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 playing in a big buy-in poker tournament and with 671,000 in chips with blinds at 4,000-8,000 with a 1,000 ante, you have over 83 big blinds remaining in your stack. There are 29 players remaining at four tables and you are well within the top ten. Only 15 players will make the money.
You look down at 4
3 and raise on the button to 20,000. The small blind, a player who has you slightly covered with 794,000, makes the call. The big blind folds and the flop comes down Q 10 4
, giving you a pair and a flush draw.
Your opponent leads out for 27,000, you raise to 74,000 and your opponent reraises to 147,000. You have 576,000 remaining in your stack and it is another 73,000 to call.
The Questions
Do you call, fold or raise? If folding, what range of hands are you putting your opponent on that has you in bad shape? If calling, what is your plan if you brick the turn? If raising, how much? How big of an underdog are you against a set? Against a bigger flush draw? Against an overpair? Does the fact that you are nearing the money bubble change your decision?
What Actually Happened
At the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship at Bellagio, Justin Young opted to move all in for a total of 650,000 on a flop of Q 10 4 with his pair and a flush draw.
His opponent, Brandon Steven, quickly called with K J for a royal flush draw. According to the Card Player Odds Calculator, Steven was a 65 percent favorite to win the hand.
The turn was the 9
and the river was the 10, giving Steven the king-high straight and the massive pot.
Young was eliminated short of the money and Steven went on to make the final table.
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.
