Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

This hand was played a few days ago, in the beginning of a step 5 tournament. I know Giga is a very good player, but I can't see his thinking behind this play. Can you?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

saw flop|<font color="#C00000">saw showdown</font>

<font color="#C00000">UTG+1 <font color="#A500AF">(Slon_T)</font> (t1210)</font>
Hero (t970)
MP1 (t900)
MP2 (t975)
MP3 (t970)
CO (t1000)
<font color="#C00000">Button <font color="#A500AF">(Gigabet)</font> (t870)</font>
SB (t1105)
BB (t1000)
UTG (t1000)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
UTG folds, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+1 <font color="#A500AF">(Slon_T)</font> raises to t125</font>, Hero folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, Button <font color="#A500AF">(Gigabet)</font> calls t125, SB folds, BB folds.

Flop: (t275) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Slon_T bets t1085 (All-In)</font>, Gigabet calls t745 (All-In).

Turn: (t2105) A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 2 all-in)</font>

River: (t2105) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 2 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t2105

Results in white below: <font color="#FFFFFF">
Slon_T has 2h 2s (full house, twos full of kings).
Gigabet has 5s 6c (two pair, kings and sixes).
Outcome: Slon_T wins t2105. </font>

It turned out that the guy he was playing against was a pretty reckless player. This was in the beginning of the tourney, but Giga could have had notes on him of course. I still don't see a reason to call the preflop raise with 56. Even if you hit the flop and the guy checks, you can't know if you have him beat.

I would really like to hear your ideas about this [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. Thx!

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

Giga commonly calls raises from players he feels he can control/outplay/read flop on. Exactly what he did here.

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

A pretty standard call on the flop, I think.

If Slon_T had AA, QQ, JJ, TT he would be more careful and bet less.

If he had a King, he would make a smaller value bet, hoping for a call. Or most likely go for a check raise.

The all-in here is normally a weak player trying to pick up the pot.

I see this kind of play all the time.

Yes, sometime you will be fooled and be beaten (or outdrawn) but in the long run, calling is a winning play here.

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

standard call?

i have more to learn than i thought. i understand that the gigster might be able to outplay people after the flop, but without some absolutely unmistakeningly accurate notes on this opponent, i fold this preflop. if i hit the wrong button and call preflop and have the cards come the way they did, i chuckle to myself a little at the opponent's bet and fold.

there is no doubt that giga is a monster and can outplay a lot of opponents, but, giga, c'mon man, whats the story here? i once saw giga post a hh where he called an all-in on the first hand of a 200/15 sng PREFLOP with a J4 or something just because he wanted to see what an opponent who moved all-in on the first hand had. was this a similar move?

Theory on Gigabet\'s Play
 

My guess ( I repeat a guess, I'm not a player of Gigabets level or success at all)is that Gigabet wants to gain some information about this player, he is in great position, and has a hand that could potentially bust a player with a monster hand. The all in bet is extremely weird as stated by Slowstroke.

Another Theory! It possible that at this level of play these players have hundreds to thousands of hands against each other? The gamemanship between these two players goes way beyond this one hand ,in one sit n go tournament? How much $$ was that information worth to Gigabet in the long run? Most people playing at this level aren't playing there for a little bit of entertainment!
I have read about many pro level players making a play that they know is a losing play at this point in the game ,but will make them money back later on in the game!
The game within the game! I highly doubt Gigabet is worried about this one play! In the war you will lose several battles,but the important thing is to win the war. There is a great article on pokerpages.com by Amy Calistri about winning the war not battles!

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

i would punch myself in the face before i cold-called 1/7 of my stack with 56o. one hell of a flop call though, huh?

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

I think alot of us on the flop would have the feeling that we were ahead, but to have the balls to not only call the preflop raise but to call the ALL-IN with 56o ... wow! Nice hand.

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

This has got to be on the $. Gigabet would never make this play 'standard' unless he had a read or previous knowledge about his opponent. Against certain opponents (if you're reading and postflop skills are high caliber) you can call with any two (sort of what Giga did) and it is +EV.

Yugoslav

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

I'm going to post this hand in one month as if I had played it, and let's see how badly i get slammed.

Re: Strange step 5 hand with Gigabet
 

HaHa...nice call jcm.