Pre-flop Action: Jamie limps in UTG for $1,200, it folds to Farha in late position who raises to $4,200, Jamie calls. Table talk begins. Farha says if Jamie checks dark he’ll bet dark. Jamie checks dark and Farha bets $10,000. Farha claims Jamie is ‘not brave enough’ to raise him back in the dark. Jamie chats for a while then raises to $30,000.
Farha goes into the tank, gives a speech, then raises to $90,000. Jamie freaks out about Farha having aces, then calls.

Flop:
Both players have agreed to have the flop checked through and go to the turn.

Turn:
The players argue for a moment then Jamie checks. The players now argue for a long time about checking it down, but Farha concludes he’s down too much money. Farha declares he needs to protect his hand then bets $100,000, Jamie calls.

River:
Both players argue for a while about whether they should bet or check it through. Jamie threatens to insta-call if Sammy bets anything. He repeats “I’ll call, I’ll cal,l I’ll call,” over and over. Farha banters for a while, tells Jamie to fold if he bets. Finally, Farha elects to check back and the players show down their hands.

Tony: I’ve watched this hand over a few times. In the end, I think trying to discuss the strategy between these two players in this degree of set-up hand is almost irrelevant. Instead, I’ll break down selected lines of their dialogue and translate it into what the players are really saying.

Pre-flop: The action begins with Gold limping in under the gun for $1,200 with KK. It folds to Sammy who announces raise and makes it $4,200. The action is back on Gold.

(as Tony sees it…)

Gold: Should we get it over with now or afterwards… should we get it all in now or later?
(Yes! I’ll throw him off with some clever misdirection by telling him my hand is strong, making him think it’s weak.)

Farha: It’s too much money.
(I don’t care about money. I’ve got enough as it is.)

Gold calls the raise. Farha claims he’ll bet in the dark if Gold checks, and Gold checks. Farha fires out $10,000. Gold insists the dealer wait and that perhaps he, too, will bet in the dark. Gold says that if he only calls, then they’ll see a turn. He elects to raise instead and makes it $30,000 to go.

Farha: And there’s no flop yet?
(Did you really just four-bet my aces before we even got to a flop?)

Gold: Reraise me! Reraise me! Reraise me!
(I’ve got kings! Reraise me! Reraise me! Reraise me!)

Gold stands up from the table quickly, rubbing his hands together and giggling.

Farha: That is so sick.
(This is so sweet.)

After some bantering, Sammy announces raise and makes it $90,000.

Gold: You’re raising!? You got the aces!

Farha: Yea. Well, uh, no, it’s not that. It’s that you don’t have a hand. I’m betting against you. Well, I have a hand. You told me you have a hand. I have a hand.
(Farha: I mean no. It’s not the aces that I have, despite telling you that I have aces. Yep, I have a hand, of some kind, of some ranking and distinction. A hand I assure, that above all else, is not aces. Ahem. Um, yes, so in summation, it’s not aces I’m holding. Right.)

Gold: You’re doing all this with the aces to me. Do you have the aces? ‘Cause I’m in deep, I’m in deep, I’m in deep, I’m in deep, I’m in deep shit if you have the aces.

Gold elects to call and continues to banter about how Sammy was playing him with the aces the whole time. Both players agree that the action is to be checked through to the turn.

Celina: Gold starts out by limping. I guess this okay if he thinks the game is really loose and someone will raise for him. It’s folded to Farha, who makes a pretty standard raise here to $4,200. With Farha’s aggressive reputation, and being in position, he could be raising a lot of hands. Raising A-A here is obvious. It folds back to Gold and he decides to just call. With Gold’s loose and crazy reputation, just raising or reraising Sammy before the flop would be good. Then both players start talking and decide to check, bet, raise, and three-bet all in the dark. When Gold checks dark and Farha bets, that’s not surprising. When Gold check-raises without caring what the flop is, I think Farha starts to read Gold’s strength. He puts on a bit of a show, then raises him back $60,000 more. I don’t think Farha should have put on so much of an act himself, as it looked suspicious and a little obvious. Gold now thinks Farha has the aces and just calls his reraise.

Flop:

Both players indeed checked the flop, as agreed.

Turn:

Gold: You’re doing all this to me with aces?
(I know you’ve got those aces. I wish I could force myself to fold right now.)

Farha: I’m not doing it to you, you did it to yourself. I mean, I bet $10,000, you raise me, $20,000 Jamie. I didn’t do nothing to you. You’re blaming me and now you’re gonna hate me.
(You did this to yourself, Mr. Bluffer.)

Gold: I check. Do you wanna just check it down?
(I’m screwed. Please check it down, Sammy.)

