Covering live poker tournaments for a living affords me the opportunity to see countless thousands of hands played out, many of which offer interesting and potentially valuable insights into how players — both amateurs and professionals — play the game. In this ongoing series, I’ll highlight hands I’ve seen at the tournaments I’ve covered and see if we can glean anything useful from them.
The Scene
Five players remain in the $675 buy-in RunGood Cup Championship, with a $54,687 payday up top. RunGood Pro Ryan Tepen has a huge chip lead with about 40 percent of what’s in play, with everyone else averaging around 30 big blinds at Level 23 (15,000/30,000/4,000).