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
You are heads up for a major tournament title. Though you are currently out chipped, you still have over 48 big blinds to work with. Your opponent, an accomplished tournament player, is sitting with nearly 69 big blinds.
You are dealt Q
7 in the big blind and your opponent opens for just over a min raise to 33,000. You defend and see a flop of A 10
8.
You check and your opponent bets 37,000. You check-raise to 91,000 and your opponent calls. The turn is the Q
and you check once again. Your opponent, not phased by your original flop check raise, decides to bet 126,000.
You now have 651,000 behind, or 40 big blinds. Your opponent has 853,000 behind his turn bet, or 53 big blinds.
The Questions
Do you call or raise? You’ve now picked up second pair. How does that change your thought process in the hand? If raising, how much? Are you willing to get it all in here with just one card to come? How much showdown value do you have against your opponent’s range? What types of hands could your opponent be holding?
What Actually Happened
Heads up for the bracelet in the €1,000 no-limit hold’em event at the 2012 WSOP Europe, Antonio Esfandiari bet 126,000 on the turn of a board reading A 10 8 Q.
His opponent, Remi Bollengier, decided to just call with Q 7, leaving himself with 525,000 behind. The river was the 5 and Bollengier checked. Esfandiari announced he was all in and the Frenchman took his time before finally announcing a call.
Esfandiari proudly turned over Q 8 for turned two pair and Bollengier was eliminated, earning €78,059. Esfandiari earned his third gold bracelet and the first-place prize of €126,207.
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.
