Friday, August 01, 2014

Crazy Hand to End 2014 PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event

Imagine getting to the final table in a big tournament. As the number of remaining players slowly goes down one by one, you see your payday increasing. But … you also know that you must carefully weigh the size of your stack and its fold equity. Take risks and you might bust out, losing the sweet money that goes to the top finishers. However, let you stack get too low and you become the whipping boy of everyone else at the table, increasing your chances that your big move will be called by a big stack with virtually any two cards, putting your tournament life at risk.

All poker players who have known any degree of tournament success have faced some of these decisions. But what would happen if everyone left at the final table put it all on the line?
Check out the video of the final hand of the 2014 PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event that was recently held in Montreal. The players had been playing at the final table for nine hours.  And then … it was time for everyone’s juices  to really start flowing …


So … what do you think? It certainly made sense for Justin Miller, a small stack with 675,000, to move all in and attempt to pick up the pot with K-Q. Amazingly, Vincent Jacques then went all in for 7,490,000 with … A-10? Really? With two players still having action? However, the capper was Ryan Rivers, who tanked and then also went all in with 8-8 with two people ahead of him already putting it all on the line. It would have been reasonable for Rivers to think that he would move up to a minimum of third place money with a fold since Jacques was in good position to knock out Miller and likely had a better hand as evidenced by his all in shove. Even in the best of circumstances, Rivers was probably going up against two players with over cards. How could he possibly make that call?
Of course, with the other players all in, chip leader Robert Notkin obviously joined the party, calling with the second best starting hand in poker. Thankfully for Notkin, he dodged several land mines and won the hand … and the tournament … in an unbelievable four-way all in poker hand. Does tournament poker get any crazier than this?


This post is sponsored by Spreaditfast

8 Comments:

Blogger Memphis MOJO said...

I sort of understand the first two all ins, but all in with 8-8 into two other players with the chip lead sitting behind you?

Players play for hours, and sometimes I think they just want to get it over with.

11:06 AM  
Blogger lightning36 said...

MOJO, having been at the final table of a major event, don't you think the A-10 big stack shove was a really questionable play?

11:46 AM  
Blogger Memphis MOJO said...

If you ever see me re-shove with A-10 and a decent stack, please take me out and shoot me.

2:27 PM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

AQ soooooooooooooooooooootd??

4:01 PM  
Blogger ~Coach said...

I think the A 10 was probably trying to isolate, and I totally agree with you on the 8's...

6:29 PM  
Blogger Rob said...

Wow, that really was wild.

At first I thought the Ace-10 shove was just as brain dead as the 8-8 shove. BUT....

I'm a little confused as to what the guy with the (dreaded) pocket Kings did. The announcers said he raised, whereas the screen text indicated he just called---just LIMPED in with KK. So I need to know that.

If he limped, and then a short stack shoved, I can maybe, MAYBE see A-10 shoving there, thinking the limper doesn't have much and the short stack is desperate.

But if KK raised, and then a shove, I get the hell out of that hand with A-10 instantly.

BTW, if the KK guy only limped, it's a very dangerous play, no?

Anyway, in either case the guy with pocket 8's should have folded in a nano-second. Really bad play.

I wonder how many major tournaments have ended on a four-way all-in?

8:55 PM  
Blogger balt999 said...

I don't understand the A-10 shove nor the 88 overshove! I think A-10 could have made a raise especially with chip leader left to act. 88 should have folded. But I agree, what a crazy ending!!!

11:56 PM  
Anonymous Steve said...

That was a crazy hand to watch.

12:57 PM  

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