My Foxwoods Main Event Demise

[otnemem]

I believe we're at level three, $100-$200 with a $25 ante. I'm trucking along, making a bit of progress but nothing huge. I think I'm around 18K. Our table is nine-handed. I'm on the button in seat six. Folded to seat three, who opens for six or seven hundred. Four calls, five folds. I look down at AKo. I make it $2500. The blinds fold, back to seat three. He thinks for a about twenty seconds and calls. Four folds. The flop comes K-7-7, two clubs. Seat four checks, I move all in (big bet, but there was a lot of money in the pot, and I just wanted to pull it back without a hassle). He calls quickly, and I'm already dreading aces or kings when he flips... (answer below, in white).

<font color="white"> 7-9 of spades


<font color="black"> Did I play the flop too quickly? Could I have put him on this kind of hand, given the preflop action? Should I have worried about Aces or Kings, or even Sevens?? While the hand didn't kill me, it crippled me to the point where I couldn't make anything move anymore. Thanks for any advice...

[slickpoppa]

That's a rough hand, but I think moving all-in was a bit rash and unneccesary. If he completely missed the flop with a hand like a low pp, even a half pot sized bet would have pushed him out. The only drawing hand that you might really need to bet heavy against is the club draw. But by moving all-in you are betting more than is necessary to defend the pot and putting yourself in a situation where you will only get called if you are way behind or even dead.

[willie]

i don't think it's too bad really, you want to pick up the pot there- and you ran into some trash that hit a homerun

you were obviously looking to push out a flush draw and played it a little too fast- but you look like a genius of the dumbass calls with ax s

if you raise and he reraise what are you going to do then fold 2 pair with top kicker? if you had taken that line then you will have almost generated the odds for ax to call you.

tough break..

[otnemem]

Yeah, the bet was probably a bit over the top. I think I got myself in a spot where I didn't want to have to think about what would happen next. He pretty much hit the perfect flop, and it just seemed so unlikely that he'd have me beat on that flop.

[Messy Harry]

That's what you get for playing with Gus Hansen! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Annie Duke]

The funny thing is my brother, Howard, told me this hand at dinner break. Your opponent was Lyle Berman. Howard thought you played the hand great and was shocked Lyle called with 79 before the flop. Your bet is not bad after the flop as it makes it very difficult for a flush to call you. If you bet 5k or so and Lyle moves in it is also very hard for you to get away from the hand.

Just thought you would like to know that my brother told me the hand at dinner cause he thought it was such a bad beat!

Annie Duke

[otnemem]

At least if it was Hansen I could have anticipated a call like this. But even in that situation with im, I think it would be tough to get away from with a board like that.

[HiatusOver]

Hmmmm Annie, I think the big mistake our Hero made in this hand was his pre-flop raise. Lyle's call of an extra 1800 was far from a horrible pre-flop call...the pot as reported had about 6000 in it when he called that extra 1800. I think if we make it 3500 before the flop out of position we dont get a bunch of floaters who have position on us

[willie]

looks more like 4500 to me...

[otnemem]

Yeah Howard was right across from me for that one. I actually just wrote him to ask him his opinion of the play, as I didn't get a chance to ask him during the break. Glad to hear he thought it was the correct play. The worst part was having to hear the hand explained every time a pro would come over during the break and ask how Lyle got so many chips. That was my first big buy-in tournament, and the fact that my stack was crippled so badly on a hand like that was really disappointing.

[pgec311]

Not sure how you got 6000 in that pot, looks more like around 4500, in which case calling an 1800 button raise (around 2.5 to 1, instead of 3.5 to 1), with 97 out of postition ain't the best.

PC

[ToledoTommy]

I really don't see any way around this. I like to play AK very aggressive pre-flop to try and pick the pot up right then and there. I have terrible luck with AK and AQ, they almost scare me when I see them. Making a bigger pre-flop bet might have worked or maybe there was no way around this one.

[HiatusOver]

I thought when it said 4 calls...there were 4 callers, not that "seat 4 calls" my mistake

[slickpoppa]

[ QUOTE ]
i don't think it's too bad really, you want to pick up the pot there- and you ran into some trash that hit a homerun

you were obviously looking to push out a flush draw and played it a little too fast- but you look like a genius of the dumbass calls with ax s

if you raise and he reraise what are you going to do then fold 2 pair with top kicker? if you had taken that line then you will have almost generated the odds for ax to call you.

tough break..

[/ QUOTE ]
In response to your point about what happens if you bet the pot and are reraised: If you are reraised, you at least have the option of folding and are no worse off than if you moved all-in and he called. If I made a 12bb reraise on the flop with AK, was called by someone out of position, and the board came K77, folding to an all-in reraise on the flop would not be out of the question. What could the flop reraiser possibly have that you beat? Is he really going to call a rereaise preflop with KQ and then reraise you all-in with a K77 board with a huge pot? The fact that it would be a hard laydown to make means that it is even more likely that your opponent has the goods becuase he knows how hard it would be for you to fold. For the same reason, he would probably not be semi-bluffing a club draw.

I think that if you are reraised all-in, you are at best tied with another AK. Since the guy called a huge bet preflop, my biggest concern would be that he has AA or KK. Getting away from this hand would have been very difficult, but not impossible.

[drewjustdrew]

I have heard that Lyle likes to play very fast early in order to either go big or go home. This is because he prefers to play the cash games. Only explanation I can think of for his play unless our Hero is known to be very predictable and/or bluffable. Maybe if stacks were much deeper...

[otnemem]

I don't think I was playing too predictably, but I guess it would be hard to make that call since I wasn't a spectator of my play. I didn't show down too many hands, though, so it would have been hard to tell if I was making predictable raises.

[Toro]

Seems funny that the owner/founder of the WPT would play in one of his own events. It would be like Benny Binion playing in the WSOP. But maybe he did, for all I know.

[otnemem]

I should add that a few hands earlier, almost the same thing happened. I believe, though this could be wrong, that I was on the button again. He opens for $600, I raise to $2500 with 9-9, he calls. Flop: J-10-4 or similar. He checks. I bet out between $15 and $2500, can't remember now. He calls. Turn is a rag, he checks, I check. River rag, he checks, I check. Showdown - he shows 10-7 clubs, wins with a pair of tens.

[Toro]

Do you have a conspiracy theory? /images/graemlins/smile.gif