The Prince of Freerolls
England, 22 years of Age.

Interesting stuff from the tables this week. Last week I wrote about a player getting himself into trouble in the patented pocket pair vs Ace-King spot, and the same spot returned to my table this week as well. A final table, no less.

This week I'll be looking at this spot from the opposite perspective. Last week I thought that a player overvalued his pocket sevens, calling down a large portion of his stack against a re-raise. This week, the player with the big decision held ace-king, again facing a re-raise. This one would be for his entire stack, though.

A truly horrific spot at the most crucial of times. It is no joke that this decision would have huge ramifications for his prize winnings: a decision for a huge amount of money.

There are seven players left from a field of around 100. We're at the final table, and the felt is the good, extra slidey stuff that you only find on the top tables. Pitch dealing on here is really hard. You've really got to find that sweet spot to aim at so it stops sliding right into the players opened palms.

All dealing on a final table is hard, the level of responsibility is huge. It's not just the players who have nightmares of making big mistakes on the big stage. Especially when counting the huge stacks the players have accumulated to get to this stage in the first place.

Blinds are an ungodly amount, and so are the antes. Under the gun makes a speculative call, something that I've never agreed with, especially at the final table, as does the player behind him. Because of this new influx of money into the pot, a player in middle position believes that this is his opportunity to make his move and shoves all in for around 30 big blinds and the pot is now huge. I mean, huge.

The player after him is our hero for this episode. He has ace-king and a stack slightly smaller than the all-in player. Ace, King. For many players this is an instant shove. Without hesitation all the chips would be in the middle with the chance to double up plus the two calls, blinds and antes. A decent sum by themselves at this point of the tournament.

However, there is a lot to take into account for this spot. The first being just exactly what the player shoved for. This player had been playing standard A-B-C poker throughout the tournament, and has not made any plays that are too far out of line. If he is not trying to steal the pot, he would push with anything from medium pocket pairs to aces.

Ace-King and Ace-Queen would also probably be shoving spots, but for anything less I would expect a call or a min-raise. These would all be close calls though, down to around Ace-Ten / Nine.

From this range of hands, Ace-King is only ahead of very few of these hands, and in the simplest way possible: it is not worth calling. Bear in mind, this decision is for all the chips, and we are so, so close to the finishing line.

Making this call earlier on in the tournament makes more sense, with the possibility to double, maybe even triple up with the players left to act, but this kind of thinking should go out the window when facing the very real prospect of cold hard cash.

When at the final few tables, playing mistake-free poker, and limiting the amount of variance attached to your hands, is more key than ever.

Unfortunately for me, this story has no real ending. Our hero for the day folded his ace-king, as did everyone else. Both the queens and ace-king were flipped over, and the table nearly burst in disbelief. It seemed that everyone else at the table would have shoved with ace-king; bar me and our hero.

But funnily enough, he went on to win.

Folding that ace-king was the hardest, best decision he made all, and all-in-all it made him around £700. A tough fold, but a good fold. A profitable fold, because yes, they do exist. If you can survive in a spot where lesser players go broke, then that's profit. And that's the true power of mistake-free poker.

Wanna blog for bankrollmob? 

Simply send an e-mail to [email protected] with a few words about yourself (Name, age, interests etc) along with a complete blog post (doesn't have to be a new one).