While I’ve had my share of successes on the felt over the years, nothing compares to winning a World Series of Poker Bracelet. Now that the definitely-not-as-good-as-the-real-thing online WSOP season is in the rear-view mirror, I’m taking a trip down memory lane and reliving my favorite 10 hands from when I won the 2018 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’Em WSOP Bracelet.
World Series of Poker Las Vegas, NV June 10, 2018
Event #20: $5,000 Big Blind Ante Day 3
Level 23—10,000-20,000 blinds, 20,000 big blind ante, my stack=1,300,000 chips, 13 players remaining
The cutoff opened to 40,000, and I called in the SB with T8cc; the BB called as well. The flop came 873ss, and I checked. I have to admit that, regardless of whatever the result of the hand ended up being, checking may not have been the wisest move possible, but that’s a different discussion for a different day. The BB and the pre-flop aggressor (Asi Moshe, 4-time WSOP Bracelet winner) both checked behind me.
The turn came a 2 (non-spade), and I led out for 160,000 with my top-pair. The BB insta-mucked and Asi thought for a solid 3-4 minutes before finally dropping in the call. It was pretty tough for me to put him on a hand/range here since he’d been a relatively aggressive player who could have opened almost anything pre-flop from the cutoff, and given the board, he could have a small/mid-pocket-pair, a flush, or straight (or combo) draw, total air that he’s floating with to set up a river bluff—I was very uncomfortable with the spot that I was in at this point, especially with him having a dominant chip stack over mine.
The river came, the ten of spades, giving me top 2 pair but putting a potential flush on the board (as well as a potential straight, although it’s almost impossible for him to have that in this spot). If I were to lead out, and he moves all-in, I’d either be calling while guessing or, more accurately, hoping he doesn’t have the flush, or else I would be folding with most of my chips in the pot and leaving a short stack behind. I decided to check, which would both maintain some semblance of pot-control (afterall if he had the flush, I could call any reasonable bet he made and still have a playable stack behind), as well as act as a potential bluff-catcher.
This “plan” went quickly out the window when he led out for a 2x-the-pot-sized bet of 975,000. If I call and lose, I would have had less than 100k chips remaining—less than 5 BBs. I thought for probably as long as I ever have in a hand, although I’m generally not a tanker—I don’t think it was more than 5 or 6 minutes, but it felt like forever. If I call and I’m wrong, I thought, my tournament is essentially over; if I call and I’m right, I’m the chip-leader as we approach the Final Table.
Ultimately, given the aggressive nature of his play, I simply did not believe that he would check a flush draw on that flop and then flat it on the turn. Instead, I thought it was far more likely that he would lead out on the flop and almost certainly raise on the turn to pressure a shorter stack while holding a hand with a lot of equity. Still, I was plagued with a number of questions. Would he flat a set on the turn and/or check it on the flop? No way, not with that board. Could he have made a set of tens on the river and presume I don’t have a flush? I guess it’s possible, but it would be the case two tens, given that I’m holding one, and he’d also have checked an overpair on the flop, which seems highly unlikely. Ultimately I just thought he had a hand like AK—I couldn’t conceive he had a flush or a set (or a straight). I eventually made the call, and he nodded while showing AQo. This took me up to 2,490,000 chips and made me the chip leader as we approached the Final Table!
He put me to the ultimate decision, and I made the biggest call of my life, putting me in an incredible position heading to the FT to take down the Bracelet!