WSOP Final Table: Completely sick hand

[SirFozzie]

10 handed, playing down to 9 (the official "final table"), and we had this massive cooler of a hand. There was no way the money wasn't going in.

https://www.pokernews.com/tours/wsop...ips.230997.htm

Hand #171: Nicolas Manion continued his aggression in the very next hand and opened to 1,500,000 first to act. Antoine Labat called in middle position and Yueqi Zhu moved all in for 24,700,000 from the hijack. Once the action was back on Manion, he announced all in himself for more than 43,100,000 and Labat asked for a count.

By then, the rail was already about to implode, and things got even more intense as soon as Labat announced the call as the biggest stack of the trio.

Yueqi Zhu: {K-Hearts}{K-Spades}
Nicolas Manion: {A-Spades}{A-Hearts}
Antoine Labat: {K-Diamonds}{K-Clubs}

Labat had two live suits to knock out both opponents and picked up some hope on the {J-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}{4-Clubs} flop, as the entire Thunderdome was filled with shouts from every corner. The {3-Spades} turn locked up the hand, making the {J-Clubs} river a formality. Manion's rail exploded and Zhu was left empty-handed to finish in 10th place for $850,025, while Labat will have a mountain to climb with just 13 big blinds for the official nine-handed final table.

[Comey]

I re-watched it a few minutes ago. I'm kind of surprised the hand played out as it did (ie Zhu's shove for 24.7m when the initial raise was 1.5m, and Labat's call after Manion shoved). I figured it would have been a four and five-bet before shoves. (Obv I didn't read the hand recap; I only saw the cards on Pokernews.)

Cada FTs again, and Hellmuth won his 15th. Pretty interesting day.

[SirFozzie]

I was thinking that Zhu's shove was an attempt to either shut down the hand or lock in versus one person. After all, Kings are great pre-flop, but what do you do if someone calls for 3 million or so, and then an ace comes on the flop?

I know it's hard to fold KK if you're Labat, but what does he think the two all-iners have before him?

[Lathum]

I think Zhu is trying to make it look like a squeeze play to induce a call from a weaker hand. Given the situation he knows Labat doesn't have aces and you are never putting him on KK there, so logically Zhu has him beat. You could certainly put Manion on AA, but if you have KK there and the pre flop raiser has AA thats the breaks, and if he has any hand other than the one he does he likely mucks with action behind him (except maybe AK), paving the way for Labat, who we have established likely doesn't have AA to call light since he is last to act. Zhu just got very unlucky and Manion happened to have AA and his other outs taken.

I think the terrible play is from Labat. Easy to be a MMQB, but IMO KK is an easy fold there. Problem is no one wants to give someone else credit for actually having it. I have watched a ton of WSOP this year on pokerGo (which is awesome), and people 3 bet light all the time now. Problem is sometimes they have it. Once Manion calls, Labat HAS to know, given the fact this is the bubble for the FT at the main event, one of them has him killed. Manion played the whole way like he had the goods and Labat clearly didn't give him credit for it. Sometimes you need to fight another day.

[Comey]

I feel like, ib this spot, Zhu is only getting called by hands that beat you (well, AA KK). That's why the shove, even when appearing to be a squeeze, is difficult to reason. It's such an overbet, and for such a percentage of other stacks...AK nor QQ is calling you. Take a flop and evaluate then.

Maybe I'm wrong. I feel like, in that spot, such play only busts you. I know, hindsight and all...but it's such a limiting range, and without a chance to win the tournament there, it isn't the best play.

Labat's decision is absurd and based purely on pot there. Manion is only shoving with aces. That's it. No reshove with queens, AK...only aces.

[SirFozzie]

Labat got kings again yesterday, and lost to Queens after a queen on the flop.

I think he's going to be hesitant about playing those cowboys going forward.

[SirFozzie]

Also, the funny thing is earlier in the tournament, Manion was able to do what Labat could not. Hero-Fold Kings preflop when his opponent had aces.

https://www.pokernews.com/tours/wsop...ips.230379.htm

[cartman]

KK vs. AA was the hand that did me in during that inaugural WCOOP online event.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Comey

I feel like, ib this spot, Zhu is only getting called by hands that beat you (well, AA KK). That's why the shove, even when appearing to be a squeeze, is difficult to reason. It's such an overbet, and for such a percentage of other stacks...AK nor QQ is calling you. Take a flop and evaluate then.

Maybe I'm wrong. I feel like, in that spot, such play only busts you. I know, hindsight and all...but it's such a limiting range, and without a chance to win the tournament there, it isn't the best play.

Labat's decision is absurd and based purely on pot there. Manion is only shoving with aces. That's it. No reshove with queens, AK...only aces.

