Matt Affleck

His run this year was much publicized after his blowup last year.

Situation: 15 left in the WSOP ME

You have 25 million in chips and are among the chip leaders. There is a raise to $550,000 from the CO by one of the few players who has you covered. You look down at AA on the button. You raise to $1.55 million. He four-bets to $4 million.

Do you:
1. 5-bet small, inducing a ship MAYBE from KK and folding almost everything else
2. Flat in position and play a flop

Push. Period.

so what happened? i take it he lost? i forget lol

+1

So if we shove, he only calls with KK?

Is this the hand he loses in a bad beat to Duhamel?

I'll re-raise or push. Right? With AA I'll definitely make a big move.

In this situaution the obvious thing to do is to shove all in and then pray.

I'm glad he lost though. I didn't like Affleck

Despite your hatred for Affleck, he's accomplished quitean online reputation thru tournament play.

Cos he's a boss

Ugh, I havent seen this yet, I thought this thread about Ben Affleck... I was like when has Ben Affleck ever gone deep in ME...? Tired... but of course the answer is push.

y is the answer push?

Shove and pray to god your AA dont get crack.. what happen im guessing he lost since it sounds like u would have just call and see what the flop brings.

your opponent has KK or QQ and with just about any flop your getting it all in post flop anyway so i would say it really doesnt matter whether you flat call or raise all your chips are going in the middle either way.

This, cos I'm not sure it is

SPOILER- I'm pretty sure he flat called. Opponent had JJ, he flopped a straight draw, pushed on turn, and rivered the straight to send matt home.

Shove obv, you're ahead and want it in gooooood

do you really think the CL at the ME is calling off 80% of his stack with the November 9 in sight with KK?

Haven't seen it yet, for some reason something got prioritized on DVR, so I have to look for a replay.
I shove, if he folds, I'm happy with the what, 18% chip increase. I can't just flat call and see a flop, then battle a larger chip stack this close to the final table, because if the flop contains 2 faces, or for that matter any face, i'm shitting bricks.
And if he calls, I pray ! If I lose, I'm ok with it, I had my chips in better than 4-1 to double up and I assume this would have put him close to chip lead.

is preventing yourself from shitting bricks a good reason to not maximize value?

i mean, i might do the same for this very reason, but i don't think it's the best play.

This is irrelevant

This. I mean I probably shove or 5-bet, but Affleck isn't looking for an 18% chip increase or w/e, he's trying to get as many chips as possible

flatting makes sense if the person folds hands like JJ,AK, QQ to a shove but sticks money in on a low flop. If he calls with those hands, its a shove. if he folds his whole range, it is not a shove.

Thats why I shove and hope he calls, I'm just saying that at this point, flat calling is out of the question, he has me covered and post flop he can represent any face on the board as a set, or better yet, my head will represent any face on the board as a set for him. if he folds, I'm happy with the 18%, of course I want him to call my shove, but I just don't wanna get into post flop play with someone who has me covered when he's already presented me with a profitable hand with his hefty 4 bet. And remember his 4 bet was significant, and he has you covered, so he might call your shove.
I guess I expose a weakness in my own game with this train of thought.

Don't you think he should be as scared of what you're representing as vice versa?

wow weak-tightness ITT

I think the issue is not whether or not we are too scared to play a flop with AA when we have position and villain's range is face up.

We have 2 options,and 5-betting, whether it's a small raise or a shove, pretty much puts our hand face up. Or we can flat and leave some amount of doubt in villain's mind and let him think his JJ+/AK is good.

The problem is we shove and we win the absolute minimum but we reduce our variance on the 18% chance that we lose out on making the November 9.

Thats me ! traumatized poker player !
I just aint lettin him see a flop homes, I don't care who thinks who is representin' whatever. Thats a decent pot at this stage of the tourny, and I'll take it right now.
Oh and by the way, I didn't see it, but I assume he flat called and there was a flop, ouch. Another Matt meltdown.
AFLAC
AFLAC
AFLAC

totally wrong.

he played it beautifully and in 82% of alternate universes he is going to crush the final table with his massive chip stack.

So a meltdown is where you get it all in as a substantial favourite?

Billy Kopp's was the soul crushing hand last year. This one is this years soul crushing hand. Gonna be brutal to watch.

QFT

/thread

He got his money in good on every street. Personally I would have shoved pre, but the other guy probably would have folded to a shove.

At this level, late in the tourney, w/ November 9 in sight you should be playing some zen like poker anyway. Keep it cool, take those chips put them in the middle of the table and tell your opponent to flip them KK's or QQ's over and lets leave it to the board. As someone said earlier by this point in the betting you're eventually gonna have all your chips on the table anyway if you pursue them Aces w/ a call or 4bet. This may be your only opportunity to get him to fold up and leave a good amount of chips on the table, especially being a larger stack.

BTW Matt said in one of those little interviews they do early on in the tourney when he was at a featured table that he's not here to place he's here to win. If he put the guy on KK or QQ and is still playing w/ the attitude of winning the tourney I'd go for the kill shot right here w/ the possibility to snag up a "s***ton" of chips. If you shove and lose than what can ya do? But if you shove, get called, and win you're gonna put yourself in a beautiful postion late in a huge tourney to have a shot at winning the whole dam thing. I shove right here and I do it confident w/ an instantaneous reaction to the 3 bet. Especially if I have him pinned on pocket K's and Q's. Gotta have that killer instinct. Either way you're gonna have to deal w/ that big stack all day long, so get try to get rid of him when you have the best hand.

I meant double up.... too much hippie lettuce today!

Yeah I think this thread is interesting to see people's responses.

The natural/standard play when you have Aces and you are 4-bet is to simply get it in. Villain has told you he likes his hand very much and wants to dance. But I feel in this situation, as I alluded to in the Johnny Chan KK-AA hand, that it is simply incorrect to get it in with that many chips and CL status on the line.

I do not think people this deep in the ME really have a 5-bet bluffing range.
5-Bet shoving with these deep stacks is like 5-bet shoving with on Day 1 of the ME with starting chip stacks. It puts your cards face up and you honestly cannot expect to be called by QQ-/AK. By flatting it leaves some doubt in the mind of villain and we know that while we can often put someone on KK+ by action preflop, when we flop a big overpair it becomes increasingly difficult to fold -- you peel the flop and then you're pot committed in a 4-bet pot and how are we folding overpairs on the turn?

That said I think Duhamel played it really poorly.

I think there is something to be said for the value of simply making the November 9 so I can see the desire to reduce variance. You get fame and fortune, a sponsorship, time to rest and prepare for your opponents.