POTD #153 Post-Winning Wednesday: Jack High vs Nick Petrangelo in Barcelona

Pictured the most famous poker hand involving jack high (eventhough it was actually queen high)

2024 EPT Barcelona started about as well as I could have hoped. I came fourth in the €10k Mystery Bounty for €94,100 including my bounties. Then I max-late-regged the €12k Bounty Quattro and lasted about three hands, but on the next day I chopped a €20k single-day for €255k with Kayhan Mokri. The €20k I chopped vs. Kayhan began on Wednesday, August 28th, and while I technically didn’t flip for the trophy until Thursday morning, and the hand I will be writing about today is a hand from the following day, we can fold this into my increasingly loose definition for what constitutes a “Winning Wednesday.” When you aren’t winning poker tournaments, it feels like you’ll never win another tournament; when you’re winning poker tournaments, it feels like the easiest thing in the world and you’re shocked you aren’t doing it more often. Coming fourth or better in an 88-person tourney and coming second or better in a 47-person tourney in two of the first three bullets you play on a stop is about a 0.5% shot, but when you keep having hands to value bet on the river and win AK vs. QQ and 99 vs. KQs, it feels natural. You played the hand well and you have more chips. What could be more natural than that?

When you start off a trip on a run like this, it’s important to emotionally adjust your expectations for the rest of the trip and to make sure your good fortune does not curdle into winner’s tilt. It is harder to lock in for the next day’s tournament when you were up late the night before, but your fatigue can be countered by feeling less stressed and more confident. When all those emotions are calibrated correctly, you will play better poker. When they’re not you will play sloppy and unfocused. After chopping Wednesday’s €20k with Kayhan, I three-bulleted Thursday’s €25k. I did get unlucky, but I also made some questionable plays. Bullet #1 I busted in a standard preflop spot, but perhaps if I were more locked in I could have found the fold. Bullet #2 I made a fine shove, but it was a marginal play and maybe I was just itching to play big pots. Bullet #3 I did something I rarely did on the previous days: I lost a preflop all-in flipping.

However, the hand from this day that stuck with me the most was one of the first hands of the day I played vs. Nick Petrangelo. I successfully bluffed him on the river in a small pot, but I did not like how I played the hand or my thought process throughout. In between bullets, I had enough time to go back to my room and look up some hands I played, and I was shocked to learn how a simple looking check back could cost me so much EV. Read on to learn more about this hand.

EPT Barcelona 2024 Event #14 €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em I
(500/1k/1k) 100k Starting Stack. Registration is still open

It folds me (100k) on the button with J♦️5♦️, I make it 3k, Nick Petrangelo calls in the BB.

Flop (7.5k) Q♥️9♥️7♠️: Nick checks, I bet 5.5k, Nick calls.

Turn (18.5k) A♠️: Nick checks, I check.

River (18.5k) T♥️: Nick checks, I bet 18k, Nick folds.