Played in some of Auckland Sky City’s Festival of Poker tournaments this week

I observed this hand when the tournament was down to 14 players. 8 paid. NZD 1100 buy-in (Around USD $700)

Three short stacks at my table (mine included) plus a couple of shortish stacks at the other table.

SB and BB are two of the bigger stacks at my table. SB has around 130,000+ in chips. BB has around 200,000 chips

Blinds 1500/3000 with 200 (or maybe 300) antes (its been a few days). So SB has a bit over 40BB when hand starts and is the effective stack

Folded to SB who opens to 7,500.  BB ponders for 10-15 secs then calls

Flop 669

SB bets around  7500

BB ponders for 15 sec then pops to 18000. SB thinks for a bit then calls

Turn 7

SB checks

BB ponders for 20 sec then bets 28k

BB thinks for a while and calls.

River is Q

SB checks.   BB briefly gives look of anguish and runs both hands through his hair from front to back. He then goes into the tank for about a minute before throwing out a bet of 48K into a pot of around 110K. bet sized so SB will be left with somewhere around 25,000 to 30,000 (around 9 to 10BB).

SB holds KK. He looks anguished.  But is unable to lay his hand down.  This is one of the few hands where I thought to myself – “wow – is that a massive reverse tell (BB running his hands through his hair and briefly looking anguished when Q hits)”.

And yes it was a massive reverse tell.  BB turned over 67for a turned full house.

My main reason for posting this hand is that I’ve thought about it a lot over the past few days so have decided to share it.

Shortly after this hand the SB shoved from MP with K10o and was taken out by a big stack who called with AJ

The question for me is where should the SB have bailed out of the hand. I think the Flop is a clear call as the SB could be raising with a Flush Draw.  And he would still be left with over 30BB. If he calls the turn he is down to around 25BB. And when he calls the river he is down to around 10 BB. 

Anyhoo. I found the hand to be interesting from a range analysis view point, body language analysis viewpoint, ICM consideration viewpoint and from the point of view of a short stack loving the sight of seeing two big stacks go to war.  (unfortunately I busted out in 12th and didn’t cash – but still hung on about an hour longer than the SB)