Set-mining worked in final hand of World Series of Poker Europe

In the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe, which was held in the Czech Republic this fall, there was a “super high roller” event with a 100,000- euro buyin. The tournament attracted 95 players who competed for a prize pool of nearly 10.3 million euros. The winner would receive nearly 3 million euros, while the second-place finisher had to settle for about 1.8 million euros.

Here’s the hand that determined the winner.

It took place in Level 23, with the blinds at 600,000-1.2 million. It was a “big blind ante” tournament, meaning the player in the big blind was responsible for anteing, which in this case equaled the 1.2 million big blind.

Martin Kabrhel raised to 5.5 million holding 6d 6s. David Peters reraised to 22 million with Ac Kh. Kabrhel debated what to do for over two minutes, likely trying to determine whether Peters had big cards or a pocket pair. If it was the latter, there was a good chance they were bigger than Kabrhel’s pocket sixes.

Eventually, he settled on a call, and the flop came down 6c 5h 3d, which gave Kabrhel top set. Peters checked, and Kabrhel pondered the situation for nearly four minutes before betting 14.9 million.

Kabrhel was no doubt hoping Peters did hold a big pocket pair and would push back with a check-raise. Of course, we know Peters didn’t have a pair, but that didn’t stop him from falling into the trap anyway by check-raising all in for 71.4 million. Kabrhel, who barely had him covered, quickly called.

Peters needed to catch running straight cards just to split the pot — something that would happen just 3.2 percent of the time. The 8h turn left Peters drawing dead, and he was officially eliminated in second place after the meaningless 9d was run out on the river.

“The greatest victory. I’m very happy,” Kabrhel said after the win. “I’m only satisfied when I win it, so I don’t really care too much about the players that are in it.”

It’s interesting to note the different ways this hand could have played out. Had Kabrhel four-bet preflop, there’s a good chance the chips go in and they flip for the title and the extra 1.1 million euros that went to the winner. If that had happened, the result would have been the same.

However, the line of play that Kabrhel took — just calling preflop — easily could have led to Peters winning the hand. Had the flop not contained a six and in- stead brought bigger cards, chances are Peters wins the pot with either a continuation bet or a check-raise.

By just calling preflop, Kabrhel was essentially set-mining with pocket sixes. This hand is evidence of the good things that can happen when you hit a set, but more often than not, set-mining with small pocket pairs will result in giving away valuable chips when you miss.

In this hand, the six on the flop was worth about 1.1 million euros. Chad Holloway is a 2013 World Series of Poker bracelet winner and media director for the Mid-States Poker Tour.