I saw the Doug Polk video, and he thought that Zhu's move was basically "Give me 6.5 Blinds, and I'll be happy". Basically, he wanted to shut down the hand right there and guarantee his Kings were +EV. Instead, well, we saw what happened.

[BishopMVP]

Yeah, I have no problem with Zhu pushing in pre-flop with KK. Not sure what Labat's plan was - forget the final call, why is he calling & not at least raising there to see if Manion is trying to buy it?

Slow playing KK is the worst - one over card, 2 of a suit or 2 in a row on the flop & you're in a terrible position.

I'm not sure I'd be strong enough to lay it down either, but the final call is bad too. If Zhu was closer to being blinded out maybe I'd put him on a weak hand, but he wasn't that close, and then when Manion goes all-in too despite another behind him you have to assume one of those two has rockets. I get not even thinking one is also holding KK, but is he putting them on AK suited or thinking Zhu was trying to buy it with a weak hand like QQ/JJ?

[Maple Leafs]

My first reaction to this hand is to just say "That's poker, if the cards come out that way you're going to lose all your chips so you might as well just shrug and accept it."

Then again, that's also my reaction whenever I go all in preflop with KJ and lose, so maybe that's why I don't do very well at poker.

[SirFozzie]

In related WSOP news, this hand happened at the WSOP 1 Million dollar buy in tournament final table.

Two players knocked out on same hand of $1M buy-in tourney - ESPN Video

[Butter]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

In related WSOP news, this hand happened at the WSOP 1 Million dollar buy in tournament final table.

Two players knocked out on same hand of $1M buy-in tourney - ESPN Video

That was rough especially for Salomon, you have to wonder if they were still on the bubble if that hand would've played out any differently.

[Lathum]

Seems as good a place as any to post this. Chris Moneymaker has been selling his action in stakekings and Twitter. I realize a lot of guys do this to help with variance, but this feels more like the well is running dry

[QuikSand]

You've got to understand deuce-seven triple draw to follow this, but:

Nick Schulman on Twitter: "Pour a little out for the homie Bryce Yockey. The worst beat I've ever seen 🤢🔫. You'll be back Bryce… "

That is a bad beat that will stand the test of time. The video is from a live feed, too, so the announcers' reaction is the pure, unfiltered, WTF that the outcome fully deserves.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

You've got to understand deuce-seven triple draw to follow this, but:

Clearly I fail to meet the standard.

I have literally no clue what happened there, nor how the guy who lost lost.

[Izulde]

Reminds me of when I was in a fraternity poker tournament (nothing stakes stuff - was a recruitment event and 1st place was like $50). I breeze through and get to the final table.

First hand, I ended up with four queens and went all-in. Everyone else folded except for one guy who called.

Dude had four kings.

So I was out first hand at final table on a bad beat. Still one of my favorite undergrad stories.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Clearly I fail to meet the standard.

I have literally no clue what happened there, nor how the guy who lost lost.

7-2 is a lowball game, named after the best hand in the game (7 5 4 3 2) because straights count.

Basically, Yockey has the second best hand POSSIBLE (7-6 high). When Arieh has a pretty shitty hand (AQ653).

Arieh needs MULTIPLE steps to help him. He does get some help in the first draw (Q6532), but there's a hidden land mine here. A seven would give him a great hand, but Yockey has a better one. A four would give him a straight, which is no good in seven deuce.

Second draw, Arieh gets the 4, so his hand is still rubbish. He HAS to dump the six, and realizes that the next card will be the high card of the hand.

He gets the seven.

So, Yockey has the second best hand in all the game.

But Arieh now has the BEST hand in the game.

In short, the only way that Arieh could win was drawing the two, then the four and the seven, in that order. (If he had 7-6-5-3-2, he stands pat, but loses to 7-6-4-3-2.)

Horrendous beat.

edit (one poker site ran out the odds. Before the first draw, Yockey had a 99.83% win percentage.

In Hold-em Terms, a one-outer is only like a 2% draw. I saw one poker player say, this is like someone hitting a one outer, , someone demanding a redraw, so they shuffle the one outer back into the deck, and after a shuffle, deal the same one-outer.

[Comey]

Holy crap that was sick.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

7-2 is a lowball game

THERE is the key point I was missing.

Thanks.

[Lathum]

For those of you who are poker geeks, I had a 20 minute phone conversation today with Faraz Jaka. We met about 10 years ago through a mutual friend, and are friends on Facebook. Can't say what it was about but he wanted to pick my brain on a subject I know a lot about. Was pretty cool to talk to a guy who is in the top 1% of the 1% in something you love.