Hold’em with Holloway, Vol. 76: Matt Bretzfield Gets Tricky With Aces

August 15, 2018

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

For the past four days, I've been doing some freelance live reporting at the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open at Hollywood, Florida's Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. It was there I observed some interesting hands, some of which I'll be covering in this column over the coming weeks starting today with one from the 2018 SHRPO $5,250 Championship.

The tournament drew 914 entries. It was on Day 2 that New York's Matt Bretzfield played a big hand in Level 12 (1,200/2,500/2,500). The hand began when Bretzfield limped under the gun and the player in the hijack raised to 8,000. Carlos Rojas, who began the day with 355,500 in chips, then three-bet to 13,500 from the big blind.

Bretzfield, a pot-limit Omaha cash game grinder who relocated to South Florida in February, woke up with a limp-raise to 38,000. The player in the hijack released his hand, and Rojas called to see a 10♥K♦6♠ flop.

Bretzfield: "He's calling there to either flop a set or see if an ace or king comes."

Rojas checked, Bretzfield bet 75,000, and Rojas paused for a few beats before check-raising all in for 131,500. Bretzfield snap-called.

Bretzfield: A♦A♠
Rojas: Q♠Q♥

Rojas needed some luck for his two ladies, but was left wanting as the 8♦ bricked the turn followed by the 7♦ on the river.

I was curious why Bretzfield slow played the pocket rockets, so I decided to ask him on a break.

"The guy in Seat 8 and the guy in the big blind were consistently raising, very aggressive," he explained. "So I limped hoping the player in the big blind — who came in sixth in chips but had been losing — would raise. He'd been raising every hand. So I limped under the gun and one of the tighter players raised. When it got to Rojas he pretended he wanted to call but actually raised."

He continued: "When it got back to me, I was definitely going to raise. I thought I'd end the hand right there, take the 30K in the pot and increase my stack by 15 percent. I made a big raise, the original raiser folded, and Rojas just smooth-called. I wasn't sure if he was calling out of spite because I raised after he pretended he didn't want to raise."

"When it came king-high I wanted to end the hand. I bet 75K. I was never folding the hand, I was investing myself. When he jammed I thought he might have a set of kings, but he didn't. I don't understand why he played it that way. If he wanted to jam, he should've jammed preflop. He's calling there to either flop a set or see if an ace or king comes. The king is out there and I limp-raised preflop. I'm not doing that with jacks. The minimum I have is ace-king. I think he was more on tilt that anything."

What do you make of this hand? Let me know on Twitter @ChadAHolloway.

_{Image courtesy SHRPO.}

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