Call or Fold: Facing an All-In on the Bubble
Today we are reviewing a hand I played in a $1,500 no-limit hold'em tournament at the World Series of Poker. It took place on the bubble when I was one of the chip leaders. I start out the hand pressuring the table with my big stack, but ends with me facing a river all-in from one my opponents.
I started things with a raise to 2,500 (2.5x) from early position with K♣J♦. With about 80,000 (80 big blinds) to start, I had the table well covered with several of my opponents with less than half what I had, and so as we were on the bubble I was applying pressure with my chip advantage.
My raise was called in three spots — two behind me plus the big blind — and the flop came K♠Q♠4♥ to give me top pair.
The big blind checked, and figuring I had the best hand here most of the time and there were lots of possible draws and second-best hands out there, I bet 5,000 into the 11,500 pot. Only the player to my left called.
The turn was the J♥ to give me a second pair. At this point I had to consider my opponent's stack size — he had 32,500 left. I chose to bet 8,000 and he called, making the pot 37,500. (See the video below to hear my reasons for that bet size.)
The river was the 5♣ and I checked, and that's when my opponent shoved his remaining 24,500.
Do you make the call? See what I chose to do as well as how things played out:
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,900,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. Sign up to learn poker from Jonathan for free at PokerCoaching.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
