Playing With the Big Boys

Playing With the Big Boys
by Oliver Butterick

On June 22nd, I played in the $1,500 No Limit Holdem event at the World Series of Poker. It was my third ‘major’ tournament as a professional poker player, the first two being the $10,000 NL Championship event at Commerce Casino earlier this year and the $2,000 NL event at the WSOP two weeks ago. The major difference with this tournament was that I actually played well. It seems that ‘getting my feet wet’ during those first two major tournaments has started to pay off a little bit. I was not nervous, played more patiently than I usually do, and was not (too) intimidated by the pros. Their play, however, is definitely more sophisticated than what you see in smaller buy-in events. Here are a couple of notable examples:

It was relatively early in the tournament, but the blinds were starting to force a few players into “all-in” mode. In other words, they were looking to double-up, since they wouldn’t last much longer with the increasing blinds. At my table were two pros (that I recognized), Minh Nguyen (currently #95 in Card Player Magazine’s Player of the Year rankings) and Erick Lindgren (who is #3 in the rankings). For better or worse, I had the opportunity to play heads-up with each of them. I saw each of these players in double-up mode, but only one survived.

Minh Nguyen and his K-8 of Hearts

Minh got involved in a big pot and eventually was bet off the hand, heeding the advice that as long as you have a seat, you have a chance. However, as the blinds continued to go around the table, Minh had to make a move. I was in the 3 seat, and he in the 9, so we had position on each other roughly an equal amount of the time. He decided to make a move when it was my big blind, calling after someone had already limped in. The small blind called, and I looked down at pocket Jacks, and I looked up to see myself involved with three short stacks, so I grabbed a bunch of chips, and reraised enough to put any of them all-in. Once the first limper folded, Minh quickly called and when the other player folded, he showed the K-8 of Hearts. Since it was across the table, I couldn’t even see his kicker card very clearly, and before I knew it, two eights had come on the flop and Minh overcame being a 2:1 underdog.

One thing I’ve noticed about a lot of pros is that they are not afraid to get involved in pots, whether by raising, or even by calling a raise, as I saw Minh do. Later in the tournament, when we were nearing the “money bubble,” an average stack came in for a raise on the button, and the big blind, who was also our table’s aggressive chip-leader, called. The flop came K-K-4, and it was checked around. The turn was another blank, and the big blind underbet the pot for $4,000. The original raiser announced raise, and then went back to his stack several times to eventually put $12,000 in front of him. The big blind then called a “string raise” on the player, and called the floor person over. After a little arguing, the floor person took the raiser at his word that he announced the amount before putting his chips out (which I don’t remember him doing). The big blind then disgustedly went all-in, with the button calling with pocket Jacks. The big blind took him out with K-7 of Spades. What a horrible hand! He called with K-7??? That’s definitely NOT a move that I would make, but I might raise with it… (Note: Minh outlasted me and, with 3 tables left in the tournament, he got all of his money in with A-J against K-K, hitting an ace on the flop! Needless to say, he went on to take 2nd Place in the tournament.)

Crippling Erick Lindgren

I saw Erick battle back from being a short stack until he had a decent amount of chips. Erick is also a pro that likes to smooth-call raises. In fact, there were only two times in the tournament that I was on a stone-cold steal, and Erick called both times, which is the only way that I could have won those two pots. You see, if he had reraised, I would have folded, and if he had folded, Minh would have reraised (or so he told me later—each of my steals happened to be when it was his big blind).

Steal #1: 9-3 of Diamonds

I made a standard raise and almost soiled myself when Erick called. Not only did I not want any callers, but I definitely didn’t want HIM calling—he’s a pro, AND he has position on me! So, as usual, I shut down, pretty much conceding the pot to him. The flop came, and I might have made a pair of threes, but I was basically done with the hand. I checked, and Erick gave me a free card, whereby I picked up a flush draw. I thought about betting for roughly 7 milliseconds, and then I checked. If I bet and he raised, I would have had to fold; if he called, and the flush came on the river, I would have been committed for all of my chips, even if Erick made a bigger flush. Erick gave me a free river card to make my flush, and I made a small bet into the pot and he paid me off. Needless to say, Erick disgustedly mucked his hand when I showed what I had raised with before the flop. This was the first time that Minh spoke to me, and he let me know that he would have bet me off the hand before the flop if Erick hadn’t smooth called.

Steal #2: Q-3 of Diamonds

The preflop action was identical to the previous hand: Minh was in the big blind, I came in for a standard raise and Erick called from the cut-off position. Again, I nearly shat myself. Does this guy have it out for me, or what? I’ll give you two versions of this hand: how I saw it happen, and what the commentators would have said if we had been on TV.

After reassuring myself that my bowels were under control, the flop was dealt: Qc-10c-6h. I flopped top pair, and made a move to my chips, but then checked. Erick underbet the pot with $1,000, almost half of my remaining stack. I went into the tank and considered my options:

1. Fold. Maybe the best option. There’s a good chance that I’m beat. I don’t like this—I’m out of position, and I’m playing against one of the toughest players around. I should probably fold.

2. Raise. If I’m not going to fold, I should probably go all-in for my remaining $1,300. I really don’t want to do that, because my stack is to small to bet him off the hand.

3. Call. What? I have the option to call? Are you crazy? “Well,” I thought, “I can’t bet him off the hand now, but maybe it will work if I call and bet out on the turn.” So, that’s what I decide to do.

