Hole aces aren’t always winners

Your stack is always in play. Now, this might seem obvious when the game is no-limit hold ‘em. But know that it’s true even when the blinds are only $100-$200 and your starting stack is $30,000 in chips.

While this might be a caveat for some players, it is a strategy for the pros involving hand selection, reads on opponents and bet-sizing, as David Singer showed in this hand from the 2009 World Series of Poker $10,000 main event at Las Vegas’ Rio Hotel.

With blinds at $100-$200, the player under the gun raised to $600. Action folded to Singer, who called from the hijack seat with pocket 5s. The player on the button re-raised to $2,000. The initial raiser folded. Action was back on Singer. “He’s a tight, straightforward player,” said Singer, winner of a WSOP bracelet in 2008. “So I know 98% of the time he’s got a big pair.

“The amount doesn’t mean much to me when the stacks are that deep. The only way it means something is I don’t want to lose too much if I don’t hit the flop. But with starting stacks of $30,000, it really doesn’t hinder me too much.

“I know exactly what kind of hand he has. I know if I flop a set, I could get a lot of money from him. If I don’t flop a set, I can get away from it. I know he’s ahead of me.”

The flop came 10-5-8, two hearts. Singer flopped his set of 5s. Now he had to figure out his most profitable play based on his opponent’s style.

“He was a straightforward player,” said Singer, a pro from the Full Tilt Poker online site. “The high card on the board was a 10, and he never would’ve re-raised with pocket 10s. I think he would’ve just called before the flop with that. At least that’s the way I read him.

“I knew I would raise him on the flop. I didn’t know him that well, but with that kind of board, he could easily think I’m on a straight draw or a heart draw. So, I checked. He bet $3,500. I check-raised to $8,000. I was trying to make it enough that it wouldn’t scare him to call if he didn’t want to play for all his chips but also enough to get more money in the pot. I was hoping he would do what he did.”

Which was shove all in. Singer called immediately and found he was a 9-1 favorite when his opponent showed pocket aces. When the 3 and jack of diamonds came on the end, Singer scooped his opponent’s stack.

“It’s pretty simple for me: If I hit my hand, I’m probably going to make a lot of money with it,” Singer said. “If I don’t, I have to have big implied odds to play my hand. If the stacks aren’t deep, I don’t play the hand.”

Table Talk

Hijack seat: The seat two to the right of the button.

srosenbloom@tribune.com