The Poker Quiz

You have satellited into the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship. It is the first level of play where you start with T50,000 chips with blinds of T50-T100. You are dealt pocket aces under the gun and raise to T300 chips. Action folds around to the small blind who makes the call.

The flop comes K 10 4. The small blind leads out for T300, you raise to T800 and your opponent calls. The turn is the K. The small blind leads out again, this time for T1600.

The Solution

Fold.

Early in Day 1 at the Championship, a player named Vinny Procopio found himself in this very situation. His fold is 100% correct and makes perfect sense. He raised under the gun, pretty much announcing he has a good hand. A player in the big blind must know this before he makes the call. The flop comes King-high and the small blind leads out with a bet. Vinny raised with the aces and was quickly called. When another king came on the turn and the small blind lead out again, it is very likely he has a king, and Vinny would be drawing to two outs. He correctly laid it down and showed the table aces. His opponent flipped over A-K.

Aces are always tough to get away from, but with a deep stack tournament you should be able to toss them in the muck without too much hesitation. You should save your chips in a better spot, especially when it looks like you are beat.