Strategy Snapshot: Caps Change Everything

Two high-stakes heavyweights - Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies - switch it up and throw some short stacks around in a cap game for this edition of Strategy Snapshot.

(Hand history and stats from PL.com MarketPulse Biggest Pots section.)

Players: Tom "durrrr" Dwan vs. Illari "Ziigmund" Sahamies

Game: $500/$1,000 NL Hold'em, $30,000 cap, Full Tilt Poker

Stack Sizes: durrrr $31,000; Ziigmund $133,988

The Setup

This hand takes place in a $500/$1,000 blind $30,000 cap game. "Cap game" here means the most one player can lose in a single hand is $30,000. So in reality each player is playing with only a 30 BB stack.

The hand begins with Ziigmund limping on the button. durrrr raises to $2,800 and Ziigmund calls. The flop comes down 5 2 J. durrrr bets out $3,400 and Ziigmund flat-calls.

The turn brings the 6. durrrr continues his aggression with a bet of $7,400.

Ziigmund comes alive and raises to the cap $23,800. durrrr makes the call and flips up A 6, but will need to improve by the river against Ziigmund's J 9. The river brings the T and durrrr is shipped the $60,000, less 50¢ to the rake pot.

The Breakdown

The hand starts off with a bit of a confusing limp by Ziigmund on the button. Ziigmund is usually known for his aggression. Limping the button is an extremely weird play. He may have decided to do it since durrrr had been three-betting his button openings and, as mentioned, with the cap structure each player is only really playing with 30 BBs.

It is for this reason, I believe, that Ziigmund starts off with a button limp with his J 9. durrrr however has a suited ace, which is a big hand heads-up, and raises to $2,800 for value. Ziigmund flat-calls with his one-gap connector.

The flop comes down J 5 2. This gives durrrr the nut flush draw and an overcard, so he continuation bets $3,400. Ziigmund, who now has top pair, has a monster heads-up with 30 BB stacks.

He chooses to smooth-call the flop to get it in on the turn. There's no chance in the world that Ziigmund is folding this hand on this board in a cap game.

The turn brings the 6 which now gives durrrr second pair as well as the nut flush draw. With this strong a hand there's no way durrrr can fold with effective stacks of 30 BB either.

He bets the turn to $7,400 and Ziigmund caps the pot to $23,800. durrrr, who has 14 outs against a pair of jacks, has no choice but to snap-call, getting almost 3-1 with his good draw and possibly even best hand with the history he and Ziigmund have together.

Sahamies: Lets durrrr hang himself on the turn card, but gets hung out to dry on the river.

When the cards are turned over it is durrrr who has to improve; luckily for him the river brings one of his numerous outs, the T, and durrrr rakes in the $60,000 pot.

The fact that this is a cap game completely changes the flow of the play. The cap game effectively makes both players short-stacked, as the most they can lose is 30 BBs.

Ziigmund plays the hand great by letting durrrr hang himself on a safe turn card. Unfortunately for Ziigmund, though, durrrr has a robust draw and hits.

Well played by both players.

To see more hand histories between these two online poker kingpins, or more of the Top 100 biggest pots online over the last day, week and month, jump to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

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