Interesting Hands

An interesting hand developed recently while I was playing in the Tuesday night no-limit hold'em tournament at the Mirage. I was in the big blind with $6,000 in chips. The blinds were $150-$300. Everyone passed to a player in the cutoff position, right next to the button. She shoved in her entire stack of $1,000. The button folded, and the small blind sat there for about 30 seconds contemplating what he should do. He finally called the $1,000 bet. He had about another $6,000 in chips left in front of him. I looked at my cards and found pocket sixes.

What would you do? You have several options: You could fold. You could call the bet. You could reraise another $2,000-$3,000. Or, you could reraise all in your stack of $6,000. I took the bold approach and chose the latter option. I reraised and shoved in my entire stack of $6,000. I thought this was the best option for several reasons. I did not want to play against two players with pocket sixes. I wanted to isolate the all-in player so that my pocket sixes would have a better chance of holding up. And if I lost, I would be losing only $1,000 to the all-in player.

The small blind thought about my reraise for several seconds, then decided to discard his hand. The flop produced three low cards. Then, the last two cards were a jack and another low card. Since she had not turned her hand over yet, I assumed she had A-K or A-Q. I turned over my pocket sixes. Then, much to my surprise, she turned over her pocket sixes. The small blind then pitched a fit and claimed that I had made him lay down his winner, pocket sevens. Everyone at the table started laughing. However, the small blind made the mistake of just calling the all-in player's bet of $1,000. He should have shoved his entire stack in and forced me out. He then would have won the pot and eliminated this player.

Here is another hand that occurred while I was playing in a supersatellite for a $10,000 seat in the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe. A total of 100 players had entered this supersatellite. The last nine players at the final table would receive some prize money, but the final two would receive $10,000 seats for the big event. We were down to seven players, and I was in the big blind with pocket jacks. The blinds were $200-$500, and I had about $4,000 in chips. The player to my immediate left raised to a total bet of $2,000. He had an additional $6,000 left in his stack. All of the other players folded to me.

What would you do? Again, you have several options: You could fold. However, I do not believe that this is a viable option at this point of the supersatellite. It would not be too smart to fold pocket jacks with only $4,000 left in your stack in a tournament in which the blinds would soon be increasing to $500-$1,000. You could reraise all in with your stack of $4,000, which would raise the $2,000 bet another $2,000. However, this would probably not make your opponent fold. If he already has $2,000 invested, he will most assuredly call another $2,000. The object of a reraise at this point is to get your opponent to fold. In order to make him fold in a no-limit hold'em tournament, you must raise the bet to at least three or four times the original bet. I would have needed $6,000-$8,000 in chips to do that.

Think about the hand that you now hold, pocket jacks. Against an early-position raiser, do you want to see the river, or do you want to cut this one off at the flop? If you raise your opponent just the amount of his initial bet, he will call. You will be all in, so you will go to the river against his possible A-K or A-Q hand. If he has a bigger pair, it will not make much difference either way. Your final and best option is to just call the bet. That is exactly what I did. The flop brought three rags, so I shoved in my remaining $2,000, and my opponent folded. I eventually finished fifth in this satellite and won $1,800. In another supersatellite, I won a $10,000 seat for the big event, but that is another story.

I would like to say hello to Jr. and Sr. of Dino & Dave's Poker Club in Canada. I enjoyed playing poker with you recently at Bellagio. Good luck at your next tournament!