Farha: Hold on a minute, just let me count my money.

Doyle Brunson [commenting on the play]: If my daddy knew I was losing in this poker game he’d come outta the grave and beat the heck out of me.

Farha: That is sick, Jamie, I can’t put you on a hand; you’re such a sick player.

Gold: I’m putting you on aces!

Farha declares he needs to protect his hand, then bets $100,000.

Gold: I have to, I have to call you… ’cause I have a monster hand. I’m sorry.
(I’m not folding these kings here no matter how hard you try to tell me you have aces.)

The players bicker a little while longer about more action but Gold tells Farha he can no longer bet since Gold has already called. The dealer burns and turns the river card.

Celina: Gold thinks he’s beat so he checks again. The players argue for a while and Farha bets out $100,000. Farha knows he has the best hand and is trying to get value out of what he must certainly think is Q-Q or K-K for Gold. Gold protests then says he “can’t fold” so he has to call. It’s hard to say whether he should call here given how strangely the hand played out, since he really seemed to think Sammy had A-A. Given both players’ reputations for bluffing and aggressiveness, it doesn’t surprise me that Gold thinks his hand might be good for a bet on just one street.

River:

Farha: If you’ve got a ten you’ve got me.
(You don’t have a ten.)

Gold: I got you anyway, I check.
(You’ve got me crushed. I check. Please don’t bet.)

Gold: I’m calling. Whatever you do, I’m calling! I call! Go! Call! I can’t, I’m not, you think I’m laying down my hand after putting in 200,000 dollars? You think I’m laying down my hand, so whatever you bet.
(If I yell and whine will it convince you to check it down? Check!)

Farha: I have you beat, why would I check if I have you beat, genius? I know you’re not calling.
(I have you absolutely destroyed here. Prepare to get taken to value town.)

Gold: Sammy, I call! You don’t have enough to get me off the hand, I put in too much, I can’t fold. So just bet, I call. I bet, you bet, I call. I already said call. I call! I call! I call! I call! I call! I call! I call!
(Please don’t value-bet me! Perhaps verbally bullying you will work! I call, I call, I call, I call!)

Farha: I understand. I want to count my money and put it in. Can I do that or what?
(I wanna savor every last minute of this sweet moment.)

Gold: Alright, then bet me. You want more money, than take it. Take it.
(Please don’t bet. I’m seriously running out of money here, people.)

Farha: I like you. Muck your hand.
(Reverse psychology for the win.)

Gold: I have the best hand. I gave you an opportunity, I’m sorry. Don’t forget I was nice the whole way, Sammy. I was trying to check it down with you. I tried. I tried.

Farha: Alright, I check, I got you beat.
(Fine, whatever. I’ll let you off just this once, Gold. This is all play money, anyway.)

Celina: It’s hard to tell on the river whether Farha thought the ten could have hit Gold or whether he was just being nice. I think he probably knew Gold had a pair and not a ten, and since Gold already declared he’d call if Sammy bet, which given his insistence looked pretty dodgy, I think he should have bet. He only has about half the pot left in his stack, and I think Gold ends up calling him often on the river. Gold doesn’t seem to make a lot of big folds.

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Preflop: Ungar raises to 1,600 in the small blind, Matloubi calls.

Tony: Ungar opens on the button for a 4x raise with 10-9 offsuit, which is completely standard. Matloubi makes what is a really bad call out of the BB with 5-4 offsuit. The players are only 100 big blinds deep and he’s facing one of the best NL hold’em players in the world. I can’t stress enough how bad this preflop call is by Matloubi.

Celina: Ungar is sitting on 150 BBs and Matloubi on 100 bbs, so both players are very deep-stacked with a lot of heads-up play left. Ungar makes a standard raise of 4x with 10-9 offsuit. Normally, the standard raise to make in position heads up is 2.5-3 depending on blind level, stack sizes and player. Due to the blinds level, relative to the stack sizes, a 4x raise is acceptable here. Matloubi makes a questionable call with a hand such as 5-4 off, which is a hand that will play very bad against a good heads-up opponent while out of position.

Flop (pot 3,200): 3-3-7 rainbow
Action: Matloubi checks, Ungar bets 6,000, Matloubi calls.

Tony: For some reason, Ungar bets out almost double the pot. This just doesn’t make any sense. If he wants to create fold equity he can simply fire a normal bet of about 2,200 and get the same amount of folds as the 6,000 bet would produce. Because his bet is so big, Matloubi is getting terrible odds on his draw, making his flop call arguably worse than his preflop call, unless he has some sort of read in that he thinks Ungar will only overbet the pot with air. Considering Ungar was known for his all-ins and overbets, this seems unlikely and leads me to believe Matloubi is simply playing bad.

