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 26 players remaining in a big buy-in live tournament and you have already made the money, guaranteed slightly more than double your initial investment. The blinds are currently 5,000-10,000 with a 1,000 ante, meaning your stack of 527,000 is worth nearly 53 big blinds. The average stack remaining is currently 51 big blinds.
In early position, you look down at A
A
and raise to 22,000. An accomplished European player calls behind you, as does an unknown player in the big blind. The flop comes down K
7
3 and the big blind checks.
You continue with a bet of 35,000 and both players call. The turn is the 5 and it is checked to you once again. You bet 90,000 and the European player is the only caller.
The river is the 3. You have 342,000 remaining in your stack and the pot size is currently 363,000. Your opponent has 482,000 left.
The Questions
Do you check or bet? If betting, how much? Given the board texture, what is your opponent’s likely holding and how does that influence your bet size? What’s the best way to disguise your hand strength? What is the value of checking? Are there any busted draws that your opponent would bluff with if checked to? What value hands would your opponent bet the river with?
What Actually Happened
At the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller, holding pocket aces on a board of K7353, German poker pro Dominik Nitsche opted to go for the home run play and got full value by moving all in for his last 342,000.
Belgian poker player Davidi Kitai thought it over for a bit before making the call, tabling AK. Kitai was left short stacked an was eliminated shortly after in 25th place, earning $56,820.
Nitsche went on to finish in 10th place, banking $112,980. The eventual winner was Ilkin Garibli, who picked up his first major title and the $1,105,040 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.
