Chris Ferguson, Annie Duke, Tom Schneider & Co. were still five-handed at the Split final table so I looked in on Gavin's PLHE final table. They, too, were five-handed. Because Gavin was the contributor to the FULL TILT book on big-stack play and he had the biggest stack, I was curious how he used it. I watched 17 hands in which two players were eliminated. Gavin was the most active player at the table, increased his stack, only one time showed his cards (gratuitously), and never saw a flop.
We put together the big-stack chapter in one long interview and didn't really review the material together before publication. At the WPT Championship after he had seen an advance copy, he was effusive in his praise. "You're a magician. This is going to be our generation's Super/System." I thought it would be fun to watch him play a little and see how his play matched up with the way the TALKED the game.
It was awesome.
Having experienced Gavin's "voice" and put it on the page, it felt like he was talking to me during the hands. For context, I knew (a) he had the biggest stack, and (b) he had been active in pre-flop raises, and his opponents had mostly been letting him get away with it.
In hand #1, he raised and they folded. In hand #2, someone else raised, he reraised, and everyone, including the original raiser, folded. I have to think, based on what I heard and by the remaining hands, that he really had something. The other player would have had to put in, I think, half his stack to call, so he was probably deciding whether to put it all in or fold. If Gavin was successful with frequent raises, I don't think he'd put a guy to the test with 25% of his own chips with T-9.
In hand #3, he raised and they all folded. While the players were thinking about it, I asked myself, Is someone short-stacked? Will they fold just because they are close to the next payout and the short-stack to bust before they tangle with Gavin?
In hand #4, under the gun, Gavin folds. someone else and the short stack get it all in and the short stack is eliminated in 5th place.
In hand #5, Gavin in the big blind raises a limper, who folds. I notice that Gavin is raising to 85,000. With 15,000-30,000 blinds, a pot-sized raiser could make it 105,000, and that's what the other players are doing when they raise. Gavin told me for the chapter, small raises. In fact, with their overwhelming success in inducing folds, he clearly doesn't HAVE TO raise the pot to win it.
In hand #6, Gavin folds his small blind to a pot-sized raise. The raiser shows K-K. Again, I hear Gavin's voice. You want your opponents to play straightforward, he says. Smith is thrilled to see that his opponents will push him around the K-K. And just as thrilled (maybe not even MORE thrilled) that they're letting him push them around with 8-6.
In hand #7, someone raises before Gavin's button and he folds.
Gavin just calls UTG on hand #8. That surprises me. I'm sure he has a reason for it but I don't immediately understand it. Maybe it's a hand he wants to sneak in with and he sees something from one of his opponents. In fact, the player on the button makes it 135,000 and Gavin folds.
In hand #9, the button and small blind limp and Gavin raises to 120,000 - again, smaller than the pot. They both fold. Despite two other players in the pot, I don't believe Gavin needed much to do make this play.
In hands #10 and #11, Gavin folds to raises. Under the gun in hand #12, he folds. There is a raise and an all-in reraise. The original raiser folds. Did Gavin have something so awful he couldn't bring himself to raise, or did he pick up something on his opponents and not even try? (For all I know, they didn't look at their hands until after he acted, which is the smartest way to play.) I'm inclined to say he was lucky, but who knows.
He gets a walk on his big blind in hand #13 but limps in hand #14, is raised, and folds.
Gavin raises and gets reraised, big, in hand #15. He eventually folds and shows 6h-5h. I don't understand why he showed, except that he anticipated tightening up and wants opponents to see how weak his raising hands are. But he's raising so often, don't they already know that? But Gavin saved 20,000 because he raised to 85,000, not 105,000.
He folds under the gun in hand #16 and gets a walk again in his big blind. In the small blind in hand #18, he folds to a raise, which ends up in additional raises until two players with nearly identical stacks are all-in. One is eliminated in 4th, and Gavin again manages to be active yet never get into a confrontation. I think he picked up 150,000 in chips during these 18 hands.
Who knows what the cards were, or how the tournament will work out, but he seemed like a magician to me in a lot of little ways.
*(Editor's Note: Gavin went on to place 2nd in the tournament)
