The Right Read but the Wrong Play

A few years ago I was invited to play in the first heads-up no-limit hold'em invitational by NBC television. It was a high honor to be invited then, and is perhaps even more so today. Unfortunately for me, I lost in the first round to Mimi Tran and have not been invited back.

There is always a certain amount of second-guessing as to how you played your key hand, and in my case, what might have been if I had won my match and advanced to the second round of play. Before I discuss what happened in my match with Mimi, let me mention that the next player I would have faced was Chris Moneymaker. This would have been a featured television match, for sure. Many of the first-round matches did not get much television time, so the early elimination cost me dearly. If I had won my first two matches, I would have been in the money, and who knows how things would have turned out after that. The tournament started with 64 players, just like the NCAA basketball tournament, which has 64 teams. The buy-in was $20,000 and has remained the same ever since, with 64 players invited each year.

Now, let's get back to my match with Mimi Tran. She has been a protégé of Barry Greenstein for many a year. She has developed into a top-notch tournament player with many wins and high-money finishes to her credit, so she is not to be taken lightly. Each player started with $20,000 in chips. The blinds went up rather quickly, although they started small in relation to the amount of chips in play. We were pretty close to even for a while, but then I finally inched ahead. I had $25,000 to Mimi's $15,000 when it was time to go on break. We already were one of the longest matches. I knew that when we came back from the break, Mimi would come out firing because the blinds were going up. I was ready for her. I saw her consulting with Barry Greenstein on the break, so I knew that she was getting good last-minute advice, but it still boiled down to her taking a very aggressive approach. The first hand after the break, Mimi had the button and moved in immediately. I was positive that she did not have a big hand. I looked down and found pocket sevens, which this would make me a favorite against anything but an overpair. I called in a heartbeat. This at first glance looks like the right play. After further analysis, you will see that even if Mimi had a hand as weak as 9-8 offsuit, she would be only a small underdog. I had overlooked in the heat of battle a very important point: When in a heads-up situation, always try to dictate all of the action. By calling her all-in bet, I was letting her choose the situation. I allowed her to take the upper hand, which was a big mistake. This is especially true when you have the chip lead. As luck would have it, she turned over Q-10 offsuit, spiked a 10 on the flop, and took a 3-to-1 chip lead. I was never able to recover and she went on to face Moneymaker in round two. Mimi came away with another win, advanced to the round of 16, and made the money.

So, in keeping with the being-in-control theory, this play does not look as good anymore. The point is, you want to be a big favorite when you put a lot of chips in the pot in this kind of situation.

The next situation I would like to discuss was a hand that my writing partner T.J. Cloutier played a few years ago. The tournament was the $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio. T.J. admits that the way he played this hand was a mistake. He could have played it differently and possibly had a different outcome. It was day two of the tournament, and the blinds were $400-$800 with a $100 ante. T.J. was on the button with A-6. Everyone passed to him, and he raised it to $1,800. The big blind then reraised another $6,000. T.J., without a lot of thought, quickly moved all in for $60,000. He thought his opponent had a hand like pocket nines, tens, or possibly jacks, and would lay it down for the reraise. T.J. admits his mistake was that the amount he reraised was so much that it stunk like a bluff. If he had reraised $20,000, it would have looked like a much stronger hand that he wanted some action on. He thinks his opponent, David Chui, would have released a hand as good as two jacks. David is a top player and read the situation perfectly. He made the call, showed the jacks, and busted T.J. out of the tournament. Sometimes the right read and the right play need the right bet.

If your reads are correct and you make the right plays and the right bets, I hope to see you soon in the winner's circle.

Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars.com. He can be found playing under his own name on PokerStars, and is happy to chat when he can.