Hand Review: Fernandez Fights Back Against Schemion's Aggression
Covering live poker tournaments for a living affords me the opportunity to see countless thousands of hands played out, many of which offer interesting and potentially valuable insights into how players — both amateurs and professionals — play the game. In this ongoing series, I'll highlight hands I've seen at the tournaments I've covered and see if we can glean anything useful from them.
The Scene
Today I was going to write up a hand I circled from this spring at European Poker Tour Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event. However, while going through the archives I found an even cooler hand to review between German crusher Ole Schemion and tough Spanish player Javier Fernandez.
The hand came up when the event was down to just 10 players. Blinds were at 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante. Schemion was playing extremely aggressively and sitting on a big stack of well over 100 big blinds, covering the 2.8 million or so played by Fernandez.
The Action
Schemion opened to 100,000 in the cutoff with A♦5♣ and Fernandez flatted on the button with Q♣J♦.
The flop came A♣10♣2♠ and Schemion checked. Fernandez bet 85,000 and Schemion called. Schemion checked again when the 7♣ arrived and Fernandez bet much bigger with 375,000, which Schemion called once more. On the 5♠ river, Schemion came out betting with 325,000.
Fernandez responded with an all-in shove for 2,095,000, and Schemion thought for some time before opting to lay it down. Fernandez let him turn over a card and he picked the jack, seeing he'd been bluffed.
Concept and Analysis
Schemion is an absolute machine late in these events, playing with zero fear and generally putting a mountain of pressure on his opponents. In this spot, though, the tables got turned on him as Fernandez showed off his own skills and lack of fear.
When you have a player like Schemion opening with no regard on your right, you have to do something about it, particularly when the player is in the cutoff and you have the button. That's the most profitable position at the table and you can't allow an opponent to steal your button constantly.
Knowing this, Fernandez opts to try to see a flop with a mediocre holding in queen-jack but one that he knows likely does okay against Schemion's massive cutoff opening range, which probably includes a decent chunk of queens and jacks Fernandez has dominated. It's a viable play, even if it does invite a squeeze from the blinds, but if the players there aren't too aggressive, it can work out.
Of course, taking a holding like this and navigating postflop against a beast like Schemion is an altogether different story and that's where the fun begins in this hand.
Schemion opts to check the flop, which is something I do a lot in this spot when I open weak aces and flop top pair. You want to have some top pairs in your checking back range and I much prefer to do it when my kicker is bad so I don't waste the chance of having someone outkicked. If I have ace-king in these spots and someone's sitting with ace-jack, I could be costing myself a lot of profit.
As for Fernandez, he has a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw, so he knows he can barrel any club or any king, making this a decent hand with which to start bluffing. He does so, and on the turn the club does arrive along with a Schemion check.
With 470,000 in the middle, Fernandez fires a big bet of 375,000 and Schemion still sticks around, as he certainly can't just let go of top pair in this spot. Plus, he has a club himself and could possibly win the pot with a flush even in the unlikely scenario he's beat.
On the river, Schemion makes a very interesting decision by pushing out a blocking bet of about a quarter of the pot after making two pair. The standard would certainly be to check and see what Fernandez does. Perhaps Schemion hoped to squeeze a bit of value from an ace, but betting opens things up for Fernandez to possibly shove on him.
That's exactly what happens as Fernandez does jam. It's a fantastic spot for him to do so holding the Q♣, meaning he blocks many of Schemion's strongest hands here, plus the fact that the shove is about the size of the pot means it doesn't look too much like he's trying to induce a fold.
Schemion has a very tough decision. He does have the 5♣ which could block some low flushes, but doesn't Fernandez three-bet most of his holdings that make low flushes? Certainly, flatting a hand like 6♣5♣ against Schemion is just going to put you in some brutal spots postflop, so it's not too enticing of a line.
Schemion decides he can find a better spot, and his lead here may have ended up costing him the pot, though it's possible Fernandez would have just overbet-shoved regardless and Schemion would have found a fold.
Kudos to Fernandez here for taking a strong line and following through on a big bluff, forcing Schemion to think twice about stealing his button in the future.
