WSOP laydown

[GrannyMae]

from andy glazer's newsletter, this is an account of one of his plays.
(he is now out by a BEAT he suffered later)

<font color="red"> With about 45 minutes remaining in the second day of the 2003 WSOP, a tournament offering a life-changing $2,500,000 to the winner, Jim Meehan opened for his standard raise of $2,800 (the blinds were $600-1,200). I found two kings and made it $9,000.

It came back around to Jim, and he moved all-in, his $110,000 just covering my $95,000 or so. For the first time in my life, and we'll never know if it was the right thing to do, I thought for about four minutes, and laid down two kings before the flop. There are a million ways to think this hand through. Jim had aces and was trying the overbet to suck me in. Jim had the same hand I did and didn't want to risk looking at a flop if I had A-K. Jim had nothing special and figured I wouldn't call with anything but aces.

One of the tough parts of poker is that even though Jim is a friend, I can't ever believe what he later tells me. It's just a part of the game, and I'm stuck not knowing. I now believe we had the same hand--I think with aces he would have raised me back $30,000, and then I'd have moved him in, and we'd have found out, but now we'll never know.

(Note: Vahedi later said to me that Meehan told him he had pocket kings, same as Andy. When I see Minneapolis Jim tomorrow I'll beat an honest answer out of him. -Max Shapiro)

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sorry andy, you know i love ya, but if you can't call in this situation with KK, you are playing wayyyyy too scared, or the meds have taken over. I hate to say this, but had you called and won this hand, you might still be there.

sorry you are out andy, but i voted "Insane" above.

[TimTimSalabim]

But since they both had pocket kings, it's extremely unlikely that anyone would have won this hand.

BTW, I voted "Depends". It depends on how good you think you are, relative to the remaining field. I don't know enough about Andy to say. If you thought you were the best poker player alive, you wouldn't gamble your entire stack, even if you are a huge favorite. If you thought you were the worst player in the field, obviously you gamble. At some point in between, it changes from call to fold.

[sdplayerb]

you gotta go with your gut.

[lorinda]

I've laid down pocket kings four times in my life preflop, three times the guy had aces, the other time the guy had QQ but i won the tourney.

What hands can your opponent realistically have here (After review, the KK looks plausible, but in the heat of the moment, there are only three hands he can have)

AA, QQ, JJ (AK too, but hey, we got two kings)

So, in simple terms, you are calling 100k into what is still a SMALL POT in the World series of poker, when that 100k is enough to get you into the money and you will get many more chances to get it in with a better hand.

I don't know what I would do here, I think I call, but I think that the laydown is perfectly okay as a play.

Why gamble when there's about a 1 in 3 shot that you are going home with nothing when you have a decent stack and small blinds?

Lori

[lorinda]

You got to remember that 100k is an average stack for the last 80 and 63 get paid $15,000 REAL money.

Even getting to last 36 doesnt pay much more money, and that is all this pot represents.

Lori

[Jimbo]

"What hands can your opponent realistically have here (After review, the KK looks plausible, but in the heat of the moment, there are only three hands he can have)"

How about 7/2 off, QT, Presto, 3/5 sooooted, plenty of hands he can make this play with. Easy call, obviously playing on scared money.

[Daliman]

Realistically, he can't have any of those goofy hands, unless he's a complete lunatic. It's just obvious. KK into about a 20k pot for your last 95K is not worth it. If
you think otherwise, you just don't have a deep enough understanding of tournament poker.

[Jimbo]

"If
you think otherwise, you just don't have a deep enough understanding of tournament poker."

Daliman, thanks for the best laugh I've had in months!!

[GrannyMae]

But since they both had pocket kings, it's extremely unlikely that anyone would have won this hand

excellent point in respects to my comment about still being there if he called.

also, i think it is a great argument that the best player in the world *should* laydown here, but i'll still take the other side of the argument.

even the best player needs to take a stance at some point, and there is only one hand that i would fear holding KK, and if he has the goods, it does not make me less of a player.

2.5mil buys me a ton of smiley bundles, and i call the raise.

[lorinda]

even the best player needs to take a stance at some point

For me that point is after the $15,000 is safely in my handbag, I'm not going to build a very nice stack and then blow it unless I'm very sure I'm in front.

Remember, the guy is smart enough to know your 9k is likely a "come on" bet, and still he has "come on", not only that, he has probably smelled your kings/queens from the size of your bet and deduced that you will stick the lot in, Im coming down on the side of folding the more I think about it here.


Lori