Poker Hand Matchup: Skye Chen Picks Off Aubrey William’s Bluff

Outcome

Preflop: With two players remaining and blinds of 200,000-300,000 with a big blind ante of 300,000, Aubrey Williams limped from the button with Q♦9♦. Skye Chen raised to 1,100,000 with A♣10♣, and Williams called.

Flop: J♥8♥3♠

Chen checked, and Williams checked behind.

Turn: 2♣

Chen checked, and Williams bet 1,650,000. Chen called.

River: 7♣

Chen checked, and Williams moved all-in. Chen called for 9,075,000.

Analysis

The World Series of Poker $1,000 Ladies Championship drew a field of 1,475 entries, and came down to Aubrey Williams and Skye Chen battling it out for the bracelet and $194,630. The runner-up was guaranteed $129,692, leaving a sizable chunk of cash up for grabs. Williams held a slight chip lead, but it was anyone’s game with fewer than 20 blinds separating the two. 

This hand started off with Williams limping a hand that she probably should have played as a raise. Q-9 suited is good enough to call a three-bet, and lots of worse hands will call a raise, so it’s a good hand to open. At the same time, the blind structure at this level did incentivize playing a lot of limps, since the small blind was more than half of the big blind. Against the big raise from Chen, Williams had a clear call to see the flop. 

Chen could have bet the flop, leveraging her equity edge and the fact that ace high would usually be leading, but she checked. Williams likewise had a hand that could start bluffing, targeting hands like Chen’s for an eventual fold. She too, opted to see the turn for free. 

The turn was as bricky as it got, and at that point, it made sense for Chen to just try to show down her hand. Williams, however, attempted a delayed bluff. In a way, the idea made sense because queen high was unlikely to win at showdown. However, it was a bit of a strange decision after checking the flop and seeing an irrelevant turn card. 

Facing the big size, the solver actually prefers folding Chen’s hand, since it interferes with some bluffs like 10-9. She wasn’t a believer, however, and decided to call. 

On the river, Williams went for the all-in overbet bluff, and Chen was understandably suspicious. A straight made sense, but Chen blocked some of those hands. Aside from the straight, what value hands could Williams have? 

No two-pair hands really made sense, since J-X would have usually bet the flop, and Williams wouldn’t have limp-called a big raise with many hands containing a deuce or trey. That left only 8-7. 

Chen made a legendary call for stacks with ace high and was rewarded, picking off the big bluff. She rode that play to the bracelet and the $194,630 payday.

• Photos by WSOP – Alicia Skillman