Last year for Halloween I wrote about five spooooooooooky hands, all from the same tournament where, like a zombie, I kept coming back from the dead, only to die, reanimate and die again. In most of the hands I wrote about, I flopped a great hand, and by the river my hand had turned into a marginal bluff-catcher, at best. This year, I don’t have the same wealth of hands to draw from, but I found one hand that matches last year’s haunted theme. Today’s hand is from a €100,000 tournament that starts 250bbs deep, while last year was a mere $100,000 tournament that started 250bbs deep. My opponent today was Kayhan Mokri, who had just beaten me heads up in a €20,000 tournament (we chopped, but he won the flip), and he was looking to inflict more damage on me.
Like last year’s hand, this hand has elements of horror in it, because I foolishly and hubristically thought the flop was so good for my hand that I couldn’t lose, only to be shocked by an ugly runout. However, another element of horror is fear of the unknown, and from a strategic POV, I had no idea what to do in this hand. It was a squeezed pot 160bbs deep, not something I have much practice with or have studied much. I was in the abyss. I did not understand how I was supposed to play my range or my hand because it was an unusual spot, but I was comforted because I had a great hand. The only way I could really screw this up is if I folded. Unfortunately, I did just that. This may have been a correct pivot on an ugly run out— a good disciplined fold I made instead of getting married to a strong hand— but when something this disastrous happens, I want to make sure I didn’t do anything wrong. Things did not work out for me today, but next time I flop top set in a squeezed pot I’ll be prepared to play it well, and hopefully I’ll get a better runout.
2024 PokerStars EPT Barcelona €100,000 EPT Super High Roller
(1k/2.5k/2.5k) (SB/BB/BBA) 250k Starting Stack Registration is Open
It folds to Kayhan Mokri (485k/194bbs) in the HJ who makes it 5k, the CO flats, it folds to me (425k/170bbs) who makes it 25k with T♥️T♦️, Kayhan calls, the CO folds.
Flop (60k) T♠️9♣️2♦️: I bet 30k, Kayhan calls
Turn (120k) 8♦️: I check, Kayhan checks
River (120k) J♠️: I check, Kayhan bets 75.5k, I fold.
