At this stage of the game, players are willing to take flips where they can. When the stacks are so shallow, it’s not a bad strategy. You cross your fingers and take your chances.
The problem is that you don’t always find yourself in a flip. Sometimes it’s pair versus pair, putting the smaller pair at a big disadvantage. Such is the story of Marcos Paulo Ximenes at this final table.
Earlier in the day he was cruising along with more than 4 million in chips. Sitting in the big blind, he shoved over an open-raise to 220,000. Murta snap-called with pocket queens; Ximenes’ pocket 6s did not improve.
Later on, Ximenes had the better side of pair versus pair against Murta, with pocket queens to Murta’s pocket 5s. Yet when all the chips went in on a flop, Murta showed down a set to double up again, pushing Ximenes down to a very short stack.
He got some back by winning a flip, but the end came in another pair-versus-pair situation. With blinds at 60k-120k, Ximenes moved all in from late position for 1,350 with a pair of 3s. Victor Sbrissa, sitting in the big blind with a big stack, quickly called with a pair of 6s. Nobody hit their set as the board blanked out, A♠K♥ 5♦ 7♥ K♠.
Ximenes shook his head at his bad luck. So it goes. He finished in 6th place, earning $94,700.
Moments after Ximenes exited stage right, Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari attempted to knock out Rafael Pardo. It was not their first tangle. Akkari had previously opened a pot to 210,000, then called Pardo’s all in of 1,300,000 with a pair of 4s. Pardo showed up with a bigger pair (again, pair versus pair), pocket 10s. They held up to push Akkari down to 1,600,000.
Pardo wasn’t able to hold onto this chips, however. He eventually became the table short stack and decided to take his chances with a pair of deuces. This time, it was indeed a flip. Akkari showed down A♦ 10â™ and paired an ace on the flop, 8♥ 9â™ A♣ . Pardo, however, spiked a deuce on the turn to double up again and cripple Akkari to 650,000.
Blinds and antes of 60k-120k-10k quickly whittled away at that stack, forcing Akkari to defend all in with 8-3 offsuit. His opponent, Daniel Murta, had king-queen. Akkari paired 3s on the flop, but Murta paired kings on the turn. When the river blanked out, the crowd applauded and chanted Akkari’s name as he made his way out of the feature table area.
The Team PokerStars Pro earns R$128,900 for his 5th-place finish.
Dave Behr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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