The Tournament Changing Hand

Filed in archive Tournament News on August 12, 2006

Most tournaments come down to a few key hands that ultimately end up playing a huge role in deciding the winner of the tournament. In this years WSOP Main Event, a key hand came up between the last 3 players; Jamie Gold, Paul Wasicka, and Michael Binger. According to Card Player, With blinds at $200,000-$400,000 with a $50,000 ante, Gold limps from the button and Wasicka limps from the small blind. Michael Binger raises to $1,500,000 from the big blind. Both players call the raise. The flop comes 10c 5s 6s. Wasicka, who flops an open end straight Flush draw with the 7s8s, checks the flop. Binger with the Ah 10h bets 3,500,000. Gold with his open end straight draw pushes allin. This causes Wasicka with his monster draw to go into the think tank and says "This is sick" several times. According to Card Player's Poker Odds Calculator, Wasicka is a 53.82% favorite to win the hand and a pot that has almost 50% of the chips in the tournament in play. So what does Wasicka do with his monster draw and the opportunity to play Gold heads-up for the title almost even in chips? HE FOLDS! I guess the $6,102,499 for 2nd compared to the $4,123,310 for 3rd influenced his decision. Binger called all in with top pair, top kicker and went broke when Gold hit his straight on the turn. The river was a spade which would have given Wasicka this monster pot. Unfortunately, I believe Wasicka makes a terrible decision at a crucial time in the tournament. I play to win tournaments and would have bet the flop with the open ended straight flush draw or check raised the flop all in myself. With $12,000,000 to the winner and a chance to play heads-up for the WSOP title my chips would have definitely gone into the pot. Instead Wasicka entered heads-up play with a 7 to 1 chip disadvantage and shortly lost his chance at poker immortality. What do you think you would have done?