News / John Tabatabai / 04 March 2009 / Leave a comment

OK well last time I got so far as making it through to Day 2, the semi finals of the Aussie Millions $5,000 HU Event. My opponent on this glorious day was to be David Gent, a fellow UK online whiz kid, who plays under the alias of Genetic, a very good player.

"As I moved the chips into the middle, it felt like it was in slow motion and I was shouting to myself to pull it back, don't do it!"

As I came from my room in the Crown Towers and made my way towards the card room all I could think about was how close I was to finally winning something since my All Africa win which was over 9 months ago and not reported on too heavily. I was desperate to win this but knew it was going to be incredibly tough. As I took my seat on the odd-looking half-chopped up table to play our Heads Up match I could feel all his supporters around us watching, unfortunately for me my "friends" were still mostly in the main event so I had to keep looking at my phone for my virtual support. Every little bit helps J

Heat 1

Regretably, I didn't make notes or write this blog as soon as I should have and I genuinely can't remember how I won the first match, but I believe I won a flip after I got a nice little lead. The hand with which I got the lead was only a few hands into the match; David opened the button to 500 (starting stacks 20,000 and blinds 100-200) I defended with 89cc. The flop came J82 rainbow. Pretty much flopped the nuts. I thought the best course of action here would be to keep letting him abuse his position and the hands we had before this were all folded preflop or folded to cb so I was pretty sure if he had nothing he would at least double barrel as normally in online HU cash games they progress a bit slower before getting deep into a turn and river street confrontation. Subsequently I check called a bet of approximately 750. The turn was an Ace, although it looks like a bad card it is actually a good card in disguise, for that very reason that it looks like a bad card! Let me try to explain, the fact that David knows I'm aggressive means that I would most likely have 3b most A-x holdings preflop, therefore I can't have the Ace and I should fold to some further pressure. In all my thoughts here I am assuming he hasn't hit the board, the reason is because only a small percentage of the time he is going to hit and the rest of the time he is going to be able to read my hand very well and attempt to make me fold it to get an edge at the start of this match. I just have to use my live tells that I am slowly learning to pick up to confirm he hasn't hit and trust my instincts. So I check the ace where he duly bets again, unfortunately I can't remember the bet size but I am pretty sure it was around 60% of the pot. I took my time, seemed a bit distressed and called. The river was a random low card, completing no draws whatsoever, again, I took my time before checking making my hand look like exactly what it was!! Well, if my hand is so obviously what it is, and he knows it, it should be easy to fire a triple barrel which he did again 60-70% of the pot. In this spot, I really thought he would have bet less if he was value betting a jack or Ace as its pretty obvious what my hand is, given this plus my previous thoughts on this hand and his ability and our online history I called. I won the pot as he mucked his hand and this gave me I think around a 27k-13k chip lead after which as I mentioned above, I managed to win a flip to take a 1-0 lead in this semi final round.

Heat 2

The 2nd round of our match David got off to a good start catching me bluffing in a few small pots. Then the hand in question arose where he opened the button to his standard 525 and I defended with K9o. The flop came 963 rainbow again. I pride myself on mixing up my HU game very well and adjusting quickly, here I decided to donk out as it's a perfect flop to do so, raggedy, rainbow and hits very little but is a very floaty flop of course, just what I wanted! So I donked out approx 750 and David flat called as I suspected he would with the majority of his range whether he has hit 6, 9 or any overcards. I couldn't envisage him folding QK, J-10, A8 etc here. Now I checked the turn with the intention of check raising as my stack size was pretty good for it at the time (sorry can't remember the exact stack sizes) but surprisingly he checked behind. Now, unless he was planning on doing a delayed float and betting the river which looks a lot stronger I had to give him credit for having something showdown value worthy. The river was a 4 and I decided to make my hand look bluffy, missed draws, overs, whatever and I value bet quite strong, I bet around 80% of the pot and he quickly within 30 seconds went all in which was a complete shock to me. I remember that if I folded I would be left with half my starting stack...if I called and was right I would be through to the finals! That thought for some reason made me snap and I instantly called without further thought. As I moved the chips into the middle, it felt like it was in slow motion and I was shouting to myself to pull it back, don't do it! I can't ever stop thinking about logic and the way hands get played and in those seconds that I was moving my chips out for the call I realized that he would NEVER bluff in a spot where I look committed and that he is representing very little, mostly full house combinations and 7-5 for a rivered straight. I knew it was a bad call, it just didn't feel right, didn't feel like a bluffing spot and yet I called. I was too desperate to see his hand I guess and just wanted to make it to the final so badly that I justified putting logic and my instincts aside. Biggest mistake ever in poker is to not trust your instincts, especially when they are right so often. Ah well, anyway, David proudly tabled 7-5 for a straight and we were 1-1.

Heat 3

This wasn't a situation I wanted to be in, I hadn't lost many rounds before this and I was now beginning to feel the pressure. I called for a quick break, water, toilet, relax, refresh, regroup a time to win.

As per usual, I don't remember the small meaningless hands unfortunately just the last hand. I opened the button with Q-10hh and David defended as he had been doing quite a bit. The flop came 9-8-2 rainbow with one heart, he checked to me and I cbet. He check raised me around 3x my bet. At this point I thought it was most likely that he had hit an 8, 9 or just semi bluffing with 67 or similar holding to me with Q-10. I also know that he doesn't expect me to fold which makes my decision a bit tougher. I was pretty sure that if I floated and dinked off a 10, Q or J I could get a lot more money out of him as he would be prone to hero calling me due to the fact that my float rate normally is quite high. Anyway I called and decided I was going to reevaluate on the turn and still most likely play back hard if a K or A came, knowingly it would be an uphill struggle to convince I hit one of those cards. However, the turn came a 3h, giving me a flush draw as well as my overs plus gutshot. David proceeded with the aggression and bet surprisingly quite strong, around 80% instead of his more normal 60-70% of pot. At this point I thought that he was on a semi draw / bluff type hand and was trying to end it now as well as building the pot in case I called so he could treble barrel a correctly sized pot on the river. Given my assumption and strength of my hand I went all in. I thought the majority of his hands he has to fold and that if he had a 9 he would have bet weaker to induce me to bluff him or call with weaker. I presumed everything would fold and an 8 would have a tough time calling. Unfortunately this was one of those situations where I was wrong and I was snap called by David's K-9 for top pair. Turns out he set me up, luckily for me I had backup and one of my 18 outs hit the river and with some luck I had made it through to the finals to face Alec "traheho" Torreli who came 2nd in the 2008 $10,000 WSOP HU to Kenny Tran. Great!

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