Annie Duke’s Hand

During the 1999 WSOP, I split the $5,000 limit Hold’em tournament with Eli Balas.  At the final table, I played an interesting hand with !li Sharkasheik, a good pot-limit Omaha player from London. 

The hand was not interesting for its effect on my chip position, since few chips were won or lost, and neither of us was eliminated or crippled because of the hand.  Rather, the hand is interesting because it nicely illustrates some mistakes that can be made at the final table, and how by too strongly patterning your play you can allow players to play poker card games well against you.

            I had started the day third in chips with $73,500.  !li had started with about the same amount, at $75,000 in chips.  While !li was making the most of a lot of big hands during the day and building himself up to over $100,000 in chips, I was completely card dead and unable to maneuver much, and found myself reduced to about $45,000 in chips when this his hand occurred.  We wee down to six players, and I was no the button.  The level was $3,000-$6,000, putting me well low on chips.  I had been playing with !li since late the night before, when he drew my table for the last 18 players. He had been playing high low poker extremely tight, just calling with big pairs.  I saw him reraise only once, against a button raise when he had a relatively weak A-9.  Earlier, I had raised his big blind from an early position, and he had shown me !-J and folded.  From this, I knew that !li was in a “snug” mood, to say the least.

            I was on the button, Mickey Appleman was in the small blind, and Ali was in the big blind.  Everyone else folded to me, and I raised my button with Q-J off suit wsop 2002.  Mickey folded and Ali called.  Right away, I knew I had to play with caution.  Ali definitely had a better hand than I did.  I felt that he would reraise with a random ace, fold most K-x hands, and call with anything better than that.  This meant that I was looking at a pair or a strong ace bluff.  So I decided to play with extreme caution after the flop.

            The flop came down K-10-x.  A great flop for my hand, considering that I missed.  Ali checked, and I bet-hoping he would fold a miss in case he had a bad ace or an underpair nines or lower.  But he called.  Once he called, I knew he had to have me crushed, and from how he was acting I expected at least A-K.  The turn came nothing.  He checked, and I checked.  The river came nothing.  He checked, and I checked.  He then turned over A-A and won the rather small pot.

            In my opinion, Ali misplayed his hand-I think because he is .primarily a pot-limit player rather than a limit player.  Let’s look at the play on each street.  I like my raise before the flop, a lot.  Mickey was short on chips and would not defend his small blind without a very strong hand.  And although !li had a lot of chips, he was playing very tight, so I was likely to pick up the pot right there hold'em poker games.

            So what about poker !li’s flat call before the flop?  I think this is a much better play in pot limit, where you can trap someone for all their chips on later betting rounds, than it is in limit-particularly when you’re playing against someone short on chips whom you can cripple.  If he reraise, I almost always have to call, since at that point I am getting 5.5-to-1 odds on my money.  He can guarantee himself at least one more small bet with a reraise, and because he is reraising out of the big blind against an aggressive button raise, he is not really announcing his had.  In fact, the way he had been playing, I would have put him on a weaker hand with that play, and might have played very aggressively had I flopped a queen.  Nonetheless, I think his flat call before the flop really was a legitimate option here, since it does, normally, give your hand some mystery.

            On the flop, Ali checked, and I bet, with my Q-J off suit, and !li just called.  As I said, I bet hoping that he would lay down a pair smaller than nines.  By the way, by betting here on the flop, I think there was a small possibility of winning poker the pot (by having !li fold) against !li’s Q-Q or J-J or at least A-10, A-J, or A-Q right there-considering how snug he had been playing.  His flat call on the flop (after his check and my bet ) was, I think, a mistake.  He should have check-raised here.  If I missed the flop, he would have to count on me betting on the turn if he was to make any more money, and I hadn’t been doing that all day.  But if I hit the flop, and he check-raised, I would definitely call.  Unless I had him beat, I wouldn’t reraise, because of how snug he had been playing-and he probably knew that.  But against any K-x, a-10,A-J, A-Q, or Q-J, he would get a call.  He would only get reraised by A-A, K-K, 10-10, or K-10.  Because it is so unlikely that I would bet on the turn, unless I have exactly a good king, the best  way for him to guarantee more money here would be to check-raise.

            On the turn he checked again.  I don’t like this play either.  As I said, I had been checking the turn all day.  So he had to hope that I had hit my hand hard in order to get a bet out of me.  In my opinion, he would be just giving up a free card to me, under most circumstances, and unless I have completely missed the flop this would be very dangerous for him, since he wouldn’t know where he stood when any scary card came on the river-particularly that disastrous card games, a third ace giving him trips and me a straight.  And a bet might have won the pot right there if my hand had been weak, like A-10, A-J, or !-Q  Further, against a strong draw, like Q-J, he would have won an extra $6,000 when I missed, since I would call.  What’s more, he would have charged me some bets to draw.

            On the river, Ali checked again.  I think this was the worst of the plays, since by now he had to know that I couldn’t have a hand that would beat him.  Especially considering that a blank card had hit on the river. !li was essentially risking nothing with his bet in order to win $6,000-sounds like good odds to me.  I think he was hoping I would bluff the river, but again, I had not been playing that way all day.  And the probability of my bluffing was surely a lot more remote than the probability of my calling with a weaker hand, like K-x or A-10 or Q-Q or J-J-all hands that would have had me check on the turn against him.

!li played the hand with a pot-limit style-slow playing and trying to trap me.  But it seems to me that in limit poke event-particularly when you’re down to six players and playing against someone whom you have well outchipped and can cripple-it’s always better to try to win as many chips as you can on every street.  As it turned out, I lost $9,000 on a hand I should have lost $18,000 on.  Likewise, Ali won $10,500 on a hand he should have won $19,500 on.  Since I later got down to $12,000 at the $6,000-$12,000 level, I believe that the $9,000 I saved was absolutely critical to my eventually splitting the tournament with Eli Balas.  Which just goes to show that sometimes a seemingly insignificant hand can have a crucial bearing on what happens later at the final table.