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SCENARIO: Borgata $10,000 entry tournament, over $1,000,000 prize to the
winner. We are in day 3 of a 5 day tournament and have about 80 of the original 400+ players left. I have been playing fairly solid poker and all players left at this stage are good/strong. I have about 100,000 chips which is just below average at this point. The #10 seat has 180k, the #3 seat 120k, and the #9 seat 75k.
BUST HAND: I have the button and the #9 seat is the big blind. The blinds are 800/1600 with a 300 ante. I am dealt Ace(club)-2(heart). The #10 seat is first to act and he calls. The next two seats fold, the #3 seat calls, and the next seats fold to me. I would normally think about putting in a raise in this position because
- nobody has shown strength before me (only 2 callers)
- i have position (the button)
- there is enough money in the pot right now for my raise to help add
significantly to my stack
however the guy in the 10 seat is a tricky player and the fact that he just
limped as the first person to act scares me. He could be looking to reraise
anyone that raises preflop with an ultra strong hand like AA or KK. So I elect
to just call, take a flop, and hopefully be able to bet at it if everyone looks
weak. The small blind folds and the big blind checks. SO to recap we have 4
players taking a flop with 9,900 currently in the pot. Now the flop comes:
7(diamond)-7(spade)-4(diamond). The big blind checks, the #10 seat checks (very surprising to me), the #3 seat checks, and now its my turn. I dont really know what to think of this flop, but needless to say I’m afraid that someone may have a 7 and is waiting for a bet so he can reraise. Now my fears are dwindling about the #10 seat having a huge hand like AA or KK because he would have had to bet in this spot to see if had the best hand and/or to push out any diamond flush draw. So after thinking on it, I think the best option is to check and see what the next card is. The turn card is: 3(club). All three players check AGAIN around to me! OK so I feel like its now or never for me. It doesnt matter what I have, I have to try and bet at this pot and take it down right now. Nobody has shown any strength and even though I haven’t either, I have position which entitles me to fire. So I reach for 8k and make the play. The big blind folds, and the #10 seat looks like he’s up to something. He fiddles with his chips and raises it up to 30,000 total. The #3 seat promptly folds and now its up to me. I really can’t make out what this guy has. I mean I already told myself he didnt have a big pair like AA or KK - if he did he would have HAD to bet on one of the first two streets to figure out where he was. I certainly dont think he has a 7 because he would risk a chance of everyone checking 4th street and not making money off of his trips-he would have had to bet at some point. Maybe, and I think this is a far far far away possibility that he has stumbled his way into a straight with 5-6. What I really think is going on is that he thinks that I have nothing because he hasn’t seen any strength out of me in this hand until right now (he is right), and he thinks he can push me off of the pot right now with a big raise. In fact I’m so convinced he’s doing this, I’m willing to put my tournament life at stake on it. So I raise him back - All In. That means I made the bet close to 90,000 total. I hole up with my shades on and fully expect him to fold sooner or later. But to my chagrin he is seriously pondering a call. Thinking out loud to himself, “what could this guys possibly have?” and “I dont think I can get away from this hand.” This is bad news for me. All I can keep thinking is PLEASE FOLD PLEASE FOLD but the longer he thinks about it the more he convinces himself to call. Finally he says it, “I call you”. He shows the Ace(diamond)-Jack(diamond). What a crazy call in my opinion! Unless he put me on absolutely nothing and a stone cold bluff, he really can’t beat anything right here. All he can hope for is a diamond on the river, and he certainly has enough chips left to get away from the hand. I’m shocked and so is the rest of our table, at both of our plays. This is one of the best hands I’ve been involved with since I started playing and even though I lost (diamond on the river), I still think I made the right play. My instincts were right - the only problem was that his nothing was better than my nothing!