Poker Hand Matchup: David Johnston vs. Victor Figueroa

Outcome

Preflop, with the blinds at 3,000 and 6,000 and a 500 ante, Johnston raised to 12,000 from early position, Jeff Fielder called in the cutoff seat, Figueroa reraised to 41,000 from the button, Johnston went all-in, Fielder folded, and Figueroa called.

Analysis

Johnston opened a marginal hand from early position which can be problematic for a host of reasons. With several opponents yet to act behind him preflop he might face a reraise, often leaving him with a decision to defend his below average holding or sacrifice his opening raise with a fold. Additionally he would be disadvantaged and out of position after the flop to all opponents except the blinds, as the under the gun player to his right had already folded. Once one opponent flatted his raise and another reraised, Johnston hoped Figueroa was squeezing, and rather than folding Johnston submitted a very aggressive re-squeeze of his own. Considering his healthy stack of 40 big blinds and his marginal holding this was a very forward leaning line, indicating a bit of a stubborn reaction to a button reraise. His considerable fold equity would force a fold from all but the top of Figueroa's range, however there is an entire class of opponents who only submit reraises with premium hands and Figueroa's showdown hands were consistently solid throughout his deep run. It appears that Fielder's call and Figueroa's position on the button did more to motivate the play than an informed assessment of his opponent's playing style. Johnston's move appeared to seriously backfire when he tried to represent strength with his all-in, and the flop gave Figueroa little to sweat other than running clubs. The turn opened up two outs for Johnston, and of course he found one of them on the river with a brutal runout that cracked Figueroa's Kings. Figueroa rebounded after losing two thirds of his stack on this ugly beat, extending his run into 12th for $45,278. Johnston ultimately busted in 33rd, for $14,777.