Liv Boeree Talks About PokerStars Sunday Warmup Win
Liv Boeree has proven time and again that she has what it takes to play poker with the best in the business both live and online. In April 2010, she outlasted a field of 1,240 at the European Poker Tour San Remo Main Event for a payday of nearly $1.7 million, and just a few days ago, she took down the PokerStars Sunday Warmup for just under $148,000. Boeree talks to PokerNews about a few strategies that helped her along the way.
First, talk about your tournament just before the final table. What was shorthanded play like for you ?
I was lingering around 20 big blinds for quite a while leading up to the final table, basically just staying alive by reshoving on people a lot but playing pretty straightforward. I had "jymaster" and "DNA2RNA" on my left who are both really good and aggressive, which made life difficult, so I opened tight but reshoved fairly wide.
So you were opening tight with plans to call shoves that other players may be doing light?
In a certain respect, yes, I was just trying to be stack-size aware as many people were in the same boat as me stack-wise. I didn't make any particularly huge calls before the final table, though.
So once at the final table, what was your overall game plan as far as your relative stack and position versus certain players?
I was trying to be ICM-aware and let the short-stacks bust. I was middle of the pack and because of that, it didn't make much sense for me to make any unnecessarily aggressive moves, as I wanted to move up the money spots a bit. "Mig.com" James Mackey] was who I had my eye on, as I know how good he is. But, he was basically on the opposite side of the table to me so wasn't posing too much of a problem. Also, I noticed he was playing a very similar style to me — solid.
For those who don't know, can you go into a bit more detail on what it means to be ICM-aware, and possibly highlight mistakes people make when not taking this into consideration?
Well, to get to the basics, playing tournaments is different to playing. For example, winning all the chips in a tournament doesn't win you all the cash, whereas in cash games (or winner-take-all tourneys) it obviously does. So often, people play a bit too recklessly on a final table and don't take into account their stacks or their opponents'. Whilst it's always good to shoot for the title, you have to remember that ultimately you are playing to make money, and making an unnecessary move on a big money bubble when there are short stacks about to bust can be less than optimal. So it's about finding a comfortable balance between using your aggression to collect free chips and being aware of the money jumps.
When I was watching the replay, it seemed as though players were three-bet shipping big stacks instead of three-betting and opening themselves up to a four-bet. Is that standard these days?
Yes, I did see that a fair bit. It's hard to say why each individual chose to do it, but I guess it's because they value their tournament life too much and as such, didn't want to take a big flip unnecessarily. The trouble with doing that too much is that you miss out on potential value with your big hands of course, or they could be doing it to balance their three-bet shoving ranges
When you got heads up against Mackey, he was min-raising almost every button. It seemed like you were mostly flatting with decent hands out of position like king-ten, queen-nine, and ace-nine. What were your thoughts behind that?
Well, first of all, I didn't want to destroy the value of those hands by three-bet folding them, but also, I didn't want to defend too wide out of position against him as he's such a good player. Plus, I was starting to get a few tells about his post flop play, like he was checking back his made hands on the flop and betting his misses. Hence the check-raise I made with the ace-seven on the queen-jack-x two diamond board. He's rarely betting a queen or jack there.
Hand Recall
Stacks
Liv Boeree ~ 19 million
James Mackey ~ 27 million
Stakes: Blinds at 250,000-500,000 with a 50,000 ante
Action: Mackey min-raised from the button to 1 million, and Boeree called with A♣9♣. The flop was A♥6♦3♦. Boeree checked and Mackey bet 1.3 million. The turn was the 7♣. Boeree checked, and Mackey checked. The river was the 4♦. Boeree checked, and Mackey bet 3.33 million. Boeree called, and Mackey showed 7♠5♥ for a straight.
I misplayed that hand. I should've led the turn.
Why? Because the seven helped his range? Or because he wasn't double-barreling with air?
Because he wasn't double-barreling with air, and it's fairly draw heavy. Instead, I let him check down and then I called a river bet without thinking. D'oh!
Do you think that most of the time, a bet from him there on the river is for value, and most value hands beat yours?
No, not necessarily. He could bluff there as it's a pretty bluffy board, but more importantly, I should've led the turn and gotten some value whilst I was still ahead! Ah, the power of hindsight.
If you'd led the turn and he called, what would you have done on the river?
I guess if I was being super smart, I would check-fold the river, but I rarely am! He's never floating with nothing on the turn, so I have to assume he's calling with some kinda value hand, and if he's betting the river, then I'm not beating anything. But, knowing me, I probably would've check-called because I'm a station [laughs].
Is there anything else you'd like to add about your win?
Not really, just that I'm really,really happy, and you're probably gonna see me playing a lot more tourneys on PokerStars from now on! I'm also super excited about getting some heads-up experience against such a good player as I'm playing the NBC National Heads Up Championship next month!
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