PokerWorks

In my previous article , I discussed three hands from the early to middle stages of the Pokerstars Guinness Book of World Records tournament. 35,000 players started, with an entry fee of $10+1. The following three hands took place in the middle stages of the tournament shortly before the money bubble.

Hand #1

The blinds are 40/80 and I start the hand with 2,775 in chips. Not short yet, but definitely at the point where I need to think about doubling up. I am dealt Ace King in middle position and there is an early position limper. Normally, I would probably raise here but there are some extenuating circumstances that cause me to vary my play here. For the last five minutes, two players have been raising it up pre-flop and creating a lot of action. Both of those players are still left to act, and I am fairly confident that one of them will feel like they have to raise it up with two weak limpers in the pot. One other player limps and predictably, one of the two loose cannons fires in a raise to 320. It is folded back around to me.

I have three options here. One, I could just call. That's terrible in my mind because I'm basically deferring control of the hand to him. If the flop comes all rags and he fires out a big bet, it's going to be hard for me to continue in the hand and he gets exactly what he wants – me being weak. The second option is to re-raise an amount that does not put me all in, something along the lines of 1,000 total. With only 2,775 chips though, I don't like this option for the same reason I don't like the first one. Say my opponent calls me and the flop comes all rags and he moves all in. What am I going to do then? Bye bye to 1/3 of my stack. The best option in this case, I thought, was to move all in. If my opponent folds, I'm fine with that and if he calls I'm probably in good shape against most of the hands he would call with.

I move all in and he calls with K-J off suit. The flop comes jack high (thus meaning if I had taken option #1 or #2, I would have probably folded as predicted) but justice prevails when I hit an ace on the turn. I double up.


Hand #2

This hand is short and simple. At least in my mind it is. With the blinds at 75/150 and a 20 ante, it is folded to the cutoff who moves all in for 1,160. The button and small blind fold and I am in the big blind with A-7 off suit. At the start of the hand I had 6,975 in chips. There is 1,585 in the pot and it is 1,010 for me to call, or approximately 1.5:1 on my money.

A lot of people would think that this is an easy fold, but let's think about the range of hands my opponent could have here. He could have a big pocket pair – unlikely, but always possible, but really the only hand that truly is bigger than a 2.5:1 favorite against us is Aces. He could have a bigger ace than me, but yet again at worst I'd be no bigger than a 2.5:1 dog. He could have a hand like K-Q, K-J, Q-J, J-10 – all hands I am favorites against. He could have a smaller pair than 7's – a race. He could have absolute trash and is just trying to pick up the blinds – I'm the favorite. Put all the possible hands that he could be raising with, the price I am being given, and the fact that it is less than 20% of my stack to call, and it becomes a bit easier to understand why I did in fact call.

My opponent had pocket 6's. I hit an ace to eliminate him and was thus subjected to 10 minutes of taunting from the rail for my terrible play. I wished him a Happy New Years but I don't think he was very happy. Gotta love online poker.

Hand #3

On this last hand, I find myself in a bit of trouble with Ace rag yet again. The blinds are now 150/300 with a 40 ante and we are getting very close to the money. I have 8,635 in chips and have not played a hand in about 10 hands. I decide to use my tight image to steal the blinds and raise to 900 with A-6 off suit from middle position. The cutoff moves all in for 1,500 total and it is folded back to me.

Here is one of those situations where math prevails even though your cards do not. I KNOW I am behind here. My opponent has been waiting, waiting, waiting for the right hand to move his last chips in. However, there is 3,250 in the pot and it is 600 for me to call. Over 5:1 on my money. The only hand he could have that I am that big of a dog to is pocket aces. I call and he has pocket 8's. I'm only a 2.3:1 dog to his hand and get lucky and hit an ace to eliminate him. Sometimes math rules (and other times it leaks chips, but in this case it was the absolute correct play).

In the next article, I'll go over three more hands from this same tournament at the later stages of the tournament.