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WSOPE Good Entrance, Bad Exit
On September 23 I walked into the $16,000 buy in WSOPE (World Series of Poker Europe) main event with my best “Poker Face” on. Actually, I rode into Leicester Square in a red double decker bus with a 16 person big band playing, and 11 Lady Gaga impersonators singing “Poker Face.” It was one of my best entrances ever, but I was determined to make a good showing in the tournament, and with 30,000 in chips and a good blind structure I liked my chances of making a deep run.
I went in with a plan: I would play a super tight strategy, whilst giving myself permission to reraise it up, when an opponent raised it up and seemed weak to me. I pretty much stuck to my strategy, and on level 5, with the blinds at 200 – 400, and a $50 a man ante, the following hand came up. Everyone folded to the player in the small blind, and he raised it up making it $1,200 to go. In the big blind I looked down at Jd-10d, and I called. The flop was 9c-8d-6s, and the player in the small blind bet $2,000. I called. The turn card was the jack of hearts, the player in the small blind bet $4,000, and I called. The river was the deuce of clubs, and the player in the small blind bet $10,000. I only had $16,000 left, so this was a big decision for me. After a moment I called, and the player showed down 8-8 for a set of eights to collect the pot.
Let’s take another look at this hand. The player in the small blind made a good opening raise to 1,200 to go. My pre-flop call was pretty standard. On the flop, the player in the small blind made another good move when he bet 2,000. At this point, I could have easily raised it up. I mean, I had the “Nut draw” and two over-cards to the board. Of course, if I had raised it up, then my opponent would have reraised, and I would have found myself all in with a pure straight draw (I would even lose if it came J-J). But the question is this: should I have raised it up on the flop or not? To me, this is a read dependant move. If I felt like my opponent was weak, then a raise makes sense; and if I was right then I would most likely induce a fold and win the pot. If I felt that my opponent had a medium strength hand, then a raise would be good. I mean, would my opponent move all in with a medium strength hand? No way. So the worst case scenario is that my opponent calls my raise on the flop, and then he would almost certainly check to me on fourth street, and I could check behind him and take a free card. Also, a raise on the flop may induce a fold from an opponent with a medium strength hand, or open up the possibility of me winning the pot with a bluff on the turn.
If I felt like my opponent was strong, then calling makes sense. I did feel like he was strong, and thus I just called (good move PH!). On fourth street, I like my opponents 4,000 bet, and my call was pretty standard. When he bet into the jack, he looked pretty strong to me, thus a call was OK. On the river, my opponent made a really good bet of 10,000 into the 14,500 pot. My opponent did however employ the classic tell of betting two 5,000 chips (as opposed to like five 1,000 chips and one 5,000 chip or whatever), which signals that he was strong (I should have listened). People bet their big chips when they have it! Another fact that supports a fold: my opponent bet all four streets, and unless he was on a four barrel bluff, he had my hand beat. People rarely three barrel bluff these days, never mind making a four barrel bluff, thus he had to be super strong. Even though I read him for strength the whole way, I called, doh! Bad call PH: great entrance, horrible exit! |
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