Published on April 17th, 2007 8:15 pm EST

Much has been made over this hand, and it has actually been the subject of much discussion on the poker forums.

Here is the scenario. We are in a $650 World Series of Poker satellite tournament. The top 35 players receives a $12,000 World Series of Poker package. There are currently 36 players left. Approximately 4 players have smaller stacks than Elky at this time, with the smallest stack being about 8000 in chips. Here is the hand:

PokerStars Game #9446892961: Tournament #47153283, $615+$35 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (1000/2000) - 2007/04/16 - 01:10:49 (ET)
Table '47153283 36' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Djorgo (27627 in chips)
Seat 2: Org45 (18027 in chips)
Seat 3: ElkY (14543 in chips)
Seat 4: thanksB (39557 in chips)
Seat 5: LChaney (22597 in chips)
Seat 6: westmenloAA (112916 in chips)
Seat 7: slowmo (31994 in chips)
Seat 8: Steelcurtin4 (28561 in chips)
Seat 9: Yannick PONS (82051 in chips)
Djorgo: posts the ante 100
Org45: posts the ante 100
ElkY: posts the ante 100
thanksB: posts the ante 100
LChaney: posts the ante 100
westmenloAA: posts the ante 100
slowmo: posts the ante 100
Steelcurtin4: posts the ante 100
Yannick PONS: posts the ante 100
ElkY: posts small blind 1000
thanksB: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
LChaney: folds
westmenloAA: folds
slowmo: folds
Steelcurtin4: folds
Yannick PONS: raises 4000 to 6000
Djorgo: folds
Org45: folds
ElkY: raises 8443 to 14443 and is all-in
thanksB: folds
Yannick PONS: calls 8443
*** FLOP *** [As 6s 3h]
*** TURN *** [As 6s 3h] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [As 6s 3h Qc] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ElkY: shows [Th Td] (a pair of Tens)
Yannick PONS: shows [Ah Kc] (a pair of Aces)
ElkY is sitting out
Yannick PONS collected 31786 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 31786 | Rake 0
Board [As 6s 3h Qc 4h]
Seat 1: Djorgo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Org45 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: ElkY (small blind) showed [Th Td] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 4: thanksB (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: LChaney folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: westmenloAA folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: slowmo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Steelcurtin4 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Yannick PONS showed [Ah Kc] and won (31786) with a pair of Aces

Regardless of how good of a player you are (Elky is a great player) is there any possible justification for going all-in here against a big stack, when you can just fold your way to a seat? Elky is currently the small blind at this point, and can last another 3-4 orbits at least before he is gone. Considering that there is a stack with about half of what he has, there is basically no way that he can lose the seat at this point if he folds. He has another 8 hands before the big blind comes around to him. He can easily outlast the shorter stacks at this point.

Sure he has pocket tens, but even if he had pocket aces, would a re-raise be a good idea at this point, especially against a big stack?

The simple answer is, in my opinion: no. Even with pocket aces, Elky should be laying down his hand. Sure, Elky already had a seat in the World Series of Poker lined up, but that is irrelevant. He is playing this tournament to win a seat, and by folding this hand, he would have won the seat. Bad play by Elky. There is no shame in folding to a seat here.

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Filed Under: Tournament Results

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