Focus on what you can control
One of the best ways to improve your game is to review hands and reevaluate your decision-making process. But on the flip side, second-guessing and lingering on unrealized possibilities can hurt your game by sapping your confidence and sabotaging your judgment.
Every poker player has a hand that sticks with him or her. Wisconsin’s Mike Shin played his in the 2016 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event, a tournament that attracted 6,737 players.
A major goal for most players in that tournament is to make the final table, known as the “November Nine” because that is when they return to battle it out for an $8 million first-place prize. Shin came up painfully short, finishing 12th for $427,930, the result of shoving with ace-king, a hand known in poker as “Big Slick.”
“I try not to think about it,” Shin says of his bustout hand. “I don’t think it’s going to go away though. I think about that hand every single day, every single hour. I’m thinking about it at this moment.”
In the hand, Vojtech Ruzicka raised to 800,000 from the cutoff. Shin, holding A♣ K♥, called from the small blind. Qui Nguyen, holding Q♥ Q♦, then three-bet to 2.7 million from the big blind. Ruzicka called, and Shin four-bet-jammed for 14.1 million. Nguyen made the call, and Ruzicka got out of the way.
It was a massive coin flip, and one that would certainly give Shin a spot in the November Nine if he were to win. Unfortunately for him, that didn’t happen, as the board ran out 10♥ 4♠ 2♣ 8♦ Q♠.
“There were a couple of other ways I could have played the hand,” Shin says.
Indeed, Shin could have played it differently by raising, flat-calling or folding, but as the old saying goes, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.”
Instead of wondering what could have been, a player is better served by breaking down the hand and determining whether it was played correctly. If so, there should be no regrets. If not, there is a learning opportunity.
With this particular hand, most experts agree that there was nothing wrong with Shin’s play. On the surface, it appeared a good spot to pick up 6 million in chips if both players folded to his four-bet. If Shin did get called, he would only be in bad shape against pocket aces or pocket kings. With one of each in his hand, the odds of another player holding a matching pocket pair diminished significantly.
“It was an exciting experience for me,” says Shin, who seems content with the decision to shove, though not necessarily the result. “While I wish I would have made it to the top nine, there’s always next year.”
Remember, no matter the hand, no matter the beat, there will always be another poker tournament. In the meantime, focus on the things you can control. Study. Learn. Improve. Prepare.