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World Poker Tour A-10 vs. 10-10
The poker tour swung into the Commerce Casino in L. A. in late January for the LAPC (Los Angeles Poker Classic), and on Feb 25th a month of poker climaxed with a $10,000 buy in WPT (World Poker Tour) event. I have been working hard on my poker game, and going into the WPT event I felt like I was locked into a great strategy. My tactics were simple: I would play really patient poker, and wait for the cards (and the chips) to come my way. I wasn’t afraid to fold 9-8 suited, A-J off suit or A-2 suited. Playing only strong hands lead to some great situations, and Day One was smooth sailing, with nary a scary moment. Day Two was also smooth, and almost risk free. I knew then that my new tactics (“Old school Phil” tactics) would work well against almost any field.
On Day Three I stuck to my tactics, but I was ready to make a few moves when the time was right. Interestingly, the only time I did get into trouble was when I tried to bluff! Fine, I could easily survive Day Three and make some moves on Day Four, when, hopefully, I was a bit sharper. With the blinds at $1,000-$2,000 and $120,000 in chips in my stack, an opponent opened for $45,000, and I quickly decided to call in middle position with my Q-Q. He rolled over K-Q, and the cards fell off: 10-9-3-K-4. I hated my opponents shove for over 22 big blinds in this deep stack tournament. However, I do not think it an awful move in an online poker tournament.
With the blinds at $1,200-$2,400, I was sitting on $44,000 in chips when Player A opened for $6,500, and Player B made it $22,000 to go. I had 10-10 in the small blind and normally I would have folded, but I decided to take a long look at this situation. First off, Player B was a megalomaniac (super aggressive player) and he had come over the top of Player A a number of times. Secondly, as I looked at Player B, he gave me the bewildered “I cannot believe he reraised me again” look. I recognized immediately that this look meant that Player A was weak. One read down, one read to go. As I looked on, it was obvious that I had a huge hand, and Played B knew it. At this point Player B looked afraid. Player B had been running me over, and I had warned him that I was going to have him crushed when I finally manned up and played a pot with him. Finally, I decided that Player B probably had at best 9-9, 8-8, or A-J. Thus, for the first time in three days I decided to go with a hand; now what?
I could call, and then move all in on any flop that hit, no matter what it was. I could move all in, and of course, I knew that Player B would call with any two cards getting laid three-and-a-half-to-one ($76,000 to $22,000). If Player B had 9-9, 8-8, a small pair, 9-8 suited or something like that, then why not get all of my chips into the pot before the flop? If he had A-J, then why not look at a flop, and then move all in (unless I flopped a set)? I felt like it was a close decision, but the fact that this player was so aggressive and could have anything tilted my decision to moving all in.
Finally, I settled for all in, and Player B called and showed down A-10 off suit. It just so happened that the WPT cameras were there along with all the media in the room as Player B told me, “Bye bye Phil, an ace is coming.” Whatever! The flop was safe, J-5-5, but then an ace popped off! Playing the results, I guess I should have called pre-flop, and moved all in on the flop… |
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