The turn brought the 4 of diamonds, and I moved all-in, and Erick called with A-J of clubs, a gutshot Royal Flush draw. The river was a blank, I doubled up, and Erick was crippled. Once again, Minh told me that the only reason I won the hand was because Erick called in front of him. Erick grumbled to the person next to him, and asked me why I didn’t go all-in on the flop. From Erick’s perspective, it was a stupid play. Maybe it was. However, had we been on TV, I think the announcers would have thought I was brilliant.

The TV Version…

"Oliver’s come in with a standard raise with his second stealing hand of the night, Queen Three of Diamonds, and again on Minh’s big blind. Does he really think that Minh will let him push him around? Erick looks down and saw Ace Jack of Clubs. He’s going to play this hand for sure, especially after he saw that Oliver will raise with junk. Look! He smooth-called again! I don’t like that play here—Erick’s about a 2:1 favorite. He should re-raise and at least find out where he stands. If Oliver’s got a legitimate hand, he’ll let Erick know, but if he’s on a steal, Erick could take it down right there.

"Let’s see the flop…Oh my God! Oliver’s flopped top pair, and Erick has a royal flush draw. Oliver has the best hand right now, but Erick is actually still a slight favorite to win the hand at 55%. Oliver looked like he wanted to bet, but then decided to check at the last moment. He gave Erick the chance to come out firing. But wait, Erick only bet $1,000, about half the size of the pot. This pretty much commits Oliver to betting his whole stack if he decides to call. He looks like he’s trying to get a read on Erick. He’s seen Erick bet with a few drawing hands already, so maybe he’s trying to see if that’s the case. Plus, with the weak bet, I don’t think Oliver’s going to be able to lay this hand down.

"Oliver just called! He just as well have gotten his chips in the pot right now, but something made him just call. Here comes the turn, and it’s a blank, and Oliver, now a 2:1 favorite in the hand, moves all-in. Erick, with his big draw, called. The river brought another blank and Oliver is back in this tournament, Ladies and Gentlemen! And it looks like Erick has his work cut out for him once again."

In reality, I’m neither a moron nor a genius. I can’t explain why I played the hand the way I did… it was something that I decided in the blink of an eye.

Pocket 8’s, with Minh in the Big Blind

I had just won the blinds two hands earlier by raising with pocket 7’s, but by now, Minh was jokingly complaining about me always raising his big blind. So now I have pocket 8’s and I decide to limp, and I tell Minh (and the table) that I was going to raise, but that I decided to call JUST because it was Minh’s Big Blind. One player in late position and both the blinds called. The flop came 6-5-2, and it was checked to me. I figured that I better find out if someone limped with 4-3 before I get into too much trouble, so I bet. The first caller dropped out, and the small blind, a very aggressive player with a big stack, check-raised me, and Minh dropped out. I still had a good-sized stack at the time, but I was out chipped by the check-raiser. I thought for a bit, deciding that if he had a straight, he might have played a little slower. If he had 2 pair, then I’m in trouble, but I still have outs. Most likely, he thought that I had big cards and was trying to push me out of the pot. So I moved all-in, and he called with K-6, top pair with a king kicker. The turn and river brought blanks, and now I was in great chip position. Minh was the first one to make the suggestion that I had been rewarded for not raising his Big Blind.

Lessons I learned from playing with the pros, and things I already knew, but needed to be reminded about:

1. My style of play is not as sophisticated as theirs. When I get short-stacked, I limit myself to two options: raise or fold. By calling or by raising different amounts, you give yourself a larger arsenal of weapons. The key is not being too predictable. Oftentimes, a minimum raise sets off an alarm that the player really wants someone to call or re-raise. Used sparingly, it can be an effective (and cheap) method of stealing the blinds. Just remember to mix it up: if you get caught stealing, remember to make that same bet the next time you have a big pocket pair, and hopefully you’ll get someone to re-raise.

2. Don’t be intimidated. They are just poker players, like everyone else in the room. Just because they’ve been on TV, it doesn’t mean that they don’t put their pants on one leg at a time. Treat them just like anyone else: figure out how they play. In fact, it can work to your advantage, because you should be aware that they might try to make tricky moves… and they won’t suspect that from you if you’re an unknown.

3. Know when to shift gears. The same strategy is not effective for the entire tournament. I played my tight-aggressive style with a little trapping throughout the tournament. I failed to shift gears and take advantage of my tight table image. Later in the tournament, I should have been looking more avidly for opportunities to steal the blinds and build up my stack. This is especially the case because when we were close to the bubble (a time when many players tighten their play), I should have taken advantage of the tight players to my left. In particular, there was an extremely tight player to my left, and I did not steal his big blind when I had the opportunity—actually, I had three opportunities: once, I mucked, and twice, I smooth-called. I won one of those pots, and the one that I lost, my opponent showed an ace. Since he didn’t raise when I limped, I should have taken this as a good sign that he would likely muck a similar hand if I raised from the small blind. I was too focused on looking for good cards than for looking for good opportunities.

4. Don’t get too anxious. Although I played most of the tournament very patiently, I got anxious, which ultimately led to me playing a hand I shouldn’t have and getting busted out when I still had a few chips to work with. Granted, it’s hard to maintain focus, concentration, and patience after 12 hours, but that was when it was needed the most. Next time, I will definitely remember this. When I shift gears and start looking for good opportunities, I will also remember not to get too anxious and to only pick the right opportunities.

Look for my upcoming article on how to play with a short stack.

Oliver can be reached at oliver@babblog.com.