Hand Analysis from the WSOP-C Hammond Regional Championship with David Paredes
David Paredes' name and face may not be recognized often by the general poker public, but he��s quickly becoming a familiar face on the tournament circuit. At the North American Poker Tour Venetian Main Event in Las Vegas last February, he final-tabled and finished in fifth place for nearly $185,000. This year, he��s also cashed in the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo and the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup VI. Paredes is also making a run in the $10,000 World Series of Poker Circuit Regional Championship in Hammond, Indiana. He talked to PokerNews about a big hand he played early on Day 2 against Jason Mercier.
Concepts
- Plan your bet sizing
- Be aware of your table image
- Check-raising with small pairs as a semi-bluff on some flops can be effective
Can you give a description of your table and your table image leading up to this hand?
No one knows who I am, and they don��t know how I play. I like that. But I see how they play on TV, at the least the poker celebrities. I liked my table because I had Vanessa Selbst to my right. She��s really aggressive and a really good player. I actually know her game pretty well, and she knows mine, too, because we��ve played together before. Jason Mercier was to my left, which I didn��t really like because he plays a lot of hands, and he plays very small-ball poker. He raises tiny and three-bets super small, too. Other than that, I didn��t really recognize anyone else.
Preflop Action: David Paredes raised to 2,400 in early position with 3?3?. Two to his left, Jason Mercier reraised to 6,700. When action folded back over to Paredes, he made the call.?
I know he has a wide range of hands, so I��m not just playing to set mine. My plan is to check-raise on a few different flops, and then go from there.
Flop Action: The flop comes 6?3?2?. Paredes checked and Mercier bet 7,300. Paredes check-raised to 17,500. Mercier called.
Obviously it��s the perfect flop for me, but I would have check-raised a similar board even if I didn��t hit a set because he has overcards a lot. I think I would be able to represent a pocket pair of tens since I raised in early position. I��d want him to fold any kind of junky hand he was in with that might have equity against my hand.
What��s his range when he calls your check-raise?
I put his range on either a gutter with an over like ace-five, ace-four or pocket pairs or maybe a big ace. I didn��t think he��d float with just like queen-jack or something, although, this is a board that I should get played back with a lot. That��s the other reason I check-raised that instead of just calling.
So you��re check-raising on a six-five-two board as a semi-bluff and to protect your equity, and then you��re check-raising for value when you do hit a set?
Right, so when I��m check-raising when I miss, I��m doing it on flops where I think he can��t really call. I might check-raise on a jack-ten-nine board just because I can have a lot of big cards in my range and he fold his junky hands, ace-highs, or smaller pairs that beat mine. So here, I flop a set, but I��m going to play it as though I have a check-raise semi-bluff hand which could also be the best hand.
Turn Action: The turn is the A?. The board now reads 6?3?2?A?. Paredes bet 19,700. Mercier called.
This is a good card for me because if he does have a gutter with an overcard like ace-five or ace-four, he can call a turn bet. He could also have ace-king if he thought I was completely bluffing the flop.
Can you talk about the dynamic of the ace hitting the turn? This is kind of a magic card because of his floating range right?
Yeah, you��re right. It is a magic card because I��m not supposed to have an ace in my hand. He can represent an ace in his hand better than I can. It doesn��t really make sense for me to bet an ace. If I had pocket eights, I should be scared of the eights. When I bet here, it doesn��t really make sense. I feel like he��ll either call to float if he has a random hand, or if he actually has an ace. It��s a card that hits his range a lot better than mine.
If he knew that you��ve been a cash-game player for a long time, or had been familiar with your game, would you still make this bet knowing that he knows that you know this bet doesn��t make sense?
Generally the way people view me is just a random average person, so I definitely wouldn��t make that bet against Vanessa or someone who knows my game really well. But against Jason, I never really played with him before so I didn��t think he would give me much credit. I thought he might be able to put me on a spaz-out range more often than he would if he knew I wasn��t just a regular player.
Obviously you��re hoping to get stacks in by the river, so what went into your turn bet-size decision?
I wanted to bet an amount so that he��d have about a half-pot behind after calling. I wanted him to feel committed on the river. I also wanted to bet slightly bigger than what I check-raised to because a same-bet or smaller bet looks fishy.
River Action: The river is the J?. The board now reads 6?3?2?A?J?. Paredes bet 60,000, enough to cover Mercier��s stack of 34,000. Mercier called. Paredes shows 3?3?. Because the casino��s rules entail that all all-in hands are shown, the dealer tabled Mercier��s hand of Ax4x. Paredes wins the pot with a set.
This is kind of an irrelevant card. Of course I shoved for value. I think he could have folded because I don��t think I��m triple-barreling too often with complete air. It��d be really hard for me to have stone-air here. Once I saw his hand though, it did make sense to me.
He essentially has a bluff-catcher on the river. Why do you think he ended up calling?
I think he just called because he was a little frustrated. He was saying, ��I wanted to hit my gutter or two-pair. There��s so much in the pot.�� That��s what I wanted and why I sized it so that he had really good odds on the river. I mean, the odds don��t matter at that point because I either have it or I don��t, so I think he made a bad call on the river, but I like the way played the rest of the hand. He probably shouldn��t have three-bet preflop, but he��s such a successful player who preys on the weak. I do think he was trying to pick on me because I don��t think he��s three-betting me as an early-position raiser with ace-four off or ace-four suited if he knew I was good player. He thinks I��m an unknown. like my image in that no one knows me. I guess I shouldn��t be doing this interview. [Laughs].
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