Today we are going to talk about a hand from the WSOP where the chip leader is applying huge ICM pressure to the second stack on the table with just 6 Players left and huge ICM considerations. Firstly to get an idea of what the final 6 were playing for we look at the payouts:
1st $1,344,930
2nd $830,783
3rd $619,017
4th $464,375
5th $350,758
6th $266,771
As you can see, the difference between locking up a top two spot with your big stack here if you are in this spot is life changing money with another $564k to be added to your net worth just for letting the short stacks bust.
Let’s take a look at the hand
Cory Albertson (41BBS) opens for a 2.1x raise of 3.3M on the button with A♣ K♣
Chip leader, Kazuki Ikeuchi (62BBS) 3-Bet to 11.1M with K♥ T♣
Albertson elected to call and we see a flop of 9♠ 7♣ J♣
Giving a piece of something for everyone with a double gutshot for the Chip Leader Ikeuchi and two overs and the Nut Flush draw to Albertson
Post flop play
Ikeuchi starts with a check, a solid line given the stack to pot ratio, he can make sure he gets the last bet all in here with his draw and overcards and apply maximum pressure to the 2nd in chips with the ICM implications of busting here with there being 4 other much shorter stacks on the table.
That is exactly what ensues as Albertson bets 7.7M on the flop and is check-raised all in for all the biscuits.
Breakdown of the hand so far
The stacks are short on the Table with the Big Blind at 1.6M there two players on an 8BB stack, an 11BB stack and a 22BB stack all with far fewer chips than us. So we are going to want to play a tight range here as the Chip leader can put us in some really tough spots.
Obviously though we are going to want to play the very top of our range on the button here even against the chip leader in the Big Blind, so we are going to want to raise, however once we are facing the 3-Bet from the Big blind, it’s just going to be tough to play against the chip leader post flop, we are going to have to play so straight forwardly we are almost forced to playing our hand face up, the line I think most good players will agree on for how to play this hand in the easiest way possible is just to 4-Bet Jam all in.
Our opponent is going to have a tough time even wanting to call this off with the top part of there range, as although they cover us, we can put a huge dent in their stack if we battle for all the chips Pre-Flop. The good part of our hand in this spot too is that we block Aces and Kings, so we would almost prefer to have this hand than say pocket Queens here, because it just makes the chances of our opponent 3-Betting to play for stacks with Aces of Kings much less likely. We take the possible combinations of AA and KK in our opponents range from 12 in total down to 6, so our opponent is 50% less likely to have these holdings with us blocking both an Ace and a King.
However if we are going to just decide to flat call here, we need to play cautiously to not get shut out of this pot by a check jam and have to call off to have a chance at then winning the pot, in poker, in general, we are always going to want to be the aggressor and let other people call off to have a chance at winning. So once we have taken this quite scary line of taking a flop in position we are either going to want to check back the flop and try and play small ball Poker and get to showdown or we could simply move all in putting our opponent to a huge test.
With regards to Albertson’s ICM status, his chips in the tournament were worth 828K when the hand beings so betting and calling off here is pretty much the worst line of all, we will bust the tournament sometimes with 3 tiny stacks on the table which we are almost certainly going to lock up hundreds more buy-ins when we don’t bust in this spot 25% of the time.
How Does The Story End This Time?
After calling off for his tournament life, the rest is up to the Poker Gods, the turn card brings a blank in the shape of the 5♦ The river brings the heart-crushing T♥ making a pair of Tens for Kazuki Ikeuchi and all but locking up the win for him in this Millionaire maker WSOP event.
Cory Albertson goes from having 828K in equity to getting 6th Place for $266,771 a handsome payday none the less, but what could have been with any other line other than bet calling for his tournament life.
Takeaway Points
- Be mindful of STPR known as Stack to pot ratio, as this plays a huge part of who is going to have the final say on winning the pot without having to risk calling off.
- Don’t be scared to play back at Chip Leader bullies especially with the top of our range, whilst we have to be conservative with borderline holdings we cannot be over folding monsters. We want to have a tight range of hands to play against the chip leaders on Final tables, but when we play these play them with no fear and put the pressure on their wide re-steals.