By Tony Dunst
I finished Day 1 of WPT Rolling Thunder among the chip leaders and was disappointed to find a table full of familiar faces waiting for me on Day 2. One of those faces belonged to Tyler Patterson, who put me in a tough river spot in the first hand we played together.
The blinds were 300-500 with a 500 ante, and in the small blind, I held 
with 120,000 chips. Tyler had around 95,000 in middle position, and the action opened with a player in early position on 25,000 raising to 1,100. After Tyler made the call, I three-bet to 4,500…planning to fold if either opponent four-bet.
Instead, the opener folded, and Tyler called in position, leading to a Queen-5-4 rainbow flop.
As with most decision points these days, I randomized my choice and drew a passive number, so I checked to Tyler. He bet 4,000, and I made the call with my top pair.
I checked when the turn brought a 6 that completed the rainbow, and now Tyler bet 15,000. I called once more, and checked a third time when the river brought a jack. I expected Tyler to bet but I was surprised by the size; all-in for over 70,000 about one and a half times the size of the pot.
If we’d been playing with time-bank chips, I would’ve tossed one out immediately.
By checking the flop my hand looked a little under-represented, but I also thought Tyler gave me credit for being able to check strong hands some percent of the time—whether with top set or one of the over-pairs.
I also figured Tyler knew that pocket jacks were one of the most likely hands to take my line…and after I’ve called twice in a three-bet pot, there aren’t that many medium-strength hands he can put me on.
Even worse, it’s difficult to find bluffs in Tyler’s range…the most plausible ones have showdown value, like 
or
. He can have all of the flopped sets (though queens are unlikely), and might even go for this sizing on the river with the two combos of queen-jack suited that were remaining.
Ultimately, I decided there were too many value combos and not enough bluffs in Tyler’s range, and slid my ace-queen towards the muck. I never found out if he had it, but my real regret was forgetting to fold for the rest of the day.
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