Steve “gboro780” Gross is the epitome of consistency in the world of online poker. The 24 year-old poker pro from New Jersey has been among the world’s top tournament players for several years across every major online poker site offered to U.S. players. In 2009, Gross had nine online scores of $40,000 or more. Three of those are for six-figures, including a $275,601 win in a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event in February. Gross also took second in Full Tilt Poker’s $1 Million Guaranteed in January for $126,506.
Gross’ other six-figure score came during the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) in April. He took second place in Event #11, a $3,150 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em event, for $128,000. Fellow high-stakes tournament whiz-kid James “Andy McLEOD” Obst was the winner of that event, coming from behind to defeat Gross in what was a heads-up match for the ages.
Gross took some time with Poker News Daily to discuss a hand he played against Obst with a few tables remaining in SCOOP Event #11.
Hand Setup:
Seat 1: Andy McLEOD (70,681 chips)
Seat 2: gboro780 (100,397)
Seat 3: get crunk (55,251)
Seat 4: HarrisMP (19,088)
Seat 5: ely_cash41 (8,229)
Seat 6: Brian Strahl (75,785)
Blinds are 250/500 with a 65 ante
Cards are Dealt:
get crunk folds
HarrisMP raises to 1,350
ely_cash folds
Andy McLEOD calls from the small blind
gboro780 calls with Jd-9d from the big blind
Flop: Ts-4d-2c
Andy McLEOD checks
gboro780 checks
HarrisMP checks
Turn: 8c
Andy McLEOD bets 3,100
gboro780 raises to 9,742
HarrisMP folds
Andy McLEOD raises to 24,000
gboro780 raises to 94,794 (having Andy McLEOD covered)
Andy McLEOD folds
gboro780 wins the pot with Jack-high
Gross’ Analysis:
For Andy McLEOD to want to get it all-in on the turn, he needs to have two pair or better. If the villain were a random, I would never make this assumption, but knowing McLEOD is world-class, I don’t see him wanting to get it in with one pair here with so much behind and such a small amount in the middle at a crucial point in the tournament.
I didn’t think he was slow playing anything pre-flop. Andy has a bit of a maniacal image, but he is very bright and knows how to use it. He’s super active, 3bets a lot, and in turn also gets played back at a lot. So, I thought he was trapping pre-flop here very rarely and would play his big hands fast more often than not in this setting.
I recognized the opener, HarrisMP, from watching nosebleed cash games on Full Tilt Poker and knew he had some game. At a six-max table with 40 big blind effective stacks against really good players, 8-8 and 10-10 become pretty huge hands that I believe McLEOD would have chosen to 3bet before the flop, particularly being out of position from the small blind.
So, of the two-pair-or-better hands we’re worried about that would be in McLEOD’s get-it-in range, we are left with 2-2, 4-4, and T-8 suited. Now I love T-8 suited, but I’m hardly ever flatting with it and, speculating in McLEOD’s shoes here, it’s just not the right part of the tournament for that. But it’s still possible. Pocket fours and pocket twos are certainly a concern, although I think they get folded pre-flop a decent amount too.
When McLEOD leads at the turn, the rational part of my brain told me to take one off and try to hit the nuts with my straight draw. I can possibly take it away from him on the river if some scare cards come or if he checks and appears to be giving up. Then, the nutso part of my brain clicked in and told me to raise it up on a semi-move where we could take it down with jack-high, still potentially hit the nuts, and still potentially take it down on scary rivers (for bigger pots).
McLEOD and I have played together for years and know that we are both quite capable. So, when I raised the turn, I wasn’t entirely shocked to see him keep the pressure on and come back over the top for 24,000. However, I felt that there were so few hands he actually wants to get it in with and a player of his caliber has air and random hands here way more often than 2-2 or 4-4. If by chance he does have those hands, I still have outs and 60 big blinds if I lose.
