A Hand Matchup from the 2011 WPT Five Diamond Classic

Outcome

With the blinds at 200 and 400 with a 50 ante, Clark raised to 1,000 from under the gun, Nguyen called in the small blind. On the Flop, Nguyen checked, Clark bet 1,125, Nguyen raised to 3,025, Clark went all-in, Nguyen called.

Analysis

As Day One drew to a close Clark may have been experiencing some fatigue, but the WPT structure is hardly as grueling as the marathon WSOP events. He certainly wasn't doing himself any favors by opening with King-Rag under the gun, and his table image may have been compromised in light of Nguyen's ready call of the all-in. Nguyen had submitted a nice check-raise with top pair into the preflop aggressor, but Clark shoved with his flush draw and lone overcard. Clark only faced another 1,900 for the 6,950 pot after the check-raise, receiving attractive 3.6 : 1 pot odds with an affordable call in position. Having started the hand with over 57 big blinds, Clark unnecessarily overplayed his draw at this early stage of the tournament. Clark had the luxury of controlling the pot size for his draw with the benefit of position, but he elected to force a play in spite of a check-raise from an opponent who had him well covered. Nguyen made an excellent call, and fortunately held off the Kings and Clubs to score a significant boost to his stack as Day One wrapped up. Nguyen parlayed this early success into a trip to the final table.