Pendleton Poker Round-Up Main Event

In no-limit hold-em, a single hand can mean the difference between a winning session and a losing one. This is particularly true in cash games, but the principle generally holds true in tournaments as well. Play enough of these correctly, and you will win tournaments.

Yesterday, during the Pendleton Poker Round-Up Main Event, I was dealt Ace/King off-suit in early position. It was early in the tournament, before antes had kicked in. I had a slightly above-average stack. I brought it in for a rather small raise. I got four callers, including the big blind, who was a very good (and observant) player. Of all the callers, he was the one I was the most concerned about. Fortunately, he’s also the one I had position on.

The flop came King, Six, Three … all spades. I did not have a spade in my hand.

Now, in years past, my thinking would go as follows: “Oh no! I have a terrific hand, but look at that flush draw! I need to bomb the pot and chase out the drawers so I can take it down right now!” Then I’d follow up with a monster bet of 75%-80% of the pot.

But since I've started working with the guys at the Portland Poker University, they've helped me think about these types of situations differently. If I bomb the pot, the only callers I get will be the ones who've already flopped the flush and have me beat. And I’ll get no value whatsoever from players with worse hands.

So I decided to take a different tack. I bet about half the pot. This was plenty enough to scare away all but the big blind, who called. We went to the turn heads-up.

The turn was the Queen of Diamonds.

The big blind checked. I bet again, this time a bit more than half the pot. I felt I probably had the best hand, and wanted to charge my opponent a high price if he was on a draw and wanted to continue. He called.

The river was the Eight of Clubs. No draws hit. My opponent checked, and I checked behind. When I showed my top pair, he mucked. There’s no question whatsoever that I made more money in this hand than I would have if I’d played it the old way.

One reason why I think my opponent called me down was that just a few hands earlier I had fired three bullets on a missed draw (but hadn't really lost that many chips). I’m sure he’d seen that, and since I pretty much played this hand the same way, he might have had a bluff-catcher … a lower pocket pair, or a hand like Ace/Six with the Ace of Spades.

If there was any error in the way I played this hand, it might have been that I missed a river value bet. But if he raises me, what would I do? I figured a river bet probably only gets called by a hand that has me beat, and the pot was big enough to take down.

Live and learn. I wonder what improvements in my game will come next?