Poker players call it putting your opponent to the test. It’s the art of power poker. It generally involves making the last raise because you need a better hand to call than to raise.
Phil Laak, known as “The Unabomber” for his trademark gray hoodie over dark sunglasses, thrives in that type of play, but even an aggressive player can misread the situation and lose his tournament life.
At the final table of the 2003 World Poker Tour’s “Legends of Poker” no-limit hold ’em main event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, Laak had been playing aggressively enough to run legendary T.J. Cloutier off some good hands.
“I could feel T.J. was stewing,” said Laak, whose hyperactivity at the table can involve kneeling beside the dealer in an effort to cajole good flops or thrashing all over the floor upon hitting a miracle card. “He was used to running the show. I was just pounding and pounding. If he raised, I would re-raise.”
Laak picked up wired 7s in the small blind and raised it to Cloutier in the big blind. An underpair is about a 53-47 percent favorite to win the hand against two overcards.
“I knew he was going to be very aggressive,” Laak said, “but since I knew that most hands he wants to be aggressive with will have two overcards to the 7s, I want to have two ways to win: One by having the 53-47 percentage matchup, and two, by being the last aggressor.”
Problem was, Cloutier came over the top with a re-raise about 15 times Laak’s bet.
“It was an obscene overbet,” said Laak, who is part of a new poker instructional DVD called “Going All In” with Antonio Esfandiari and Gus Hansen. “I thought about it and it was worth about a quarter of a million, a huge number.
“I went through everything. If he had a sick demon of a hand, he doesn’t want to lose me, so I put him on ace-jack, ace-9, king-queen (instead of a big wired pair).”
Now it was Laak being put to the test. If he called, he would be all in. If he lost, he would be out of the tournament. Laak made the call. Cloutier had A-10, a 10 came on the flop, and Laak was gone.
Phil Leak
7 of hearts
7 of clubs
T.J. Cloutier
Ace of spades
10 of diamonds
“I should’ve gone all in and put him to the test,” Laak said. “I could’ve made the sick last bet. He went extra sick with his big raise.
“The lesson would be to calculate the number of raises that are available with reasonable aggression on both parts, and if you like your hand, then structure it so you get the last raise.”
Table talk
Underpair: Matching hole cards smaller than an opponent’s holdings or the cards on the board.
