The inaugural WSOP Paradise Super Main Event recently got in the books with the 24-year-old Yinan Zhou claiming the coveted title for a career-best $6 million prize. The tournament may be over but some hands from the final table of the marquee tournament still continue to be the talk of the town, including the one that took place between the UK’s Liv Boeree and Brazil’s Marcelo Aziz, who made it to the marquee tourney via an online Freeroll and ended up as the runner-up for a career-best $4.6 million. On the other hand, Boeree, who returned to live poker after a few years, made a historic comeback by finishing fourth for $2.8 million – the largest cash prize ever won by a female poker player in a live tournament in poker history.
Now coming to the hand between Boeree and Aziz, it occurred during Level 36 when the blind were running 3,000,000/6,000,000, and 6,000,000 ante. During the 4-handed play, Boeree, who held 4h 4s, shoved for 38,000,000 from the cutoff seat and Marcelo Aziz made on the button, holding As 8s.
Liv Boeree:4♦ 4♠
Marcelo Aziz: A♠ 8♠
Board: 9♣ 6♣ 3♠ A♦ Q♣
Liv Boeree’s Jam – Did She Make The Right Move?
Considering the blinds and her stack, Boeree’s open shove from the cutoff was a standard one. Pocket fours is not a bad hand to shove, given this scenario and position. Her hand had a decent equity pre-flop and she probably wanted to leverage it by putting maximum pressure on opponents behind her.
Marcelo Aziz’s Call – Was That Justifiable?
Her small pairs were strong enough, given the situation, position and her stack. However, the small pairs were vulnerable to overcards held by Aziz. When Aziz made the call with As 8s, he made no mistake, considering his stack size and position. A hand with an ace has good equity against small pairs, so it was the right call from him.
Dry Flop: 9♣ 6♣ 3♠
On the dry flop, Boeree holding pocket fours not only got the lead but also gained a 72% chance of holding on because Aziz did not connect on the flop. Although Aziz missed the flop completely, he had several outs left to improve his hand. Any ace or eight would give him the lead. Also, he had the backdoor flush potential with his spades.
Brutal Turn: A♦
While Boeree was looking in good shape to double up, the turn ‘Ace’ gave Aziz the lead, leaving Boeree with just two remaining fours. That led to a significant drop in her equity.
Brick River: Q♣
Unfortunately for Boeree, the 4 did not come on the river, ending her remarkable run for second bracelet in fourth place. Despite her strategic and aggressive play, the variance finally favoured Aziz who got an ace on the turn to win the pot and end Boeree’s run.
The key takeaway from this is that small pairs are good pre-flop but they struggle when overcards hit the board and this is what happened to the ace player Boeree here in this hand. If you consider her stack and position, her move was justifiable but it led to a heart-breaking exit, showcasing that even good moves sometimes lead to tough exits from the tournaments. This is due to the variance involved in the game of poker.
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