WHEN BIGGER STACKS TANGLE

MARCH 14, 2010
by: Phillip Barry, DPL Commissioner and Champion
     When playing in tournament poker and you are getting close to bursting the bubble, some players loosen up to take easy chips from other players, and other players tighten up to allow the others to risk their chips. The best thing a small chip stack can see, more than getting pocket aces, is allowing the bigger stacks to tangle. If two big stacks tangle, this could allow the smaller chip stack to sneak up the leaderboard and possible sneek past the bubble. I did just this in the 1st game of the 3rd session of the 2010 season, when we were down to five players.

     The cards were dealt and I was first to act. I look down at my hole cards and mucked them rather quickly. David Kates followed suit and mucked his cards after a quick peek. Chad Haynes raised to 3 times the big blind. When the action came to Keith in the small blind, he started to reach for chips, but then Bob Burtschi acted out of turn and said, "I'm All-In". Bob quickly realized he acted out of turn and appoligized. Keith was disgusted by this, knowing the next person to act is going to push all-in after he decides what to do, and he just had the player before him raise the pot. The other players realized Keith had a very good hand when he was not ready to muck the cards quickly. Keith finally decided to move All-In himself, and then Bob Burtschi was more than happy to call. When action returned to the initial raiser, Chad instantly called (or insta called). Chad turned over , Bob turned over , and finally Keith turned over .

     I was the short stack at the time and was looking at being the bubble boy for the 2nd time in last three games of the DPL. Between Chad, Keith, and Bob; the order of chips stacks were Chd, then Keith, then Bob. The flop missed Chad and Bob, but Keith was able to catch his set of 10's with a . The turn and river did not allow Chad or Bob to catch their sets, thus Kieth was able to take down a huge pot. That worked out well for me because since Bob was eliminated by Chad and thus he finished 5th.

     I let the bigger stacks tangle and thus I snuck into the top 4. The very next hand I got and pushed all-in to make it appear that I was happy to make the top 4 and now I'm ready to play. My thought to push all-in was that I believed Chad may be a bit on tilt and if he had a decent hand he might call the all-in. Chad made a very loose call and put himself all-in. Since I had the bigger stack Chad was all-in and at risk. Chad turned over . Everything seemed to be working out great for my play when the flop came out , then the turn , and until Chad caught a on the river to take the pot. Ahhhhh!!!! Rivered again. Too many times, but poker is poker. It is what it is, luck is a huge factor.
 
 
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