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 he Guardian Poker Column |
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| Victoria Coren |
| Wed 24 Mar 2010 |
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A trap that went horribly wrong - or did it?
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I love a blinds skirmish. These are hands where it's all ed round to the small blind – looks like an irrelevant deal, but, instead, a vast coup develops between the two remaining players. Often, because of the position, each of the blinds suspects the other of having nothing.
Last week, recording commentary for this year's $20,000 high-roller final in Nassau, I watched a massive blinds skirmish develop between two unusually strong hands for the situation. |
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With blinds at 10K-20K, Will Molson, a young Canadian, limped from the small blind with K Q. This cunning slow-play induced a raise of 40K from Tobias Reinkemeier with K 9 in the big blind. I expected Molson to snap the trap shut, ending the hand with a large re-raise, but he just called. Dangerous.
The flop came J 8 T. Huge for Reinkemeier. Molson, who had been 70% favourite before the flop, was still technically ahead but (against this dazzling draw) had become 48% underdog. Thus the danger of the flat call.
Molson checked. Reinkemeier bet 65K. Molson raised to 180K. Reinkemeier announced "all in" – covering Molson, who had 845K behind.
What a horrible situation for Molson. Having disguised his hand before the flop, inducing a raise from any two cards, he had no idea what he was up against. An enormous pot had come from nowhere. To my surprise, Molson made the call – perhaps figuring Reinkemeier for a massive bluff? – and both players raced for a 2m+ pot.
Turn . . . T. River . . . A ! Reinkemeier missed; Molson made a straight and doubled up. With hindsight, it all worked out beautifully. But, in truth, Molson should have three-bet strongly in advance and stopped that thorny flop from coming down at all. |
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