INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE (IIMK)

PGP24 Term VI, AY 2020 - ‘21

Competitive Strategy – the Game of Poker (CSP) End Term Examination

Instructions – Please read the instructions carefully! Contains information

about bonuses and penalties!!!
 Exam duration is 2 hours. Total Marks is 40
 5 marks will be reserved for overall legibility, clarity and organization of the answers
 Each question carries 7 marks. * Question 4, question 8 are a challenges – marks
earned on these questions would be doubled.
 Start answering each question in a fresh page – A penalty of 5 would be levied if
you do not follow this instruction.
 Please answer any 5 questions ONLY – of the following 8. You can answer only one
of the two parts of question 8. In case more than 5 questions have been answered,
only the first 5 in the answer script will be marked.
 This is an open book, open-laptop, online and non-proctored examination. By
writing this examination you have sworn to not indulge in plagiarism of any sort.
 Make reasonable assumptions where required, and state these clearly in your
answers.

1. You are the big blind at a 7 player cash table with 50-100 blinds and antes of 20. You
have approximately 10,000 big blinds in front of you. Under the gun player has
24,000 big blinds. You are holding 8 <heart> and 6 <heart>. Under the gun raises by
500, gets called by the button, small blind folds, and you call. Flop comes 7 <heart>,
9 <heart>, A <diamond>. You check. The pre-flop aggressor bets 1,000 into the pot,
button folds, action is on you.
What is your decision, choose? – Options: (A) Fold (B) Re-raise (mention the re-raise
size) (C) Call (D) All-in? State your choice clearly.
Why? Explain. State your assumptions clearly.
[7]
2. You are the button at a 7 player cash table with 50-100 blinds and antes of 20. You
have approximately 10,000 big blinds in front of you. Under the gun player has
24,000 big blinds. You are holding 8 <heart> and 6 <heart>. Under the gun raises by
500, you call, blinds fold. Flop comes 7 <heart>, 9 <heart>, A <diamond>. The pre-
flop aggressor bets 1,350 into the pot, button folds, action is on you. The pre-flop
aggressor has a VPIP (voluntarily put chips in the pot) ratio of 60%.

What is your decision, choose? – Options: (A) Fold (B) Re-raise (mention the re-raise
size) (C) Call (D) All-in? State your choice clearly.
Why? Explain. State your assumptions clearly. [7]

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 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE (IIMK)
PGP24 Term VI, AY 2020 - ‘21
Competitive Strategy – the Game of Poker (CSP) End Term Examination

3. You are the big blind at a 7 player cash table with 50-100 blinds and antes of 20. You
have approximately 10,000 big blinds in front of you. Under the gun player has
24,000 big blinds. You are holding 8 <heart> and 6 <heart>. Under the gun raises by
500, gets called by the button, small blind folds, and you call. Flop comes 7 <heart>,
9 <heart>, A <diamond>. You check. The pre-flop aggressor, continuation bets 70%
of her pre-flop raising range (of 15%), and she bets 1,000 into the pot, button folds,
You call. Turn comes 7 <diamond>. You check. You have observed that villain
fidgets with her hair when she has a monster. This ‘tell’ has a reliability of 85%. She
bets 2,150 into the pot.

What is your decision, choose? – Options: (A) Fold (B) Re-raise (mention the re-raise
size) (C) Call (D) All-in? State your choice clearly. Why? Explain. How would your
decision change if reliability of the tell is 70% [7]

4. * You are one of 4 remaining players in the final table of a tournament which pays out
to the top 3 finishers per Table 1 (column 1, 2). Stack sizes and associated
Independent Chip Model (ICM) expected values (EV) are also given in Table 1
(columns 3 through 8). The short stack has 2,000 chips, with a ‘M’1 of 2.
(a) You are holding 8 <heart> and 6 <heart> and have 7,000 chips. Under the gun
(who has 12,000 chips) min raises and you call. Flop comes 7 <heart>, 9 <heart>,
A <diamond>. You check. The pre-flop aggressor goes all in.
What is your decision, choose? – Options: (A) Fold (B) Re-raise (mention the re-
raise size) (C) Call (D) All-in? State your choice clearly. Why? Explain.
(b) You are holding 8 <heart> and 6 <heart> are currently have 12,000 chips. Under
the gun (player has 7,000 chips) min raises and you call. Flop comes 7 <heart>, 9
<heart>, A <diamond>. You check. The pre-flop aggressor goes all in.
What is your decision, choose? – Options: (A) Fold (B) Re-raise (mention the re-
raise size) (C) Call (D) All-in? State your choice clearly. Why? Explain. [7*]
Table 1: Tournament Payouts and last four chip stacks at the beginning of the hand…
(1) Tourney
Finish (2) Payout ($ (3) Chips (4) ICM EV (5) Chips (6) ICM EV (7) Chips (8) ICM EV
Position x1,000) (current) (current) (scenario 1) (scenario 1) (scenario 2) (scenario 2)
1 500 19,000 370 19,000 372 19,000 388
2 300 12,000 310 5,000 206 19,000 388
3 200 7,000 241 14,000 334 - -
4 0 2,000 79 2,000 88 2,000 224
1,000 1,000 1,000

5. Discuss 3 points pertaining to each of the following:

a. Your improvement in poker decision making
1
M = Stack size/ (small blind + big blind + total antes)

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 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE (IIMK)
PGP24 Term VI, AY 2020 - ‘21
Competitive Strategy – the Game of Poker (CSP) End Term Examination

b. A lacuna you identified in your game and how have you addressed it
c. Strategies other players who you admire employ and would like to incorporate
in your repertoire. [7]

6. Discuss 4 decision biases and how they affect decision-making under uncertainty and
competition, giving examples. [7]

7. Discuss the differences and similarities between ‘Theory of Poker’ (Sklansky) and
‘Game Theory Optimal’ – GTO (Chen and Ankenman). Isn’t exploitative play always
better than GTO play? Discuss [7]

8. *Discuss the similarities and differences between Contract Bridge (in tournaments)
and Poker, emphasizing each game’s potential as a decision making sandbox for
strategic decision-making. Corporate leaders like Buffet and Gates are avid bridge
players – could you speculate on why that is the case? [7*]

OR
How do you plan to lead the hand? Explain. (HCP – high card points) [7*]

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