POTD #94 2025 WSOPME: Brad Owen's Bust Out

Brad Owen makes a semi bluff that doesn't work out

The first year I played the WSOP was 2010. I can say this without looking anything up because it was the first summer when I was 21. I stayed in Vegas for the whole WSOP but did not play the whole WSOP. Outside of the Main Event, the biggest buy-in tournament I played was a $5k, and there were only 55 events total. I went around 2.5 weeks without cashing a tournament, min-cashed a 1k, and then spent another 2.5 weeks without cashing a tournament, and I was ready to play my first WSOP Main Event. I don’t remember much about my first Main Event, and while I mincashed the tournament, PokerNews doesn’t have a single update of a hand I played, as I was not a big enough name yet. On day 4, I was seated next to another young primarily online poker player; his 2p2 name was higher_energy, and from Hendon Mob I gathered his name is Georgy Kurdin, he is also a Substacker, but his is currently dormant, you can read his old posts at the following link, where he goes by George Kurdin.

I had a healthy stack and was at a table where Alex Kostritsyn was opening every pot on the bubble. I remember playing back at him a little, but I do not remember if I got the best of him. I had an average to above-average stack when we got into the money and was dreaming of making the November 9. Middle position raised, I was in the CO with Q9s and was debating three-betting or flatting, then George Kurdin folded out of turn… or at least telegraphed that he was going to, and I decided to flat because I knew I effectively had the button. I flopped some sort of monster draw, got all-in vs a hand that would have folded to my three-bet (let’s just say it was JTo and the flop was JTx with my suits) and lost a very large pot. I was left with a small amount of chips, but stayed alive long enough to outlast George. We were next to each other in the payout lines and he told me “You know I would have three bet the Q9 suited preflop.” I wanted to scream at him. I only flatted because you folded out of turn! But I got my emotions together and smiled politely. 15 years later, I am publicly forgiving you for your breach in poker etiquette; I hope all is well.

In today’s hand, I am going to write about the proverbial “worst day of the year” of someone else, the hand where Brad Owen busted the 2025 WSOP ME. Like me, he was in the money of the WSOPME for the first time, flopped a huge draw and got all-in. I do not remember the postflop action of my bustout hand, so I don’t know what I could have done differently-- probably a lot. Fortunately, Brad’s hand took place on stream, so I can analyze what he should have done differently. Read more below.

WSOP Main Event ITM 377 left (10k/25k/25k) (SB/BB/BBA)

Pokernews Update
PokerGo Clip. Timestamp 3:17:42

One fold to Brad Owen (810k) UTG8 who raises t50k with K♥️Q♥️, Thomas Eychenne (1.36M) flats the HJ with A♦️9♦️, Seun Oluwole flats the CO with (1.065M) with T♠️9♠️, everyone else folds

Flop (210k) A♥️T♥️5♦️: Brad bets 140k, Thomas calls, Seun folds

Turn (490k) Q♦️: Brad shoves 620k, Thomas calls, the river is the T♦️ and Brad is eliminated.

What Brad Was Thinking

This looks like a pretty normal WSOPME hand. Someone raises preflop and is called by two players, flops a strong hand, and puts their foot on the gas and doesn’t let up. In this hand, his strong hand isn’t a value hand, but a big draw. If you want to pair your value hands like AT or AQ with some bluffs, it makes sense that you pick high-equity draws. I think he bet the flop because he felt he had a strong semi-bluffing hand and both a nuts and range advantage versus both players. I think he shoved the turn because he had a lot of equity and 1.25x pot to play, was unsure about what to do if he checked, and thought he could get better hands to fold. He was called by Ad9d, could not improve, and was sent home.

I reached out to Brad and he added a little more detail, some of which I agree with. He thinks the field under three bets suited aces and over three bets AQo, so they will be overweighted in weak top pair and underweighted in two pair plus. He thinks he can credibly represent some very strong hands and if he checks he is in an uncomfortable position. He also says in hindsight he wishes he checkraised the flop instead of betting big himself.

What Sam Thinks (No Cheating)