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 48 players remaining in a major event and you are now in the money. With blinds of 3,000-6,000 with a 1,000 ante and a stack of 783,000, you have over 130 big blinds remaining. The average stack sits at 331,875, which puts you among the current chip leaders.
A player with a stack of 597,000 raises from under the gun to 12,000 and you look down at K
K
. You three-bet to 30,000 and your opponent makes the call. The flop comes down J
5 4 and your opponent checks.
You fire a continuation bet of 26,000 and your opponent decides to check raise to 57,000. You reraise to 91,000 and your opponent quickly reraises to 167,000. After thinking it over for a couple of minutes, you elect to call.
The turn is the 6
and your opponent moves all in for his last 400,000. You have 585,000 remaining in your stack.
The Questions
Do you call or fold? Given the fact that your opponent raised from under the gun and four-bet you on the flop, is there any chance your kings are good? What hands in his value range can you beat, if any? Does the turn card make it more or less likely that your opponent could be drawing? Are you obligated to call the river after calling on the turn? If you fold, you would still be left with a very healthy stack. Does that influence your decision at all?
What Actually Happened
At the EPT Grand Final main event, facing an all-in bet of 400,000 on a board reading J 5 4 6, Johnny Lodden took three minutes to think things over before finally deciding to call with his pocket kings.
His opponent, Panagiotis Gavriilidis, could only show down pocket deuces for an underpair to the board and gutshot straight draw. Gavriilidis needed one of six outs to hit the river, but the 10 landed instead, sending him to the rail
Lodden won the massive pot, giving him a huge chip lead in the tournament. He eventually went on to finish the tournament in third place, earning €467,000. The event was ultimately won by Steve O’Dwyer, who earned his first EPT title and the €1,224,000 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.
