A Costly Final Table Mistake

By Wesley R. Young

As I was watching a rerun of a World Poker Tour tournament the other night, I saw a very costly mistake made by the most inexperienced player at the table. He finished third, which is not bad at all, but if he had played the following hand differently he very well could have won the entire tournament.

There were four players left with three very close in chip count and one short stack. The short stack moved all in, the next player folded and the inexperienced player called the all in bet with QQ. The last player to act, who was the chip leader by a small amount, moved all in with AK. The player with QQ was then forced into a difficult decision, and finally called. The player with AK won the hand, eliminating both other players.

There are two places in this hand that the player with QQ may have made a mistake. The first one, and in my opinion the worst, was calling the short stack instead of moving all in. This would have forced the player with AK into a difficult decision. Of course we don’t know what would have happened, but it is very likely the player with AK would have laid down his hand in this situation. He did not want to be up against AA or KK, but when the player with QQ just called the short stack it was an indication that his hand was good, but not likely AA or KK. A list of hands that realistically make this call are AK AQ AJ QQ JJ TT and maybe a few more. The next question is, should have the QQ called the second raise. This is a borderline decision and if I had gotten myself into the same situation, I would have called also. On one hand, by the AK raising all in after two players had shown great strength clearly signaled a good hand. On the other hand, the winner of this hand would wind up with over 75% of the chips in play and be a dominant favorite to win. If he had laid down the hand at this point, he still would have had enough chips to compete.

If you are fortunate enough to find yourself in this situation, move all in with the QQ and force the remaining player into a tough decision. It is better to be heads up against the short stack than in a three-way pot with a hand like QQ, as it greatly reduces your chances to win. Until next week, good luck at the tables!