Poker Tournament Clash at the WSOP

Day One of the 2003 WSOP main event two poker greats end up in the pot HU.  It’s unusual to see a pro take such a huge risk this early in the game without even a draw hand!  It’s Varkoni v Scotty Ngyuen and Scotty has the upper hand with AJo while Varkoni came in with 97c.  The video don’t give the setup details but on the flop Varkoni fires out a stone cold bluff of 1600 chips with absolutely nothing!  As it’s day one and he is betting this much I would have to presume it’s a pot sized bet, there may have been a feeler raise by Scotty or steal attempt by Varkoni from blinds or early as after the flop Varkoni acts first and bets out the 1600. 

Flop is Kd 2s Jc which gives Scotty middle pair and Varkoni nothing but back door flush draw.  Ordinarily we would expect a check fold here.  Instead Varkoni comes on strong with what must be a pot sized bet.Then Scotty Nygeun thinks for a moment before he calls.  Perhaps he is putting Varkoni on a weak King if it was Varkoni that raised preflop.  Or maybe he sees this as a I don’t want a call sized bet with my 99 or TT.  Scotty feels he may catch his Ace or his paired Jack is good.

This is “contrarian poker”, that is, making a play contrary to expectations. Sometimes in poker tournaments you have to be deceptive in new and different ways.  Both players went against conventional poker tournament theory.  However, Varkoni’s move is perfect if he raised pre with suited gappers and now makes a strong cBet to carry on the illusion and take it down.  You could almost see the Varkoni gulp and go pale when he was called.  The cameras pick up everything. I don’t like the call here by Scotty.  He is out and out gambling and hoping that either his jack is good or that he will hit an ace, catch another Jack or get runner runner straight. It would be so much easier with a poker calculator, playing online, but this is live and for BIG money.

If you think you are ahead and it’s raised to you on a scary board you reraise to make sure or fold.  If it’s not worth a raise it’s not worth a call IMO.  However, there is also the part of poker that is playing the player and Scotty may be just going with his read and the slight overbet here sensing weakness or fear.

Turn is a Qd and does nothing for Varkoni but gives Scotty a straight draw and the checkmark because now Varkoni is drawing dead.  We know why Varkoni checks, because he had NOTHING.  But Scotty, surprisingly checks too.  Perhaps the straight draw on board has him concerned or the two overcards to his pair.  He must be thinking Varkoni has a K or perhaps made his straight or even has pocket queens.If you have an aggressive opponent, you would rather him bet if you were really representing a set.  Here I like the check by Varkoni because after all, he has nothing and no sense burning chips.If Nygeun checks now, that isn’t too good either.  Scotty should bet here a partial pot bet and determine if he is right in his read.  If Varkoni comes over the top he can get away OR if he is thinking he has nothing, then he will take it with a bet.  That doesn’t occur and Scotty goes to the river blind having not a clue about his poker tournament strategy here.

Fifth street helps neither player, and they seem to know it.It’s either check or bet now for Varkoni.  If he checks this hand he is 100% sure to lose and he knows this.  Since Scotty checked the turn he is taking it as a sign of weakness and with the board looking scary for the straight draw and overcard he must be thinking Scotty is on a pair or maybe paired the board.  But he is afraid of the board and checking.  He can make a bet and represent he has something with the board.

The pot is a good size pot and worth the risk he finally determines and makes the play.  He bets out 3,000 which is probably 3/4 the pot.  Not too much to be an over bet and not small enough to give odds for Scotty to call. He feels Scotty does not have a King and simply cannot call unless he does.  Therefore it don’t matter that he has absolutely nothing.  Scotty looks and thinks and decides it’s not worth that much more of his chips.  It probably would have put Scotty as short stack to make the call or at least considerably hampered on the first day if he calls and loses.  Since there is the K and Q on board, even a donk could play Q5 SUITED and nail him, certainly this pro and last years champion knows how to play poker and will have something that the board helps OR that he isn’t afraid of the board such as AA or he may have the stones AT.

I really like the way Varkoni employed betting, cBetting, bluffing, checking and then coming back strong again on the river combined with his image to pull this one off.  I especially like it because I made the same move with success just last today in a tournament.

This type of move is risky and can get ANY player in trouble so if you try it make sure you have the RIGHT situation, position, board AND opponent to be able to pull it off!

Having a “monster” doesn’t necessarily mean your opponent can’t catch up, but as long as it is unlikely for him to catch up, you should be playing for value and keeping your opponent in the pot rather than betting him off a draw. Even better, you could entice him to bluff on the river.

When do you bet? When do you check? How much? These are the questions to be sure and profiling comes into play here. I always check my profiling statistics on Tournament Indicator when I am in a hand against a certain opponent and that helps me plan for the hand even before I see the flop. If I am up against a tight-aggressive (TAG) I will play it quite differently than if I am up against a looser quadrant player (LAG).

For example let’s say I am in the big blind with 7s6s and from late position a TAG player raises 3 times the blind to 150. The small blind calls thus offering me up 3.5:1 odds holding a decent hand with potential. Since my stack is now nearly 4,800, I can easily afford the risk. We all see the flop of 7h7d6c.

