He Said, She Said, Vol. 4: Terrence Chan at APPT Sydney
Hand History: Both Terrence and the villain in this hand have been the two most aggressive and active players at the table, tangling numerous times. It's late on Day 1 of the APPT Sydney Grand Final Main Event.
The Hand:
Blinds 400/800 with a 100 ante.
Terrence's stack: ~72,000
Villain's stack: ~70,000
Terrence holds: Q♦10♦, Villain holds: 9-x
Pre-flop:
Folds around the table to the villain in MP1. Villain raises to 2,400, and it's folded to Terrence on the cut-off; Terrence calls, and the button and blinds fold.
Flop: 10♠8♣5♦
Villain checks, Terrence bets 3,600, Villain check-raises to 10,000, and Terrence calls.
Turn: 9♠
Villain checks; Terrence checks behind.
River: A♠
Villain thinks for quite a while, then bets 14,000. Terrence thinks for an extended period of time, then raises to 32,000. Villain tanks for several minutes, gets the clock called on him, and calls. Terrence taps the table and reveals his Q♦10♦. Villain instantly mucks and later says he had a nine.
Street-by-street analysis:
Pre-flop:
Folds around the table to the villain in MP1. Villain raises to 2,400, and it's folded to Terrence on the cut-off; Terrence calls, and the button and blinds fold.
Tony: This seems like a pretty straightforward street. Terrence knows villain is open-raising a lot of hands, and he's got a solid suited handed in position with deep stacks for exploiting the villain. Pretty easy stuff.
Celina: Both players had big stacks, with room to play a lot of post-flop poker. The structure of the tournament was very deep, so at 90 BBs, pre-flop calls can be made with small pocket pairs, suited connectors and so on. Terrence's call here with Q♦10♦ is pretty standard.
Flop: 10♠8♣5♦
Villain checks, Terrence bets 3,600, Villain check-raises to 10,000, and Terrence calls.
Tony: When the villain checks, Terrence's bet seems pretty obvious. When he gets check-raised he likely thinks the villain either has a big pair, a draw, or a bluff. He can pretty much expect the villain to lead out with most of his tens or medium pairs, so I think he probably imagines he fares well against his range. I think Terrence will be folding on a fair number of turns if villain bets very large, especially if it's some form of scare card.
Celina: Terrence made a standard bet; most of the time, he should win the pot there and then. Villain probably expected Terrence to bet here if he checks, so he could check raise-here with air, draw or top pair. Terrence, holding top pair, can see a couple of possible straight draws out and probably figures that the villain will probably be betting the flop with a ten. Making the call here to see how the villain will proceed on the turn is the best option.
Turn: 9♠
Villain checks; Terrence checks behind.
Tony: Terrence can't afford to get check-raised here again since it will always blow him off his hand, so he checks behind intending to call a river bet on about any safe river. Villain has taken a fairly weird line, especially if he has a big pair, so Terrence likely believes he has a bluff or perhaps semi-bluff.
Celina: Terrence made the correct check here, as he does not want the pot to be too big, so both of their stacks are in play for the final street. At this point, Terrence does not know if he's still ahead or behind, and getting check-raised here would be disastrous.
River: A♠
Tony: The villain thinks for quite some time then fires 14,000. Terrence now believes that villain has perhaps tried a bluff on the flop with a hand like A-J/A-Q/A-K because he believes a flop continuation bet will get played back at so often on a board of this texture. Terrence believes that if he raises the villain on the river (turning his one pair into a complete bluff, in his mind) then villain will almost always have to put Terrence on two pair, a straight, or a back-doored flush. In theory, I think Terrence's raise is a very good and complex play, as if I was in the position of the villain I would always be folding one pair. However, that the villain called with a very weak folding makes me think Terrence picked the wrong time and wrong player to pull this on, though it's the kind of play I could see using in the future in the right circumstances.
Celina: I literally stood there with my mouth open when the hands when turned over. I was standing on the rail watching with a friend, and we both tried to guess their hands and we decided that the action on the river could mean someone probably hit a flush / set / two pairs. Once we saw Terrence's hand turned over, we can begin to see the logic for the river playing out the way it did. Villain represented a big hand when he bet the river; it looks like he hit the ace, but most of the draws wouldn't get there excepting the back-door flush. Terrence is thinking he is probably behind now and decides that he can represent a much stronger hand by raising here and that would most likely get villain to fold a better hand. Villain probably concluded that this was a good spot for Terrence to bluff him off a hand by making a raise here, and thus decided to make the call. Villain was correct that Terrence was bluffing, but it was with a pair of tens. Terrence had accidentally turned his bluff into a winning value bet with second pair.
Tony 'Bond18' Dunst is a professional online poker player living in Australia. Dunst is one of the moderators of the strategy forum at the 2+2 forums, and is noted for his tongue-in-cheek recaps of big stories in the online poker world that he posts on 2+2 and pocketfives. Celina Lin is Tony's girlfriend and a good player in her own right. In fact, Celina has just signed on with PokerStars as a player/endorser, and will represent Team PokerStars at events all over the world. These two spend an incredible amount of time at home discussing poker hands. In each volume of this ongoing column, Dunst and Lin break down a hand and 'discuss' it in a way only a boyfriend and girlfriend can.
