My First WSOP Final Table Part II

First, I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words regarding Part I of my post.

I enjoyed sharing it, although the 2005 WSOP $1.5k NLHE final table seems so long ago.

I've played tens of thousands of poker hands since then, but I was surprised by how quickly the critical hands came back to me.

I ended the last post after I'd doubled through Charlie Huff, who ended up out in sixth place. We'd played 99 hands, and the blinds were $12k/$24k with a $4k ante. The chip counts were:

• Seat 2: Scott Fischman ($790k)
• Seat 3: Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott ($310k)
• Seat 4: Allen Cunningham ($1.5mil)
• Seat 7: Can Kim Hua ($190k)
• Seat 8: Me ($519k)

I busted out after a little more than a dozen more hands, a victim of my own poor play. Let's look at a few key hands though, and I'll take you through what I was thinking then and what I would do differently today.

After an orbit, I picked up K-10 in the cut-off position (one before the button). I made it $50k, really hoping to take the $56k in blinds and antes down. Allen called from the big blind, and the flop was 9♣ 5♠ 3♥.

Allen Cunningham: Frustrated more than a few on the way to five WSOP bracelets.

Allen checked, and I decided to check as well. I really can't remember what my thoughts were checking here - probably that I would take a free card and try to hit my hand.

The J♦ came on the turn and Allen led out for $80k. I'd picked up a gut-shot straight draw and thought I could push him out of the pot. I raised to $170k, and he quickly moved all-in. I folded quickly, and I was frustrated.

Looking back on this hand, I would have played it very differently. As I said last week, it is so important to know when to change gears. I was comfortably third in chips, and there was no reason to get aggressive there.

Allen is a player who will defend his blinds, especially if he smells weakness. He must have here. I'd even thought that I needed to steer clear of him, but here I was wading into his swamp. He totally outplayed me in this hand, betting a perfect amount ($80k) that was roughly half the pot, the kind of bet that screams "I've got nothing, but I'll take a stab."

He'd already anticipated what I would do and lured me right into giving him half my stack. I was too focused on my cards and not focused enough on who I was up against.

I was shaken as we went to the dinner break. I'd never played with any of these guys, and I tried to settle down during the break. Allen now had more than half the chips in play. The chip counts:

• Scott Fischman ($652k)
• Devilfish Ulliott ($411k)
• Allen Cunningham ($1.826mil)
• Can Kim Hua ($262k)
• Liz Lieu ($279k)

The blinds moved up to $15k/$30k with a $5k ante, putting $70k out there for anyone who could grab it. I made it $90k in the cut-off and took down the blinds and antes uncontested this time.

On the second hand after the dinner break, I picked up A♠ 9♣. I've since noticed that many poker bloggers call this hand the "Tourist Hand" because so many tourists play it like it's pocket aces.

Can Kim Hua: Very underrated, with eight six-figure cashes since 2004.

I was under the gun and made it $80k, slightly less than my previous raise but still an overbet of the pot. Can Kim then moved all-in from the big blind.

I went in the tank, trying to figure out more what to do than what hand to put him on. I've come to know how tough Can Kim is, a very underrated player who has eight six-figure cashes in various tournaments since 2004. I really never calculated pot odds and didn't work hard enough to put him on a hand.

I finally said to myself, "Well, I guess I'm pot committed and it's a 50-50 race." I called, and he showed two red jacks. My ace didn't come, and Can Kim had doubled through me. That left me with $72k, which only lasted for a big blind that I mucked when Allen raised from the button, and then my last shove from the small blind, which Scott called from the big blind with K♠ 6♥.

It was a fitting end, as I only had one live card with my 9♠ 6♣. I was $168,590 richer for my first WSOP cash, but I walked away feeling I'd let a great opportunity slip away.

It's easy to say I should have gotten away from A-9o here, but let's look more closely at the hand itself after my raise. After Can Kim moved all-in, the pot was $377k ($70k from the initial blinds and antes, my $80k raise and Can Kim's $227k remaining). I was faced with a call of $157k, laying me roughly 2.4-1 for my call.

There are five different options for hands that Can Kim could have there:

1. A pure bluff (I put the chances he was bluffing at zero, but for some players you'd have to consider this).
2. An underpair, say pocket sevens. I would be a 46%-54% underdog to an underpair.
3. Suited connectors, say K-Qs. I'm now a 54%-46% favorite, but I think Can Kim has this very often to make this play.
4. A bigger ace, say A♥ Q♥. Here, I'm a 22%-78% underdog.
5. A big pair, say the jacks that he held. Again, I'm a 28%-72% underdog.

Even without doing the math, you can see there is one highly unlikely scenario where I'm ahead (pure bluff), two chances at basically a coin flip (only with the middle pair situation do I think he would move like this), and two more likely situations where I'm a significant underdog.

Lieu: A different player 30 months later.

If I had mucked after his all-in, it would have stung, but I would have had $269k, basically where we'd started after the dinner break. Did I have the right odds to call here? What would you have done?

Today, I would have played these hands much differently. Then, I really played with more feel than discipline, more Limit Hold'em style than No-Limit. Aggression without an ability to change gears is bad poker.

Being unable to get away from a marginal hand is a great way to win less while making excuses as to why you busted out. I didn't really understand these things then, but I've learned a great deal about tournament NLHE in the last 30 months.

Stop by www.lizlieu.net and drop by www.ChiliPoker.com whenever you have a chance. And I'd be interested to hear how you would have played these hands. I'm all ears when it comes to poker! :-)

Cheers!

Liz Lieu

Pro Poker Player - Poker Diva

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