In the Berlin EPT, I made a call against Vlad Zguba (a Team PokerStars pro from Ukraine) that shocked the table. I kept quiet at the time, but I will tell you why I made it.
With blinds of 300-600 (ante 50), Zguba raised to 1,600. I called from the big blind with 7♦ 9♦.
The flop came 5♠ 6♠ 2♥: we both checked. The turn came 9♠: I bet 2,500 and he called. The river was K♠. Ugh. Any spade or king now beat me. I checked. Zguba bet 5,000.
Many people would pass second pair here without thinking. But you must always stop to think. This is an aggressive player with position. He couldn't check an overpair on that dangerous flop, and wouldn't check a flush draw. On the turn, if he had one big spade (the A or Q), he would raise – he's too good to make a weak, hopeful call with one card to come. When he flat-called the turn, I had a strong sense that he was "floating", planning to bluff the river.
But the K♠ changes everything. If he had a small spade, making a flush, he would no longer need to bluff. Bluffing now means "betting without a spade". If he's paired the king, he's never going to bet. If he's been slow-playing a flopped set, he wouldn't bet either. So: no pair, no set, no small two-card flush, no big one-card flush. What hand, then, is beating mine? Only a hand with the 10 or jack of spades in it. If he doesn't have the 10 or jack of spades, he has nothing.
Those are odds I am happy to take. I called, he showed A♦ Q♦ and I won a 19,000-chip pot. (To offset this chirping: I didn't even cash in the tournament.)
Victoria Coren is a sponsored player for PokerStars.com
