Faraz Jaka Analyzes His WSOP Main Event Call for Stacks
Faraz Jaka has been one of the most successful tournament players in recent years, amassing just shy of $5 million in cashes playing tournaments spanning the globe. He has yet to grab his first World Series of Poker or World Poker Tour win, but has come close numerous times with a slew of final table finishes, so he’s no stranger to making big decisions in the biggest tournaments.
Jaka is currently playing the WSOP Main Event, of course, battling it out right now on Day 2c. Not long ago he posted a series of interesting hands from today on his Twitter account, including one in which he was forced to make a big decision whether or not to call off his stack.
PokerNews caught up with Jaka on break shortly after he played that hand to ask him about it.
PokerNews: Okay, so set up the hand for us.
Faraz Jaka: There’s a little history. About 45 minutes [before], I raised K♥J♣, I get two callers, and the flop’s 10♥9♥5♦. I bet, one guy calls. The turns the 6♥, check-check. The river’s a blank, I check and he goes all in for pot.
I’ve got king-high. I’m sitting there thinking about calling because this doesn’t make any sense. I fold after about five minutes, and he shows QxJx. So, there’s already been a big pot where I folded for my tournament life. Maybe, in his head, he thinks I won’t call off.
On to the hand we’re here for. How did it go down?
In the small blind, I three-bet 10♣8♣ [to 3,800 over a hijack open to 1,300], and the guy calls. The flop is J♠10♠4♥. He could have a lot of draws — the spades, the king-queen — but he could also have a jack. It’s a tough spot where you have to feel the guy out.
I check to see what size he bets, [and] if he gives off any tells, any information I can get that will help me. He checks it back, which is great, but he still could have a better 10x than me.
The turn comes the 7♦. What now?
I bet 4,200. He makes it 9,200, which is really small. I only have like 15,000 behind. He’s not repping much besides maybe sevens. He might shove those preflop. I’m worried about sevens. I’m wondering if he plays king-queen like this and is just committing himself, but making a small raise so it looks stronger.
But it’s not making a lot of sense, so I decide to call.
The river is the J♣ for a final board of J♠10♠4♥7♦J♣. Talk us through the river decision.
He shouldn’t be checking back jacks [on the flop], and why would he raise the turn [if he had a jack]? I check, he goes all in, and it makes no sense. The only thing he’s repping is sevens.
Preflop, he didn’t look at my stack size. If you’re flatting a raise with sevens preflop, you’re usually going to pay attention to how many chips the guy has. It seemed more like, “Faraz Jaka’s three-betting me, I’m going to defend.”
So, you call it off.
I called, hoping he had king-queen or some random cards he’s playing back at me with like AxXx-suited. He ended up having 6x5x, so I guess he was committing himself with a different open-ended [draw].
Is there any concern with calling off your tournament life in the Main Event?
Yeah, for sure. Your tournament life always has value, and in the Main Event, it’s definitely higher. At that point though, it’s a huge pot, and people realize your tournament life has value so they are going to push harder. So it’s a game of cat-and-mouse.
Bluffing all-in — is that something you see fairly routinely in the Main Event?
It’s all player-dependent. There are people who are going to push harder because people value their tournament life, and there are people that are scared to push because they overvalue their tournament life. It’s just about reading the players and knowing who has the cojones and who doesn’t.
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