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 32 players remaining in a tournament out of a starting 1,054. You are in the money and guaranteed $7,864, although you are sitting on a small pay jump to $8,752. The prize pool is extremely top heavy, with first place being $1 million and the runner-up prize worth about $250,000.
You have 1,202,000 in chips, which is a top 10 stack. The blinds are 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 ante, meaning you have 50 big blinds to work with.
The player under the gun is extremely short stacked, and moves all in for his last 31,000. You are next to act and look down at K
K
. You raise to 60,000 and the villain, who has you covered, calls behind you.
The action folds around to the big blind, and he moves all in for his last 303,000. You make the call, and to your surprise, so does the villain.
The flop comes down K
Q
J and you are first to act. There is 976,000 in the main pot and a dry side pot with two all-in players. You have 896,000 left in your stack.
The Questions
Do you check or bet? Are you betting to maximize value, or protect your hand on a draw-heavy flop? Should you play this fast or slow? Given your line, what range of hands can you reasonably represent? Given your opponent’s line, what hands are in his range? If the action goes check, check, what do you do on the turn?
What Actually Happened
At the 2016 Winstar River Poker Series main event, Daniel Fuhs opted to bet 325,000 into a dry side pot holding top set on a flop of KQJ.
His opponent, Brian Reinert, quickly folded and Fuhs turned over his hand. The first all-in player, Maxx Coleman, held 33 and the second all-in player, Viet Vo, held 1010.
Vo had outs to a straight, but the board completed with the 5 and 5, giving Fuhs a full house. Coleman earned $7,864 for his 32nd-place finish and Vo picked up $8,752 for finishing a spot higher.
Reinert lasted until 17th place, banking $14,942, while Fuhs made the final table, busting in ninth place for $32,623. The eventual winner was Gordon Vayo, who made a deal during five-handed play to secure the title and a $587,120 payday.
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.
