Main Menu Columns G2 6 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47 51 55 59 63 67 71 75 79 No.80  Next Latest Archive of How     to play Poker	.	| Home   | Index   | Info   | This Week   | Poker   | News   | Email 17/02/2010 No. 81 he Guardian Poker Column           Victoria Coren Wed 17 Feb 2010       The perils of the kamikaze approach Last week, Manchester hosted the first English leg of the new UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT). The event sold out two weeks in advance, even with an extension to 510 players; buy early if you want a seat in the UKIPT Coventry (April) or Nottingham (May). I finished 25th for £1,650. Not bad, but I wonder what would have happened if I'd taken a kamikaze approach to a key pot on day one. The chip average was 55K. I had 125K and Mark Warnock, a young sco on my right, had 150k.   He limped on my big blind (1,600) and I raised to 5,000 with A T. He called. The flop came J 8 3. Warnock bet 5,000. I made it 20,000. And he went all in. All in! Of course I was behind, presumably a long way behind. But I could still hit the nuts; what a rare chance to grab a commanding 5x average chips. Half a final table stack, on day one! A crowd gathered for this potentially vast pot, and Warnock excitedly showed them his cards. Most irregular. Still, I didn't mind; it told me he definitely had a flush. So I was 9/4 against – or, if he had a straight-flush draw, 3/1 or worst case 4/1. The pot was only laying me 6/4. In a cash game, this is an immediate fold. But, in a tournament, the power of the chip lead I could take . . . The implied odds were enormous. Warnock chattered about whether or not he was bluffing and how sad I'd be to get knocked out. I told him this wasn't my exact line of thinking. Eventually I took the mathematically correct route and folded. He showed me 9 T. So: worst case. But I wonder, I wonder . . .     Fill out your e-mail address to receive our newsletter! E-mail address:   First Name:   Last Name:	.