Flopping Two Pair,
Calls for a Power Play

By Sherry Nixon

 

In my opinion, flopping two pair is one of the most dangerous scenarios for any player.  There is something magical about seeing the two cards you are holding turned over on the flop.  It is easy to get giddy.  All possibilities that you are beat tend to fly right out of your head with little concern about the other cards out there.

Recently, I was playing in a WSOP No Limit Holdem $1,500 buy-in event.  The turnout this year was amazing; over 2300 individuals sat down to my chosen event to battle it out.  As the early stages of any tournament at the WSOP is dangerous, I was being very cautious.  With only $1,500 in chips to start I knew I needed to be careful about what hands to get involved with; and to play with extreme caution when doing so.

I was in the big blind with KJ os, with one raiser who made it 3 times the big blind in last position.  I called the raise and we went to the flop heads up.  The flop came K J 7 rainbow.  I checked and my opponent bet out.  

This was the third hand of the event and I was heads up with a young kid with a red dragon painted on the front of his shirt and a large piece of jade dangling from his neck.  He was quick to bet out, and from the looks of it, I believed he was on a continuation bet from his raise. 

He looked up at me as if to intimidate and I raised him 3 times his bet.  He looked back at the board and then began to think.  Right there I knew I was possibly in trouble.  He was computing.  He had a draw, maybe a straight draw, or more likely his pre-flop raise suggested a small pair and he was looking to trip up. 

He called and on the turn came a 9.  This was a bad card. If he was drawing to a straight he might have made it.  But A-10 was difficult to put him on for a raise pre flop.  I perceived small pair and just by his glance at the board and then at me when I didn’t bet out immediately.  I believed he hadn’t hit his card yet. 

I pushed all in.  “All in.”  As soon as I said it, my heart began to pound.  His hesitation in throwing his hand made me spin.  Was I wrong?  I am always surprised when I’m wrong.  I have such concentration and focus on my players that I am usually 95% accurate in my reads.  His hesitation suggested he didn’t have the straight, but he might feel that he is so pot committed, even at this early stage in the game, that he has to call, take a chance and get into another game if he misses.  He called and turned over pocket 10’s.  Yes, he was on a draw. The turn came a 10. 

What went wrong?  Well a plethora of things.  I should have gone all in on the flop with  two cards to a straight out there.  Why?  Because two pair is vulnerable, and the more you suck in your opponents the more pot committed they get -and the more willing they become to gamble it to the river. 

I wandered through the crowd and made it to the satellite table, where I picked up the exact two pair on the flop about 3 hands into the game.  I moved all in this time. My opponent called anyway but missed and I doubled up, eventually winning the satellite, earning me back my $1500 buy-in and allowing me to buy in to the 2K event the next day.  Okay, so luck does have something to do with it, although I prefer to believe otherwise.