, I don't think there is any hand that can raise you in this spot that you can beat.
Me: Good point Pat. Can I leave now please? (Just kidding, I ain't leaving. I'm getting an education!)
Pat: So it looks like option 1 was your only course of action. You can check and call one bet. You probably have to fold to a second bet....
Me: Yep, that all makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the feedback.
Pat: No worries. FYI, I usually charge $250 an hour to coach poker so you're getting a free one here.
Me: Thanks. I'll take it easy on you in the cash game!
It was great to get feedback from another professional player on how to play the hand. And honestly, I usually play this hand with a check/call/re-evaluate when the turn comes out. There's no doubt my aggressive approach for this tournament influenced my decision and I'm ok with it now (after two days of beating myself up over it) because I learned a great lesson about separating pre-flop and post-flop play. It's going to help me a lot in an upcoming tournament.
I'm also ok with it because outside of this one hand I think I played some of my best tournament hands ever this tournament. I will be even more prepared to play my next event: WSOP event #41, a $3000 buy in Friday, June 22. I will be studying and talking poker all week and will be prepared to play my very best. My time is coming. I deserve it and can't wait to do something great and share it with all my friends.
JWB
