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
There are five players remaining in a big buy-in, live international poker tournament. You are currently in third place and are guaranteed at least €485,000 from your initial €100,000 investment.
You are currently sitting on 2,755,000, which is worth about 27 big blinds with the blinds at 50,000-100,000 with a 10,000 ante. The chip leader has about 5,300,000, the second biggest stack has 2,800,000 and the short stack has about 1,700,000.
It folds to the small blind, who started the hand with 2,555,000, and he raises to 200,000. You look down at Q
6 in the big blind and defend. The flop comes down 109
8, giving you a double-gutted straight draw and flush draw.
Your opponent bets 285,000, leaving himself with 2,060,000 behind. You have him covered by just two big blinds.
The Questions
Do you call, raise or fold? How many outs do you have? If calling, what is your plan for the turn if you miss? What is your plan if you hit? If raising, how much? How does your position factor into your decision? Can you narrow your opponent’s range down at all given his preflop raise and continuation bet?
What Actually Happened
At the €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Ole Schemion found himself facing a bet of 285,000 from Paul Newey on a flop of 1098.
Schemion opted to maximize his fold equity by moving all in. His plan backfired, however, when Newey snap-called with 8
8
for bottom set. Schemion needed a seven, jack or club to win the pot, and got there with the 3 on the turn.
The river was the K and Newey was eliminated in fifth place, earning €485,300. Schemion went on to win the tournament and the $1,597,800 first-place prize. The 23-year-old poker pro now has more than $11 million in life-time tournament earnings.
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.
