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 in the money and seated at a six-handed final table. With 989,000 in chips and blinds of 8,000-16,000 with a 2,000 ante, you have a very comfortable 61 big blinds. You are currently sitting in fourth place, but there are two shorter stacks with 396,000 and 273,000, respectively.
An aggressive young player raises to 32,000 from under the gun. He is virtually tied for the chip lead with 1,437,000. Action folds around to you in the small blind and you look down at A
A
. You three-bet to 90,000, the big blind folds and your opponent calls.
The flop is A
105, giving you top set. You bet 85,000 and your opponent calls. The turn is the 2
and you bet 197,000.
Once again, your opponent calls. The river is the Q, completing both flush and straight draws. There is 772,000 in the pot and you have 615,000 remaining in your stack.
The Questions
Do you check or bet? If betting, how much? If checking, how much of a bet will you call? Will you ever fold to a river bet? Would you ever bet fold in this situation? Is it best to turn top set into a bluff catcher, or should you be targeting more value?
What Actually Happened
At the WPT Caribbean stop in St. Maarten, Robbie Bakker opted to move all in holding top set on a board reading A1052Q.
His opponent, Tony Dunst, immediately called with J10 for the second nut flush and Bakker was eliminated in sixth place, earning $28,700.
Dunst took the massive pot and a huge chip lead, eventually going on to win the tournament, his first WPT title and the $145,000 first-place prize.
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.
