Fast Playing a Big Hand Tricks and traps make for entertaining poker. Hearing a story of an intricate play where a poker player traps an opponent for all his chips is exciting. When we see these hands replayed on television, whether on World Poker Tour or Poker After Dark, we find ourselves imagining big hands where we trap an opponent for a big pot at the final table of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker... ...admit it. You've done it, I've done it, and even the biggest professional poker players have done it. Today you will learn that generally it's wrong. Fast play is the general rule, especially in tournaments, where you don't have time to build your stack, and you must take advantage of the situation when you finally have a hand. I will replay a hand from the early stages of an online poker tournament where I used a fast play successfully against an opponent, thanks in part to a specific read I had picked up on him. It was in the early stages of one of the guaranteed prize pool tournaments at Bodog Poker. The large guaranteed poker tournaments at Bodog have a great structure, with double stacks and slow increases in blinds, allowing for a lot of post-flop play (and giving an advantage to the better players). Earlier in the tournament, I watched as my opponent made a tricky check-raise after flopping a set. He had called from the blinds with (I learned later) a middle pair against a preflop raiser who held AK. The flop was A7x (x always denotes any card that is not relevant to the play of the hand). The villain checked on the flop, the preflop raiser bet, the villain made a big check-raise, and the aggressor called. The turn brought the king, and the villain (first to act) checked. The pot at the time was large enough that a pot-sized bet was essentially all-in, so the late position player pushed all his chips in. The villain had an easy call holding 77, and won a big pot. A round or two later, I found myself in middle position with pocket aces and the villain in the big blind. It was folded to me, and I raised to 60 (blinds were 10/20). It folded to the big blind, who called. Right then I begin to consider possible hands for my opponent. A middle pair was certainly a possibility. A high pair would likely have re-raised. A weak broadway hand (any two cards ten or higher) might call to see a flop. He might even have a low suited connector, and a low pair is very possible here. The flop came A94 rainbow (three different suits). This is a beautiful flop for me, with no straight draws or flush draws to possibly ruin my hand. I'm extremely likely to win the hand, so my biggest consideration is how to get paid off. I had been fairly active in the first fifty hands of the tournament, so there was no reason for my opponent to put excessive weight on the possibility I held pocket aces here. I had raised preflop, usually made continuation bets after the flop, and had won and lost a couple of pots. My stack was slightly above the starting amount. On the flop, he checked to me, I bet a standard 100 (into a pot of 130), and he check-raised to 450. This was a similar size compared to his previous check-raise. I thought for a few seconds before acting. What does he have here? A big ace like AK or AQ is unlikely, because three of the four aces are accounted for. A big pair like kings, queens, jacks, or tens might make this play to see where he's at or bluff me out of the pot if I don't have an ace. I discount this somewhat, as I would have expected a reraise preflop with one of those hands. If he flopped middle pair with J9, T9, or 98, the play was at least reasonable. Now my dilemma: if I just call his check-raise, any of those hands is just going to shut down and fold if I bet the turn or river. I do have one other possibility: a big reraise! He had played a flopped set exactly like this earlier in the tournament. If I'm lucky enough to find him holding pocket nines or fours, I can get paid off big here. Although unlikely, it is my only real chance to gain any more chips. He might also hold the unlikely AK or AQ and pay me off. The pot was 680, and I had about 3500 left in my stack. Although it was a huge overbet, I pushed all-in. He instantly called with 99, and I had won a huge pot. Most of the time, a play like this will work, and the alternative (he folds) doesn't disappoint me too much, because if I call his check-raise, he's probably done with the hand with anything less than a pair of aces. The lesson here is that tricky, trappy slow plays have their place in tournament poker, but they are overused in general. When you have a big hand, don't be afraid to play it fast.

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