It might have been an online win, but it still counts
It was the usual story for me at the EPT Deauville: great tables, brilliant line-ups, couldn't win a bean. I go to that tournament every year because it's a nice train journey and a beautiful town, but I've always left poorer than when I arrived. Ugh, almost like a normal holiday.
But just as the week was ending in gloom, depression and superstition that Deauville is "unlucky for me", I made a final table and won $10,500. It was online (in a $109 rebuy tournament with 372 players), so ? like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz ? I could have been at home all along. But it still happened within the walls of Deauville, so my superstition is allayed.
One hand from that final provoked much curiosity among the spectators, and triggered several questions on my Twitter feed. Six-handed, a short-stacked player moved all in for 11,000 and I reraised to 40,000 from my 190,000 stack. A third player then four-bet to set me all in and I folded. People were astonished that I would pass with nearly a quarter of my chips in the pot.
Here is the reason. A player was all in. My pot-sized reraise indicated that I had a proper hand to knock him out (it was a pair of tens). The exit of any player was worth $1,000 to everyone remaining. It would be crazy for a third opponent to bluff or gamble, when he could pass a wide range ? as high as AQ - and jump up the prize ladder. And this opponent had proved a tight player so far. I felt sure he held one of the four higher pairs that left me cold. Sure enough, when I passed, he showed JJ.
I'd have been sad if he had 99 or AK. But I am happy with the reasoning: when facing an all-in, always consider every psychological factor.victoriacoren.com
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/feb/02/victoria-coren-poker-deauville
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