I wish I had a specific example of this to give – perhaps the hand below will serve – but I got the distinct impression during our match that Liv was capable of playing extremely well but had for some reason decided to treat me as an unsophisticated opponent. That worked out OK for me. One of the more interesting hands we played is serving as this week’s “What’s Your Play?”. Here’s the one that finished the match:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t3148)
Hero (BB) (t11852)

Hero’s M: 131.69

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8, 9
SB bets t138, Hero calls t78

Flop: (t276) 7, 3, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t151, Hero raises to t444, SB calls t293

Turn: (t1164) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

River: (t1164) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets t1164, SB raises to t2566 (All-In), Hero calls t1402

Total pot: t6296

Results:
SB had 10, A (straight, seven high).
Hero had 8, 9 (straight, nine high).
Outcome: Hero won t6296

I guess she thought I wouldn’t have potted it with a hand that could beat the board? I considered just shoving the river, which is something I’d often do as a bluff, but I figured I might as well give her room to do something like this, especially since she’d probably jam it in herself if she had an 8.

Round 2: Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky 

Ben was a harrowing but entertaining opponent. We’ve never met in person but have spoken online a few times and there’s mutual respect between us. He took some really creative lines that forced me to rise to the occasion and think hard about everything I did, even in seemingly trivial spots. It was tough trying to stay one step ahead of him, and each of us got the best of the other in a few big pots.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t9757)

BB (t5243)

Hero’s M: 108.41

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5, K

Hero bets t120, BB calls t60

Flop: (t240) 3, 2, 7 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets t120, BB calls t120

Turn: (t480) 10 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero checks

River: (t480) K (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets t333, BB raises to t1425, Hero calls t1092

Total pot: t3330

Results:

Hero mucked 5, K (one pair, Kings).

BB had J, K (one pair, Kings).

Outcome: BB won t3330

Bad call by me. I decided I had to call because a pair of Ks is the top of my range after checking the turn, but as we see here that also means that he can make some thin value bets. Think I need a better kicker to call.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t7265)

SB (t7735)

Hero’s M: 60.54

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, J

SB bets t200, Hero calls t120

Flop: (t400) 4, 9, 5 (2 players)

Hero checks, SB bets t240, Hero raises to t666, SB calls t426

Turn: (t1732) 8 (2 players)

Hero bets t888, SB calls t888

River: (t3508) 7 (2 players)

Hero bets t1666, 1 fold

Total pot: t3508

Results:

Hero didn’t show Q, J (nothing).

Outcome: Hero won t3508

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t7405)
SB (t7595)

Hero’s M: 61.71

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4, 4
SB bets t200, Hero calls t120

Flop: (t400) 3, 10, 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Turn: (t400) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t280, Hero raises to t666, SB raises to t1555, Hero calls t889

River: (t3510) K (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Total pot: t3510

Results:
SB mucked 2, 7 (high card, King).
Hero had 4, 4 (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Hero won t3510

Round 3: Should’ve Been Easier

This guy was by far the weakest of my opponents, and it took me by far the longest to finish him off. That was partly a choice on my part – I felt my edge was large so I played an extremely small-ball game – and partly a function of his style. He was passive and tightish, though he made some good decisions about when not to let go of relatively weak hands. Though he never got up sufficient aggression, he also did a good job of adapting to my adaptations over the course of our three-hour match. Generally I would win a bunch of small pots, lose some medium-sized ones, and we just didn’t play that many big ones. The first one we did play went badly for me:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t8248)
SB (t6752)

Hero’s M: 109.97

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, K
SB bets t100, Hero raises to t350, SB calls t250

Flop: (t700) K, 6, J (2 players)
Hero bets t350, SB calls t350

Turn: (t1400) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets t1000, SB calls t1000

River: (t3400) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t2222, SB raises to t5052 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: t7844

Results:
SB didn’t show
Outcome: SB won t7844

Yes, it’s an unlikely backdoor draw, and it was early in the match, but after playing with this guy for as long as I did, I remain confident that I was beat here.

