Maxx Dansky has been playing poker since he was 16-year-old, competing in private home games in his native Nashville, Tennessee. After turning pro, Dansky played online poker before Black Friday forced a change.
He moved to Las Vegas and tried his luck in the local tournament scene. Though he had a number of close calls, nothing seemed to go right for him when it mattered most. After a disappointing summer, the now 25-year-old pro decided to make a drastic move to Costa Rica to continue playing online poker.
All that was left was one small stop at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma for the Card Player Poker Tour. After four days of play, it was Dansky who emerged with the win, banking $152,008 for the biggest score of his career.
Dansky ran over his final table opponents, but found some trouble in his heads-up match against Miguel Hernandez. Here, he talks about the hand that got him back on track.
The Hand
Miguel Hernandez raised on the button to 190,000 and Maxx Dansky made the call from the big blind. The flop came down K
9
8 and Dansky checked.
Hernandez bet 275,000 and Dansky called. The turn was the 6
and once again, Dansky checked. Hernandez bet 550,000 and Dansky moved all in.
After some brief thought, Hernandez called and Dansky turned over 10 7 for the nut straight. Hernandez then announced that he was drawing dead, revealing K 3
.
The inconsequential river card was the 6 and Dansky doubled up, taking a 2-1 chip lead in the heads-up match.
Maxx Dansky’s Analysis
I was in the big blind to start the hand and he raised on the button. He had been raising about 80 percent of his buttons and limping in every other time. I don’t think I got a walk the entire heads up match.
I looked down at 10 7 and thought about raising. I could three-bet there just because I knew that he wasn’t likely to four-bet. Then again, he also wasn’t likely to fold either and I didn’t want to play a bigger pot out of position with just ten high. Flatting also allows me to get a little tricky on certain flops without having to invest a lot of my stack.
The flop came down K 9 8, giving me an open-ended straight draw. I checked and he bet out. I don’t really have a reason for this read, but I felt that he was relatively strong, either holding a king or a nine. Of course, any pair in heads up is very strong. I could raise there and turn my hand into a semi-bluff, but I honestly felt like he’d never fold, given the image I had built up over the course of the final table. He wasn’t the type of player who could find a hero fold and check-raising that flop puts me in an awkward situation if I miss on the turn.
The turn gave me the nuts and I checked it again. At this point, I needed to be sure that he has a king if my plan was to go for maximum value. He took a little bit of time and bet out 550,000. He was very confident and it was clear that he liked his hand.
Looking at the board, it may seem like a six isn’t a good card to shove on, but given my remaining stack size and all of the draws out there, it was probably my best chance at a full double up. The second I moved in, you could see that he was sick about it. I knew he wasn’t folding.
If you look at it from his perspective, it’s not that bad of a call with K-3. There are a bunch of hands that I could be holding that he’s got beat. Of course, I could be holding spades, a six with spades, 7-6, 8-7, 9-7 and a few others. I think by moving all in there, it makes it look as if I’m holding some kind of draw and with only one card to come, a king can be a big favorite.
I’m happy with my play overall, but I do believe that he got the best of me during heads up play. I went from a 4-1 chip lead to the short stack just because he was doing a great job of keeping me off balance. Fortunately for me, this hand played out the way it did and allowed me to get back the momentum and win the tournament.
You can watch the hand play out below, starting at the 1:18:31 mark.
