‘7-2? How could you play 7-2?’
Sometimes you get pot odds so monstrous that you can’t fold even 7-deuce.
Just ask classy British pro Joe Beevers of poker’s well-known “Hendon Mob.” At the 2009 World Series of Poker $10,000-buy-in main event at Las Vegas’ Rio Casino, with blinds at $250-$500 plus a $50 ante, Beevers found 7-2 of hearts in the big blind, a hand usually mucked quickly.
But after the player to his left open-raised to $1,100 and got three callers, Beevers suddenly had to put only an additional $600 into a pot worth $5,350. He was getting almost 9-1 odds. Even if the initial raiser held pocket aces, Beevers was only about an 8.5-1 underdog.
“I kind of say under my breath, ‘Even I’m not good enough to pass this hand,’ and I throw in the $600,” Beevers said. “I’ve got about $55,000, which has three of the stacks well covered. The only stack I’m worried about is the Italian guy to my left because he could hurt me with his stack.”
The flop came Q-10-7, two hearts, giving Beevers bottom pair and a flush draw. The small blind checked.
“I don’t want to call a big bet, so I’m going to try to control the size of the pot,” Beevers said. “I bet $2,450. I want to see what happens behind me.”
The initial raiser only called. Everyone else folded.
“Now I fancy I know where I am,” Beevers said. “I fancy maybe he’s got A-10 or K-Q or K-J. He has that type of hand.”
The turn came the ace of hearts, completing Beevers’ small flush.
“If I bet here and he’s got two pair, he’ll just call,” said Beevers, a pro from the Full Tilt Poker online site. “I want to get some chips here.
“I don’t really give him hearts. It’s hard for him to have hearts. If he had a big pocket pair, he’d have raised much more pre-flop. So I’m pretty sure he’s got two pair.”
Beevers checked. The initial raiser bet $5,000. Beevers check-raised to $12,500.
“He looked like he called reluctantly,” Beevers said.
The river came the 3 of diamonds.
“He has about $30,000 left,” Beevers said. “I didn’t want to make too big a bet because the guy wants to stay in the tournament and he wants to stay in the pot, and I don’t want to give him a clue that he should lay down two pair.”
Beevers bet $12,500 again, the initial raiser called, then mucked his hand when he saw the 7-2 of hearts.
“He started saying, ‘7-2? 7-2? How could you play 7-2?’ ” Beevers said. “Sometimes you’re getting odds that are so big in your favor. Gus Hansen wouldn’t pass this hand if it was $1,500” to call pre-flop.
Table talk
Muck: The act of tossing a hand into the discard pile.