How Not to Go Bust When You Flop a Monster Draw
How do you play your "monster" draws — for example, hands in which you flop both straight and flush draws and appear to have massive equity? Are you inclined to call and see what develops, or are you usually eager to get it all in right there?
Maria Konnikova recently visited with David Lappin and Dara O'Kearney, the hosts of The Chip Race podcast, and the group discussed an interesting hand Konnikova played in which she faced that very situation.
The hand took place during the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship back in August, a single re-entry tournament in which Konnikova was already on her second entry, which for her meant if she were to be knocked out again she would be eliminated for good.
The hand occurred during Level 3 when the blinds were 300/500 with a 500 big blind ante. Konnikova was sitting in the big blind with a stack of 57,000 when an aggressive player who had her slightly covered raised to 1,200 from early position.
It folded back to Konnikova who had J♥8♥ who called, and with 3,200 in the middle the flop came 6♣7♥9♥, giving Konnikova both flush and straight draws.
"At this point I'm absolutely loving life," says Konnikova. She checked and watched her opponent bet 1,500, and Konnikova decided to check-raise to 4,000. He then reraises to 11,000 — something she says she didn't expect him to do — and Konnikova called.
Konnikova didn't expect the reraise since the board didn't appear to hit many of the hands with which her opponent would be raising preflop from early position.
She, Lappin, and O'Kearney discuss that point further, including how that flop would tend to hit the big blind's range a lot more than that of the preflop raiser (a "hand range advantage"). They also talk about the merits of just calling the reraise rather than getting it all in right here.
With the pot a little over 25,000, the turn brings the 3♦. Konnikova checked and her opponent bet 13,000, giving her about 3-to-1 to call with her draws. She did call, pushing the pot up over 51,000, but those draws missed when the 4♣ completed the board. After checking her opponent made a very small river bet (just over 20 percent of the pot), but Konnikova couldn't continue.
Watch and listen to the discussion by the group of all three streets, including at the end when the point is made that adding to her opponent's strength was the fact that Konnikova's hand actually blocked a lot of his bluffs.
Also... watch to see what hand her opponent had, as he showed after her fold.
The Chip Race is a weekly podcast sponsored by Unibet Poker, and can be heard on iTunes and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. Follow David Lappin on Twitter @dklappin, Dara O’Kearney @daraokearney, and Maria Konnikova @mkonnikova.
