We were down to the final five in last night’s $1000 WSOP satellite. We were all getting our entry fee back, but there was only one seat to be awarded (which was annoying as hell- just one or two more entrants, and there would have been two seats, which makes a world of difference in terms of a good player’s satellite expectation).
This opponent was one of the weaker at the table. I thought there was a good chance he would check-raise all in with almost anything on this flop, and as you’ll see, I don’t need to be at it to represent a hand. As shallow as I am, checking with trips or a good pair would be very plausible here.
I didn’t check the flop planning to make a move like this, but when I pick up a flush draw on the turn, I figure my hand is worth a call. My pair outs could be good, I may have some implied odds if I make the flush, and I may be able to bluff the river. A shove would surely fold out “bluffs” that were nonetheless better than my six high, but I figured I could fold those on the river anyway. This does give him the option to pre-empt me by “bluffing” again, but he can’t expect me to fold much on the river and I didn’t think he was aggressive enough for that anyway.
Poker Stars, $1,000 + $50 NL Hold’em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
SB: 15,861
BB: 34,722
UTG: 12,516
Hero (CO): 7,040
BTN: 49,861
Pre-Flop: (800) 5
6 dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 1,000, 2 folds, BB calls 600
Flop: (2,400) A
2 A
(2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Turn: (2,400) J (2 Players)
BB bets 1,200, Hero calls 1,200
River: (4,800) 4
(2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 4,800 and is All-In, BB folds
Results: 4,800 Pot
Hero mucked 5 6 and WON 4,800 (+2,560 NET)
I don’t know if he’s folding a pair here, but it’s pretty unlikely for him to have one. My hand has so little showdown value that even if he only folds his unpaired holdings, I probably still get the 50% of folds I need to make this profitable.
The sad conclusion to this story is that this guy kept making bad calls against me and catching. I made it to the final three, but I kept losing medium-sized pots to him when his Q6s would out-flop my JJ and such. Finally, we got it all in pre-flop with AJs versus 66 (he made a huge shove over my button raise) and he flopped quads.
I didn’t stick around for the conclusion, but I can’t imagine this guy won. The third player was pretty solid and stacks were deep enough that my buddy here was almost certainly eaten for lunch.