A Hand Matchup from the 2014 Bay 101 $7500 No-Limit Hold'em
OutcomePreflop, final table, heads-up, with the blinds at 125,000 and 250,000 and a 25,000 ante, Wilkerson raised to 500,000 from the button, and Carroll called. On the flop Carroll checked, Wilkerson bet 500,000, Carroll raised to 1,300,000, and Wilkerson called. On the turn Carroll checked, Wilkerson went all-in, and Carroll called 4,500,000.
AnalysisWilkerson used his button for a position play on the pot, but Carroll submitted a nice check-raise on the flop with middle pair. This bet served to define his hand strength and was geared to shut down bluffs from Wilkerson. Wilkerson had a gutterball draw to go along with his Ace-high, and he elected to proceed. The repeating deuce on the turn meant Carroll was now losing to the Two as well as the Nine, and he slowed down with a check. Wilkerson didn’t seem phased by the check-raise from the earlier street, and taking the check from Carroll as an invitation he shoved all-in. Carroll showed tremendous awareness of his opponent’s playing style and made an excellent read of his opponent’s overbet. His hand was obviously marginal, but he came up with a beautiful call. Wilkerson still had outs to the Three for his wheel draw as well as the Aces and Fives, but Carroll faded the outs to score his first major and $1,256,500. Wilkerson earned $728,650 as runner-up, his largest cash to date.