WSOP Hand of the Day: Rep Porter vs. Stephen Su

World Series of Poker / Short-Stacked Shamus / 29 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Heads-up at Event #44 (Photo credit: PokerNews / WSOP.com)

It was another busy day yesterday at the World Series of Poker, with several events going on at once. Two events got started, two more played out their second days, and three others finished up. Aside from Event #45, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event won by Kenneth Griffin, two other events that had gone over into Day 4s were completed as well, with Andre Akkari winning Event #43 ($1,500 NLHE) and Rep Porter taking down Event #44 ($2,500 Razz).

With so much action, choosing one Hand of the Day out of the thousands and thousands that were dealt wasn't easy, but the first hand played at the restart of Event #44 between Porter and Stephen Su stood out as a game-changer of a hand that ultimately helped propel Porter to the victory and his second WSOP bracelet. Besides, it gives us a chance to talk about everyone's favorite game, razz.

When Porter and Su returned for the originally-unscheduled-but-necessary Day 4 of Event #44, Su enjoyed about a 3-to-2 chip advantage over Porter with 1,655,000 to Porter's 1,080,000. A good starting point for Su, who upon looking at the first three cards of the first hand he was dealt perhaps thought the rest of the day might go well, too.

As reported by Harley Stoffmaker of PokerNews, both players anted 10,000, then Porter brought it in (for 20,000) with an 8x showing. Su completed (to 50,000) with a Ax up. Both players were dealt a 3x on fourth street. Su bet and Porter called.

On fifth the bets double (to 100,000 here). Porter picked up a 4x on fifth while Su caught an ugly Qx. Now having the best board showing, Porter bet, but Su raised, an indicator he had something especially worthwhile underneath. Then on sixth Porter was the one catching a Qx while Su drew a 6x. Su had the lead again and bet, and Porter called.

Seventh street was dealt, Su bet once more, and Porter called. With the stakes so high, the pot had ballooned to just over 1 million chips. The players tabled their cards...

Su: (2x-3x-6x) / Ax-3x-Qx-6x
Porter: (6x-9x-Jx) / 8x-3x-4x-Qx

One challenge when reporting stud games is the fact that we can't always know the order of the down cards, though it seems likely from Su's fifth-street raise that he probably had a 6x and 2x underneath, giving him a nice draw to a 6-3-2-A. (It wouldn't seem probable for him to raise with both a pair and a queen among his first five cards, though we cannot know for sure.)

If that's the case, Su drew a face card and paired twice on the last three streets. Meanwhile Porter probably did not have a Jx among his first two down cards which would mean he started with a 9-8-6, made a nine-low by fifth, and didn't improve thereafter. (Again, we cannot be 100% certain -- Porter could well have led on fifth with any two cards underneath, given that he had the best three upcards.)

All of which is to say Su was probably about 4-to-1 to win on fourth, and even on fifth -- assuming that's where Porter made his nine-low -- Su would still have been the favorite to finish with a stronger hand.

But the bricks piled up for Su, and when the hand was done Porter was the one with the 3-to-2 chip advantage. And he'd never relinquish that lead again, the battle finally ending a couple of hours after it had begun.

The action continues at the Rio today, and as always you can follow it all over at PokerNews' live reporting and WSOP.com.