Brian Rast Explains Huge River Call with Third Pair at Aussie Millions Main Event
Just seven remain in the 2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event from a field of 648, with James Rann leading. Among the other six who will return for Saturday’s final day of play is Brian Rast who was involved in one of the more talked about hands from Friday, one in which he knocked out Michael Pedley in 27th place.
The hand occurred during Level 20 where the blinds were 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante. Pedley began the hand with about 700,000 — just about an average stack at the time — while Rast started with approximately 1.2 million.
With Rast on the button, Pedley in the big blind, and a third player between them, it was three-handed to the 7♣4♦9♦ flop where it checked around to Rast who bet and only Pedley called. The turn brought the K♠ and a check from Pedley, after which Rast bet 115,000 or a little over half the pot. At that Pedley check-raised the minimum to 230,000, and Rast called.
The river was the Q♥, and Pedley shoved all in for his last 390,000. That sent Rast into the tank for several minutes to recount to himself how the hand had gone. Finally Rast emerged with a call, turning over J♣9♦ for third pair. Pedley told him he’d made a good call, tabling 8♥8♠ before hitting the rail as others congratulated Rast on having made a difficult, correct decision.
During a subsequent break Rast met with our Sarah Herring to describe his thought process during that river tank, and his explanation is fascinating.
“There were a lot of things about the way he played his hand that to me added up to [indicate] he didn’t have a made hand,” Rast begins. Having just limited experience playing against Pedley — Rast references only one previous hand of note between them beforehand — he had to draw on a lot of information from the hand itself in order to find that river call. He also had to draw on trust in his own instincts about how his opponent had played the hand. Check it out:
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