Ok then, I almost spill my tea on my laptop looking at this gorgeous flop when before I know it, the small blind has checked/folded to me. What to do…. Well I know my TAG opponent is likely to bet his big cards now so my first instinct here is to check as well. In fact, Just about anybody will bet here so I think it’s the best move right now. That’s what I do. Then TAG bets out 200 into the 350 pot, making the pot 550. Small blind runs home. TAG has 2850 left in his stack. Now if TAG has just over-cards he may call one small bet, but won’t do it on later rounds with Ace or King high. For players like this, give them a reason to call with a small reraise, the same size of his bet – he will likely call. Look at is a value bet. Most of your opponents simply wont believe you and by virtue of their greedy nature will assume thay can still win.

Thus the standard move here against a TAG is to re-raise a similar amount. He bet 200, then I will re-raise to 400 – giving him exceptional odds to call 200 more into the now 950 pot. Most players, even tight ones will call that raise on the flop, but not on the turn if their hole cards are still not related to the community. If however they have an over-pair, well then they are likely to come over top of you yet again, with a bet that if it isn’t all-in, will almost certainly pot commit them.

Change this scenario to a LAG opponent and my inclination would be to generally call him on the flop, call him on the turn, then put a value bet out on the river. If he shoves his over pair back at you, this is an excellent opportunity to take him out. If he has over-cards, you may very well get a call anyway on the river for maximum value.

One point further, when you do the re-raise, do it quickly like you weren’t even thinking about it. This irks a good number of solid playing TAGs into making bold moves at the wrong times. The few times it will work out you will eliminate a strong player from the tournament holding nothing but ace-high to your made boat.

Marty Smith has video reviews of all the poker calculators so you can see them being used before you decide which one is right for you. He also has a poker tournament strategy video series that is free poker games training just for signing up.

Your poker calculator will often alert you to such loose aggressive opponents by way of their excessive VP$IP, PFR% and AF, and it is easy to assume that most of these players are going to don’t themselves out of the tournament sooner than later. However, even in the lower limits there are players who can play this style and manage to accumulate tournament chips at a successful rate in the early stages.

Because so many of your opponents do play loose aggressive, it’s just simple math that a select few of them are going to advance in any given tournament. One of the strategies that these types of opponents often use is three betting, which is simply re-raising your raises. It gives you caution to wonder how strong your hand really is, and even though you’re playing a tight aggressive style, your opponent is completely ignoring that and often puts your tournament in jeopardy at an early stage with marginal hand. The question is, how do you counterattack such behaviour?

First of all, even though you suspect your opponent may not know what he is doing, there is a chance that he actually does. So in that sense, you should look at lower in your opening race size, particularly in late position and in that way, you will have better implied odds to call their free bet with may be something like pocket pairs or suited connectors.

You should also be prepared to widen your range but not calling three bets out of position, unless you have a really good hand. This is somewhat conducive to being able to distinguish if your opponent is actually employing a strategy or playing like any other donkey.

To help preserve your stack, refrain from real raising this player. Let him build the pot until you have a superior hand, and only then on the river, should you be value betting. He will probably call, if in fact he is weak player. Just don’t get caught in a stupid bluffing war, with players like this.

There is also the possibility of opening up your own game and doing some three betting. If you are only three betting in the range of 2% or less, then there is likely more opportunity for you to be stealing some pots. You should be very certain though of the type of opponent you are up against here.

Three betting is advanced play to be sure. This really means that winning poker tournaments online, in particular the – low limits, you are likely better off playing tighter than your opponents. However, in the later stages you are going to be up against some relatively aggressive players, who know how to play, when more money is on the line – so you shouldn’t be taking them lightly.

See my video reviews of all the online poker calculators, just so you know which will work good for your needs. He also has a poker tournament strategy video series that is free poker training just for signing up.

This book is great, but because Gus’ name is on it, it really didn’t have to be. Gus has really opened up here and goes through every contentious hand he plays at the 2007 Aussie Millions, where he dominated the final table and kick-slapped an internet newcomer named Jimmy Fricke heads up to seal the deal. In showing how he strategizes right through that tournament he creates sincere value that we amateur players may have never before been exposed to because players like Gus are just so rare.

If you’ve ever seen some of the hands from this tournament on youtube, you will see that Gus was actually using a personal recording device and whispering into a mic throughout the Aussie Millions Poker Tournament. You have to wonder if it was a self check system for Gus, or if he had actually planned to use the information for this book ahead of time.

Either way, thie concept of going over your own recordings as a self check system put Gus in excellent position to analyze the hands for this book as he could easily review the chips counts, stacks, position and all the other important tournament factors. You get his detailed insight into the thought processes of one of the best tourney players in the world, while also learning about the different strategies of playing a full table and playing short-handed, and how important aggression is part of Gus Hansen’s multi-table tournament strategy.

Gus Hansen’s book should be read after Harington’s because you have two very different styles, but one could argue that Hansen is more successful than Dan Harrington. It is simply a matter of playing style, and both of these professional players have been very successful. Gus writes quite blatantly that most poker books are too theoretical and assert play that far too tight for tournaments.

The practical style poker books seems to carry more value as they are just that much easier to read, think about, and then take to the table yourself, trying to recognize similar situations you may have just soaked in. You can take these examples and really realte them to your own tournament experiences.

The explanations of these hands seemed a lot more rationale than you might think as Hansen relied on his dutiful recorder and his indepth knowledge of blinds, copmetition, and payouts that helped his aggressive style to even further exploit his competition.