My Kenny Tran-like sick call

“I am a genius! I must be the greatest!” These were the phrases uttered by Kenny Tran in the 2007 WSOP after he made a sick call on Roy Winston for his tournament life.

Now I’ll preface this blog by saying that I’m not comparing myself to Kenny Tran and this wasn’t close to the World Series of Poker, I get that. But I too had these phrases being shouted in my own mind (not out loud like Kenny) after a recent hand in a local tournament.

The tournament: PMac and I recently made a road trip to Northern Lights casino this past Friday. They have a super-fun tournament each week, a $10 rebuy and add-on tourney. They allow you to rebuy during the entire first hour if your stack is at or below specific levels. The fun part is they continue to increase the required rebuy stack maximum every 20 minutes. You can actually continue to keep building your stack by not winning a pot! If you’re looking to play this tourney the right way, you realistically need to expect to spend $60-$80, some spend more, few spend less than $60. I had $60 invested.

On this night there were 40 players.

The situation: We were down to the bubble or 5 players, 4 get paid. My boy PMac just busted 7th. The blinds were $1,000-$2,000. I was in the Big Blind and had $26K behind.

It was folded to the button who limped in for $2,000. The small blind limped as well. I’m hoping to look down in the BB at a relatively big hand so I can launch though I am extremely suspicious of the button’s limp. He had $28K behind.

I look down at Jh4h, I decide to check to see the flop.

The flop comes 4-6-9 rainbow. The small blind thinks and checks. I check, the button checks.

Interesting, I’m not sure at this point if somebody is slow playing or if everyone whiffed. The small blind is a good player whom I’ve played against before, he also has $60K at this point so I’m cautious of him slow playing top pair hoping myself or the button will get too aggressive.

The turn is a 5 making the board 4-6-9-5. Once again, the small blind checks, I check, the button checks.

The river is a 9, the board now reads 4-6-9-5-9. There is no potential flush on the board. At this point I anticipated someone making a move to pick up the pot and I sense my bottom pair of 4’s may be good.

The small blind checks, I check hoping my bottom pair is good and the button will check behind me so I can pick up this pot without risking more of my relatively low stack.

But then, the button shoves all in for $28K. The small blind folds and it is up to me, yuck! I felt my 4’s were good but this guy has me covered so a call with bottom pair will put my tournament life at risk. Not to mention, we are on the bubble, if I bust I get paid nothing.

I’m typically not one to make big calls or call off my stack, I prefer to be the aggressor in a hand. I had two scenarios running in my mind, the call “Magic” Leshovsky made with 4th pair for his tournament life versus 3 Putts in the Midwest Poker Classic Main event which propelled him to a victory and the call Kenny Tran made on Roy Winston during the 2007 WSOP Main Event.

I played the hand back through my head. The button initially limped in. My read on him was that he had a big Ace and was trying to induce a launch by myself pre-flop. I put him on a range of AK to A-10. Any other pair he would have bet the flop or turn. Also, his gigantic overbet on the river was odd. Though I do see players online often use this move when they have a monster trying to show signs of an overbet bluff. Also, by observing his body language he seemed uncomfortable, I sensed he didn’t want the call.

So, for my tournament life, I went with my instincts and made the call. Fortunately I was right. He had A-10. With that double up I was able to go on to win the tournament.

Watch this Kenny Tran video, its hilarious. This is what I felt like shouting inside. Let it be known I didn’t say a thing, LOL.