My 15 Most Memorable Poker Hands (Part 5)

Hand #3 - Quick Change of Plans - 5/30/2019 - $500 Big 50 - 2019 WSOP Event #3

Right before the last break of Day 1 of the Big 50, I doubled a player up to drop my stack under 40,000 chips. I had recovered, winning some small pots to build my stack back up to 91,000 right before this critical hand occurred. We were early in Level 11, where the blinds were 2,000/3,000/3,000 BB ante.

I had played with the player immediately on my left all day long, and he was a very solid player. He played with a tight aggressive style indicative of someone with a lot of poker experience. He was UTG and raised to 8,000 chips. I wasn't really interested in tangling with him, but I looked down at 5♠ 5♦ in the BB, and I had to call for 5,000 more. The flop came 7♠ 5♣ 2♠, and I checked, while trying to hold in my excitement at flopping a set. He thought for a few seconds and bet 10,000 chips. I knew that I was calling immediately, but I feigned thinking for 20 seconds or so before calling.

The turn was the 2♦ to give me a full house. I again feigned thinking for a few seconds before checking, hoping for a bet from my opponent, so that I could raise and then bomb the river. My opponent thought for another 20 seconds or so, and then accommodated my wishes by betting 16,000 chips. Then, likely because of the tension and excitement that I was feeling, I let out an audible sigh that I instantly regretted. The old, "Oh no, woe is me, I raise" is always a monster hand, and my opponent seemed far too observant to fall for it. I knew that I must come up with a new plan immediately, so I sat and stared at him for almost a minute before tossing in the chips to call.

The river was the 3♣, which should not have changed anything. I felt betting would still sound off too many alarms, so I thought for 15 seconds or so and checked a third time. I was sitting there silently screaming at him to bet and I decided to try to stare him down as he mulled his decision. Usually, if a player is staring you down, he is hoping to to look intimidating to dissuade you from betting, and I hoped and believed that my opponent knew that and would read me as weak. Finally, after about two minutes of deliberation, my opponent said "All-in". I said call (a little too loudly) and flipped my hand up immediately. Afterwards, I felt a little bad about how exultant I must have sounded and looked, but there was no malice there. I was just excited. My opponent saw my hand, closed his eyes, exhaled in disappointment, and tossed his cards into the muck face down. He told me afterwards that he had a big hand (which I interpreted as a big pair), which I think is likely true. The monster pot boosted my stack to 181,000 and crippled a very good opponent in the process!

Hand #2 - Why Did it Have to be Jacks? - 5/26/2007 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

Around the midpoint of Level 8 (later half of the fourth hour) of my third Deep Stack, there were about 120 players or so remaining out of 903 runners (81 would be paid). I had been on the same table for almost two hours, and I was familiar with most of the players. The one exception was Azzes, who had moved to the table about fifteen minutes prior to this hand. He had been aggressive, but not wild.

With the blinds at 200/400/25, my stack was 23,912 (59BBs), third largest at the table. Azzes (32,897 chips) raised to 1,200 from the HJ and No Limit NL (26,245) called from the CO. I was in the BB with J♦ J♣, and I had a decision on my hands. Do I call or 3-bet? Being out of position after the flop against two good players sounded like a difficult spot, so I decided to 3-bet to 4,000 chips. I was hoping for both players to just fold (I should have raised more), but Azzes shocked me by shoving all-in! The CO folded, leaving me in a nasty spot. I had 19,887 chips left (Azzes had me covered) if I folded, which was still a very healthy stack. But the pot had 29,512 chips, so if I called and won my stack would be 49,399 chips. I only needed 40.2% equity to make calling correct, but if I lost the pot I was out of the tournament.

I burned through most of my time bank trying to decide what to do. Azzes was unlikely to be bluffing in this spot, though it was possible. In these Deep Stack tournaments, big preflop moves are less prevalent than they are in typical tournaments because there is far more time to acquire chips. Therefore, big moves are more likely to be big hands. I felt that I was in bad shape against A-A, K-K, or Q-Q most of the time, and even if he was getting out of line with A-K or A-Q, I was still only a coinflip for my tournament life. I typed into the chatbox "one time. I'll fold J J. next time I call", and then I folded. I wanted to make that comment to hopefully keep Azzes from deciding to try and run me over later in the tournament.

I thought that I was going to stress out about folding this hand afterwards, like I had missed a chance to get a big stack, but actually it felt kind of empowering. Like I wasn't obligated to go busto just because I had been dealt a big pair. I definitely felt that it was my best single decision of the tournament, and one of the reasons that I was able to finish in 2nd place.

Hand #1 - Is Everyone Losing Their Mind? - 8/9/2008 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

Fifteen months after my Deep Stack final table I entered yet another one. I had cashed in four of the five that I had entered, so I had plenty of confidence. I also got ahold of a lot chips early, with over 21,000 chips at the 50/100 level, so that didn't hurt. After that hot start, I treaded water for a couple hours. Around the three and a half hour point (3rd hand of Level 8) came this doozy of a hand.

With the blinds at 150/300/25, I had 25,821 chips, good for 86BBs. After three folds, mjs361 (4,689 chips) raised to 900 from the LJ seat. Immediately to his left, kellyjr (10,203 chips) 3-bet to 2,100 from the HJ. I was on the button with Q♠ Q♥. In a normal tournament, I would just jam all-in here and expect to have a net positive expectation in the hand. But as I have stated earlier, players are more careful with their chips before the flop in Deep Stack tournaments, so I decided to tread more carefully and only call against the preflop 3-bet.

Then, much to my surprise, Bemesis (21,995 chips) in the BB cold 4-bet to 5,400! I don't think this raise can be anything other than a monster hand. Both of the other players, mjs361 and kellyjr, then jammed all-in! Now the action was back on me. Actually, my decision was not all that difficult. I knew that my hand might be best once in a blue moon, but at least one of these guys had to have me beat the vast majority of the time. And my money was on Bemesis. But I had never folded a hand as strong as Q-Q preflop before, so it took me a minute to convince myself to just click the fold button

Finally, I did fold. Then, I saw why everyone was losing their mind. The first raiser and short stack, mjs held K♠ K♦. kellyjr, the 3-bettor (and 5-bet shover) had J♥ J♦. And Bemesis, the 4-bettor, had A♥ A♣. I felt like kellyjr may have been able to get away as well, but as it was, everyone had a monster. Of course the board ran out 9♥ 7♠ 4♥ 7♣ J♠, and kellyjr won the giant pot with the worst hand. At least the river was a jack and not a queen.

Unlike the last hand, this hand was not part of an amazing tournament run, as I ran pretty poorly and crashed out about 45 minutes later. First I lost a preflop all-in coinflip A-K < Q-Q for half of my chips. Then I lost a bit more when my J-J got beat by a flush (I folded the river). Then I got the rest of my chips in w/ A-6 on a board of A-A-K-5, but my opponent held A-T. The river was no help and I was out in 246th place, out of 1,097.