Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
By Steve Rosenbloom
Chicago Tribune
The thinking behind today's column is somewhat sophisticated. The actual play of the hand, however, is pretty basic when kings run into aces.
With blinds at $100-$200 at the 2006 Los Angeles Poker Classic no-limit hold 'em main event at the Commerce Casino in February, young pro Gavin Griffin was second to act and made it $600 to go. A player in middle position moved in for $2,400, which could have represented a wide range of hands because he seemed to be on tilt. The action moved to Phil Laak, who always wears a gray hoodie and sunglasses.
Laak had aces, so he was definitely going to play. He wanted to bet to give Griffin the impression that he was trying to isolate the player who moved all in -- a common play among pros. But because he held the best starting hand in hold 'em, Laak wanted Griffin's action as well, hoping Griffin would read the bet as an attempted isolation play and would try to foil Laak's move.
``I could flat-call, because flat-calling is almost the same thing, but I want to make him play, because I know he has a hand like A-K or pocket kings,'' Laak said. ``So, I raise another $2,400. That's like a tortured limit raise. Now he has to fold or go all in. So he's going to go all in with any real hand.
``I made a bet that I would hope he would interpret as an isolation play, which I would do if I had, say, A-Q or pocket 8s and I thought I was beating the re-raiser, who was steaming and just moving in with two face cards. I would want to make it heads-up. A lot of times, people will make just a limit raise there.
``It just so happened that (Griffin) had a big enough hand that if I flat-called, he has to raise anyway. He has to make me pay if I have A-Q or something like that. It didn't matter what I did. If I flat-called, he's going to go all in, and if I re-raised, he was going to go all in. I just got really lucky.''
Griffin, indeed, had a big hand: pocket kings. Having Laak covered by about $3,000, he also moved in. Laak called. The other player who already was all in held 10-10. The board came blanks, and Laak scooped a big pot.
``I never play fancy with aces,'' Laak said. ``You're doing enough with pre-flop raising and all this other stuff -- playing 8-10 occasionally -- that you're supposed to slip that into the mix. You protect and disguise it by betting aces the same way you bet pocket 9s and A-Q of hearts.''