Sometimes luck can keep you alive after a terrible decision

The last tournament I played in 2017 was a $60 no-limit hold ’em deepstack nightly at my local Midwestern casino. This particular tournament offered a single re-entry through Level 5 and featured 20-minute levels.

A field of 73 entrants ensured that everyone at the final table of nine would be paid, with the eventual winner receiving $1,075. In Level 7 (blinds at 500-1,000 with an ante of 100), 40 mostly recreational players remained, and I was shortstacked in middle position with just 9,200 left.

With less than 10 big blinds in my stack and only seven players at the table, my shoving range — the starting hands I should move all inwith— was composed of the top 22.2 percent of hands. That included any pocket pair, any suited ace, any A-8 offsuit or better, and any two face cards. I could also shove with 8-7 suited or better and be making the mathematically correct play.

As it happened, action folded to me in middle position and I moved all in with As 9d. I’m usually not a fan of shoving with an ace and moderate kicker, but when you’re short-stacked, sometimes you don’t have the luxury of waiting for better.

Ideally, all of my opponents would fold to my shove and I’d win the pot uncontested. That’s always preferred when holding a hand such as this. That’s because if you get a call, chances are you’re either dominated or, at best, in a coin-flip situation.

Action folded to the player in the small blind, who was a poker acquaintance of mine. I’ll just refer to him here as “villain,” as what he did was sinful.

The villain, who only had 9,400 himself, contemplated what to do for nearly a minute. During this time, I immediately began to ponder what he was holding. If he had a big pocket pair, or two big cards such as A-K or A-Q, he would have called immediately. Since he was debating what to do, I had him pegged for either a small pocket pair or a hand such as A-J or A-10. I definitely didn’t want to get called by the latter two, as they had me dominated, and if he called with a small pair, I’d have a coin flip for my tournament life. He called. “If you can call, you have me dominated,” I told the villain.

I truly believed that, so imagine my surprise when he tabled Kh 10c. It was a weak hand, especially against my aforementioned shoving range. At best, he would be racing with such a hand, whilemore often than not he’d be crushed. If he had a mountain of chips, the case could be made that it was worth calling in an effort to eliminate a tough player. That wasn’t the case though, as it cost him nearly all his chips. It really was a terrible play.

I’ll likely never understand what inspired him to make a call like this, but in this hand, it worked for the villain. The board ran out Kd 10s 2h 4c 7d to give him a flopped two pair and leave me drawing dead on the turn.

As they say, that’s poker. Chad Holloway is a 2013 World Series of Poker bracelet winner and media director for theMid-States Poker Tour.