Copyright 2006 Full
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July 3, 2006
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Poker Lesson: A Big Stack Mistake
at the 2006 WSOP
Author: Phil Gordon
I went pretty deep in the first event at the World
Series of Poker, a $1,500 No-Limit
Hold 'em tournament. While I wasn't pleased with the outcome
- I finished 45th in a 2,776 player field - I was happy with my
play. For this tip, I'm going to share an interesting hand from
the tournament - one where I made a mistake.
It was late in the first day of play, and things
had been going well. My stack had grown to over 60,000 and I was
among the chip leaders. The average stack was around 20,000 at
that point, the blinds were 600-1,200 with a 200 ante, and I was
fortunate enough to be at a timid table. I was stealing with impunity.
I was meeting so little resistance that, at points, I was able
to steal the blinds and antes four times per orbit. I'd raise
pre-flop, everyone would fold, and I'd add valuable chips to my
stack.
After some time at this table, an under-the-gun
player raised all-in pre-flop for a little over 20,000 in chips.
It was folded to me on the button, and I found Ace-King off-suit.
I decided to call. My opponent also had Ace-King, but he was suited
with hearts. I lost the large pot when my opponent hit his flush.
It would be easy to write off the hand as plain
old bad luck. After all, we started with hands of almost identical
strength. But, the truth is, I shouldn't have played the hand
at all.
Sure, Ace-King is a strong hand, but it's no better
than a three to one favorite over something like Ace-Queen. Against
other hands my opponent could have held, like pocket 10s or Jacks,
it's a slight underdog.
There were also factors beyond the math that I should
have considered. For instance, given the table dynamics, there
was no need for me to risk one-third of my chips on this hand.
If I had folded, I could have gone back to stealing, padding my
stack while risking only a fraction of my chips. What's more is
that, after I lost, I had to become more conservative, as I no
longer had a big chip advantage over the other players.
Losing that pot had other consequences, as well.
In this tournament, the blind-to-stack ratio didn't allow for
a lot of play. For much of the tournament, the average stack had
no more than 12 or 13 big blinds. When I lost those chips, I could
no longer re-raise pre-flop, then fold to an all-in if my move
didn't work out. If someone raised before the action got to me,
I had only two choices; fold or move in.
There are plenty more tournaments to come in the
WSOP and I'm hopeful that, in the following weeks, I'll win my
first bracelet. To do that, of course, I'll also have to do a
better job of protecting my chips the next time I have a big stack.
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