Road Trip: Final Report—Foxwoods

[Mark Heide]

Easy E,

I want to make a few points clear. I always look at my cards before making a play whether I'm stealing or have a legit hand, because I do not want to give my opponent a reason to call me. If you want to be a showoff and not look at your hand you are asking to be called.

Secondly, consider I only had $2200 which was a reasonable size raise for a blind of $600. There is already $1900 in the pot and that is what it is costing each player per round. I had been sitting at that table for a round and a half and had not made a move because I didn't get the opportunity, if I had won that hand I could have gone all in again, and maybe with a real hand, and I would be back in business. When I moved all-in, I was sure that they thought I had a legitimate all-in hand, and had estimated the probability of being called as 16%. Well, one of them did call because they were lucky enough to hit that 16% chance of having a hand. The small blind almost didn't play that hand. He thought about it for 30 seconds, before he called. So, right there I knew he had a legitimate hand but not a great hand.

When the blinds and antes are costing you $1900 a round, you have to play situations where you are the favorite. As a matter of fact the odds I was getting on that hand would have almost been just as good as if I had AA under the gun and got called by KK.

In tournaments, you need to estimate what percentage of hands your opponents will call with. I'm not passing up a situation where I have a 66-84% chance to win. Those situations are too good to pass up, and yes, I would have played any hand at this point, because I was such a favorite not to be called. Don't forget you can lose with AA too and be an 84% favorite. I hear that story the most.

Good Luck

Mark