Poker Guy: 'Gigabet' uses scary board to his advantage
WHEN YOU hold a good hand against a good player, sometimes you have to resign yourself to the fact that you're going to lose some money.
WHEN YOU hold a good hand against a good player, sometimes you have to resign yourself to the fact that you're going to lose some money.
But, the other thing about facing good players is that they rarely spew off a lot of chips against a scary board.
The trick, as noted Internet star and fearsome tournament player Darrell Dicken showed at the World Poker Tour's $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas' Bellagio in 2007, is to manage the pot size and gain information that tells you whether your good hand is good enough.
With blinds at $50-$100, Dicken raised to $300 from middle position with pocket jacks. Aggressive tournament pro John Phan re-raised to $800 from the small blind.
"I'm never folding there," Dicken said, "even if I raised with 7-deuce offsuit, because I'm in so deep already and because I have position."
Dicken called, and the two players took a flop of 9-9-6, two spades.
"I really like this flop, because if he's got two aces or two queens, he's going to have to play them pretty slow [fearing trips]," said Dicken, winner of the $10,000-buy-in World Series of Poker Circuit event in San Diego in 2006.
Phan bet $1,300. Dicken called.
"I decided that when the board paired, I wasn't getting away from the hand," said Dicken, known as "Gigabet" online. "I knew that even if he has me beat, there's no way the pot can get big enough where I can lay it down. He has to be worried when I called. He knows I'm not an idiot. I can read the board just like he does.
"Now, if he makes a pot-sized bet on the turn and I suspect he has two aces, I make it $20,000 there - and he knows I can do that - then he has to fold his two aces."
The turn came the queen of hearts.
"I was worried it might've filled him up, but not that worried, because it's still only two outs," Dicken said. "He checks like he's supposed to, and I check, too, because I want to keep the pot small. I started to suspect that I had the best hand."
The river came the 6 of diamonds, pairing the board twice.
"Now I'm thinking that even if he has two aces or two kings, it doesn't matter," Dicken said. "I can still value-bet because he's only going to call with those two hands. He's never going to raise, but he's also going to call me with a naked ace [as a potential tiebreaking kicker] because the board paired twice."
Phan checked, Dicken made it $2,500, and Phan folded.
"I think he's going to play two 10s and two 8s the same way as aces and kings [against that board]," Dicken said, "so there are two hands I beat and two hands that beat me. Keeping the pot small with position" gave Dicken the chance to win the pot.
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