Image Is Everything

Monday, June 16, 2008

Strategy Snapshot: Image Is Everything

Deucescracked.com coach Ariel "DaEvils" Schneller (aka FoxWoodsFiend) faces off against everyone's favorite Finnish LAG, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, in this edition of the snapshot.

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

Players: Ariel "DaEvils" Schneller vs. Illari "Ziigmund" Sahamies

Game: $200/$400 No-Limit Hold'em, Heads-Up, Full Tilt Poker

Stack Sizes: DaEvils $71,598.50; Ziigmund $91,398

The Setup

Ziigmund raises to $1,200 from the button/small blind. DaEvils three-bets to $4,000 from out of position. Ziigmund makes the call and they see a flop of 3 T 2.

DaEvils leads out for $6,400 and Ziigmund flat-calls. The turn brings the K and DaEvils fires a second barrel, $17,400.

Ziigmund takes some time before raising to $80,998 all-in. DaEvils makes the call for his last $43,798 and tables J J.

Unfortunately for him, the turn made Ziigmund two pair with K T. The river bricks out 5 and Ziigmund is shipped the $143,196 pot with his top two pair.

The Breakdown

Ziigmund raises to $1,200 with his K T in position. This is a great hand heads-up and he will be happy to play a good king on the button.

DaEvils is dealt a big pocket pair, J J, and three-bets the Finn for value to $4,000. Ziigmund obviously makes the call.

The flop comes 3 T 2 and DaEvils leads for $6,400. Again, this is strictly for value. Flopping an overpair heads-up, you'll win at showdown a very high percentage of the time.

Ziigmund elects to flat-call. This is a move I really like.

With the K T Ziigmund is in a "way ahead or way behind" situation. The board is very dry, with no straight or flush draws out there.

His top pair, good kicker is either far and away the best hand, or he is behind. Either way he gains nothing by raising. All raising does is fold out worse hands and keep hands that beat him in.

By flat-calling the flop Ziigmund allows hands that he beats to continue. For example, if DaEvils had a hand like A K, he would surely snap-fold to a flop raise, whereas if Ziigmund smooth-calls the flop bet, he might trick DaEvils into firing another barrel on the turn.

Flatting the flop allows DaEvils to continue the hand with his whole range and not just the portion that beats him.

We must remember that although DaEvil's J J is ahead in the hand, there's no way Ziigmund can know that. Instead, he maximizes his equity against DaEvils entire range.

The turn card brings the K. DaEvils bets $17,400. He knows what Ziigmund is capable of and checking the overcard turn would put him in a tough spot.

He also knows that there are a ton of hands that Ziigmund could have called the flop with that do not improve with the K. DaEvils still likely believes that his hand is good and is still betting for value.

Ziigmund now makes top two pair. He knows that with his image a large raise is likely to be given no respect.

If you take a walk through the Strategy Snapshot section on PL.com, you'll find many hands where Ziigmund bets huge on the turn or river as a stone-cold bluff. It is hands like those that set him up to do the exact same move here, but for value.

Ziigmund shoves all-in over the turn bet and due to the aforementioned reasons, DaEvils is forced to call. Unlucky for the deucescracked coach, the turn king did improve Ziigmund's hand and he is now drawing to the two remaining jacks in the deck.

Help is not on the way and Ziigmund's two pair holds up in the $143,196 pot.

To see more hand histories from their session, or more of the Top 100 biggest pots online over the last day, week, month and year, jump to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

More Strategy Snapshots:

• Strategy Snapshot: No Way in a Million Years
• Strategy Snapshot: The World Is Not Enough
• Strategy Snapshot: Deep-Stack Cooler
• Strategy Snapshot: Brother Runs Ziig Down