Big hand presents an opportunity

Four hours into this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, I was briefly the chip leader. Here’s the hand that made it happen.

With blinds at 150-300, I was dealt 8s 7c while on the button. Action folded to me, and I raised to 700. The small blind, a tight-passive player, called. So did the big blind, a splashy middle-aged French guy.

From the button, I was more than happy to raise with an overly wide range, especially since the players in the blinds hadn’t been three-betting much.

The flop came 6s 5s 4h, giving me the nut straight. Nice!

My opponents checked to me, and I bet 1,300. The small blind called, and the big blind raised to 4,000. I reraised to 12,300. The small blind folded, and the big blind quickly called.

My continuation bet probably seemed normal to my opponents. I would have bet with many of my draws as well, but I wouldn’t bet very often with my unpaired overcards, because this board would probably connect well with my opponents’ ranges. There was no point in slow-playing, because either of my opponents could have turned a decently strong hand on this flop, given that they hadn’t three-bet preflop.

When the big blind raised, I was thrilled, because it meant he probably had some sort of strong made hand or draw. A reraise might have forced him off his marginal made hands, but given his splashy playing style, I thought he would probably stick with me.

It’s worth noting that earlier in the day, I played a nut flush draw in an overly aggressive manner and got lucky against a made flush to double up. This could have easily influenced the big blind into thinking I had a lot of draws in my range. When he called my reraise, I put him on a range of two pair and better made hands, as well as premium draws.

The turn was the Jc. The big blind checked. I bet 16,000, and he quickly called.

The turn was as beautiful as the flop. I made a bet for value, expecting the big blind to continue with his entire flop range. It’s important not to bet too large in such situations, because the worst thing you can do is bet so large that your opponent hero-folds.

The river brought the 3d. The big blind led for 20,000. I went all in, and he quickly called. He had 7d 6d for a smaller straight, and I took down the giant pot.

When he led into me, I assumed he was bluffing, because leading with anything else would have made little sense.

When he quickly called my shove, I assumed he also had 8-7, but to my surprise he had the second-highest straight.

If I had been in my opponent’s shoes on the river, I would have check- called to induce bluffs from busted draws. My opponent took the worst possible line of play on the river, which was lucky for me. You have to get lucky to win a tournament. People generally think of luck at the poker table as making big hands. Opponents’ poor play is a form of luck that’s rarely considered.

Unfortunately, I only ran hot enough to barely get into the money.