After that it was back to the same MO: win a bunch of small pots, lose a bigger one. Eventually I got it in with 99 vs his AKo preflop and won the flip to get back in the game. Then I won another big one with 99:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 125/250 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t5928)
BB (t9072)

Hero’s M: 15.81

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, 9
Hero bets t500, BB calls t250

Flop: (t1000) 9, 10, 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t500, BB calls t500

Turn: (t2000) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t1234, BB calls t1234

River: (t4468) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t3694 (All-In), BB calls t3694

Total pot: t11856

Results:
Hero had 9, 9 (full house, nines over Kings).
BB had A, A (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Outcome: Hero won t11856

I ground him down some more, then got it in with A4o to his A8o for his last 8 BBs and doubled him up. Finally he jammed A2o over my min-raise with TT and I held to eliminate him.

Round 4: Eugene Katchalov

Since we were the last to finish, my next round started immediately, and I was not pleased to see Eugene Katchalov seated across from me. My game plan against him was completely different. Now I wanted to swing for the fences and force lots of big pots, since I didn’t have any delusions of outplaying him in the small ones. My range for calling a pre-flop min-raise in Round 3 was dramatically from my range in Round 4, partly because I was 3-betting more often but mostly because I was throwing a lot of hands to Eugene that would have turned from out of position against my previous opponent. It didn’t help that I took a sizeable loss on the very first hand we played:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t7500)
Hero (SB) (t7500)

Hero’s M: 100.00

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 10
Hero bets t100, BB raises to t300, Hero raises to t750, BB calls t450

Flop: (t1500) J, 3, 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t666, BB calls t666

Turn: (t2832) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (t2832) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: t2832

Results:
Hero mucked 10, 10 (two pair, tens and threes).
BB had J, A (two pair, Jacks and threes).
Outcome: BB won t2832

I held my own and even managed to claw some chips back from him, though they were hard fought. I managed to get it all in good, but it was more or less a cooler really, and I couldn’t hold:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t7976)
Hero (BB) (t7024)

Hero’s M: 58.53

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, J
SB bets t160, Hero raises to t555, SB calls t395

Flop: (t1110) K, 2, J (2 players)
Hero bets t666, SB raises to t1760, Hero raises to t6469 (All-In), SB calls t4709

Turn: (t14048) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t14048) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t14048

Results:
SB had 8, A (flush, Ace high).
Hero had J, J (three of a kind, Jacks).
Outcome: SB won t14048

This was one of my more painful losses of the series, as it came on the bubble and I’d fought long and hard in a lot of tough matches to get there.

Liv and I have actually played together before, in last year’s WCOOP and in the 2008 WSOP. Although I’m no longer on Team Online, I still have the head-shot-against-black-background avatar, so there’s an outside chance she remembers me, though her appearance is of course far more memorable than my own. In any event nothing particularly memorable happened during those encounters anyway.

I don’t know how many tables she was playing at the time, but Liv didn’t respond to my “Hello, good luck” and smiley emoticon in the chat box, so it’s possible that she’s not paying all that much attention to this match. Or she just thought I was trying to chat her up and wasn’t interested.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t7700)
Hero (SB) (t7300)

Hero’s M: 97.33

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, 10
Hero bets t100, BB calls t50

Flop: (t200) 2, 6, 7 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t100, BB raises to t350, Hero calls t250

Turn: (t900) 3 (2 players)
BB bets t550, Hero raises to t1850, BB calls t1300

River: (t4600) 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero?

Do want to take another stab at it? If so, how much do you bet and why? Leave your thoughts and comments here, and I’ll be back on Friday with the results and my own thoughts.

I had the pleasure of playing with Liv Boeree in the 2008 WSOP, spent basically an entire day sitting on her immediate left. Poker media are generally pretty quick to promote anyone who can handle chips and has two X-chromosomes as both ravishing and a competent card player, and it’s a nice change of pace to meet a woman who actually fits the bill. She was certainly easier on the eyes than most of the greasy, overweight slobs I find myself staring down (and yes, I’m aware that I could fairly be described as a greasy, overweight slob myself- thanks for pointing it out, though).

That said, I don’t think this Maxim spread is particularly flattering to her. I bet you’ll look anyway though. Just be warned- I chose a pretty tame one for the blog, but obviously some of the pictures are Not Suitable For Work. Oh, and thanks to Wicked Chops Poker for first bringing my attention to Liv Boeree’s photos. If you weren’t satisfied with these pictures, they’ve got quite a few more of other women, most of whom have no connection whatsoever to poker. You’re welcome.