Give us your opinion in the comments section below for your chance at winning a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
Ask any group of poker players how you played your hand and they’ll come up with dozens of different opinions. That’s just the nature of the game.
Each week, Card Player will select a hand from the high-stakes, big buy-in poker world, break it down and show that there’s more than one way to get the job done.
The Scenario
There are seven players remaining in a major tournament, but only six will advance to the televised final table. With 1,565,000 in chips and blinds of 15,000-30,000, you are in fourth place, but still comfortable with 52 big blinds.
The action folds around to you in the cutoff and you look down at J
J
. You decide to raise to 75,000 and the button, a solid player with a stack of 1,975,000, three-bets to 185,000.
The blinds fold and the flop comes down 9 9
8. Sitting out of position, you decide to check and your opponent fires in a continuation bet of 215,000. You call, and the turn is the 2.
You check again and your opponent checks behind. The river is the A
and you check for a third time. Your opponent takes some time before betting 390,000. You have 1,160,000 in front of you.
The Questions
Do you call, raise or fold? How much does the ace on the river hit your opponent’s range? Are there any busted draws in his range? Do you regret the way you’ve played the hand thus far? How much does the televised final table bubble factor into your decision? If you could go back and play the hand differently, what would you do?
What Actually Happened
At the 2013 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open, Matt Giannetti bet 390,000 on a board reading 9 9 8 2 A.
Ben Tarzia eventually made the call with pocket jacks and was disappointed to see Giannetti turn over A K for a rivered pair of aces. Tarzia would eventually finish in seventh place, bubbling the televised final table and earning $38,976.
Giannetti went on to win the tournament, his second WPT title, and the $323,804 first-place prize.
What would you have done and why? Let us know in the comments section below and try not to be results oriented. The best answer will receive a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