Celina: The flop’s texture does eliminates any open-ended straight draws or flush draws. Matloubi has flopped a gutshot draw, and decides to check-call an overbet by Ungar. Ungar may be making a large bet to gain information here. While a bet of half to two-thirds the pot is standard and sufficient, many players opt for an overpot bet, to get one of two reactions from the opponent, a check-raise or fold. Matloubi calls the large bet, maybe hoping to bluff on a later street or spike a six, knowing that Ungar’s over-bet means, most likely, that he doesn’t have a three or seven. Ungar realizes at this point that Matloubi probably doesn’t have a seven either, because with a seven, which is a powerful holding heads-up, Matloubi would definitely be raising.

Turn (pot 15,200): K, board still rainbow
Action: Matloubi checks, Ungar checks.

Tony: On the king turn I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a second bet from Ungar since it’s an excellent scare card. Instead he opts to check, which I guess is fine but I really think this is the kind of scare card aggressive players need to bet, since it will get them paid when they do hit with a king on the turn. Matloubi checks behind, which is fine for him, since Ungar has absolutely no reason to think Matloubi has a single hand in his range that contains a king.

Celina: Both player checks the turn, the turn card being a K doesn’t really change the situation. Matloubi’s check here may be an intention to check raise or just take a free card. Ungar may see Matloubi’s call on the flop as a possible three here now trapping for another bet.

River (Pot 15,200): Q
Action: Matloubi moves all in for about 32,000 and Ungar calls within a few seconds, declaring, “You’ve either got 4-5 or 5-6, I call.” Ungar then flips up his 10-high to drag the $80,000 pot.

Tony: The river brings a queen, another sort of scare card, and Matloubi moves all in. I cannot express how bad this shove is. There is no way a thinking player ever takes this line with anything that makes sense here, except maybe, precisely A-A. Nobody limp-calls preflop, flat-calls the flop, checks behind on the turn, then shoves for two times the pot on the river with a real hand. If Matloubi has a hand he wants to get value from he’ll bet something like $10,000. Because of Matloubi’s terrible line in this hand Ungar is able to put the pieces together and make a truly sick calldown. More amazingly, this hand leaves me wondering… how well Ungar played or how awful Matloubi did.

Celina: Matloubi moves all in for double the pot. It is an interesting move that will get many non-thinking players to fold. Matloubi’s thinking process tells him that Ungar is weak, and a strong bet will most likely get him to fold, and if he bet 9-11K instead, Ungar is capable of going all in as a bluff and Matloubi won’t be able to call with 5-high. Ungar must have wondered why Matloubi would be shoving with a three or any pair, where Matloubi could most likely value-bet and get the call with a raise. Ungar has gathered enough information to put Matloubi on a hand that called an overbet on the flop, checked the turn and over-shoved the river, thus making a call with 10-high against Matloubi’s possible 4-5 or 5-6 a viable play. Matloubi’s play here is effective and will work possibly 90% of the time or more, except that this time he came across a worthy opponent. Stu Ungar is still known to be one of the greatest poker players of our time and will be long remembered.

pokernews.com

The Blinds: 12,000/24,000 with a 4,000 ante.

Chip counts: Jackson, roughly one million; Ivey, roughly four million.

The Hand:
Jackson:
Ivey:

Preflop: Jackson
completes the small blind for 12,000, Ivey raises to 74,000, and Jackson calls.

Tony: Jackson limps and Ivey raises about three times the pot. Jackson calls. At this point, listing Jackson’s entire range would be gratuitous but we can eliminate a few relevant hands, 7-7, A-J, and K-J. These hands would almost never simply limp-call the button in a heads-up match.

Celina: Preflop, Jackson makes a standard call in the small blind with 6-5, and Ivey makes a raise with Q-8 suited, out of position in the big blind. Ivey can either raise or check in this situation, depending on how he feels about playing this hand out of position and disguising what his raising-hand ranges could be.

Flop: (Pot: 176,000) Ivey leads out for 80,000, Jackson raises to 170,000, Ivey reraises to 320,000, Jackson reraises to 470,000, and Ivey declares all in (for Jackson’s remaining 380,000). Jackson folds.

Tony: The first time I saw this hand my head nearly exploded. It seemed completely inconceivable to me, almost impossible. Looking at it a year later, it makes a lot more sense. To understand this hand you to examine each action and interpret what Phil Ivey perceives Paul Jackson’s possible range to be.

On the flop, Ivey leads 80,000. This is, of course, pretty standard. Jackson now raises to 170,000. At this point, Ivey imagines Jackson’s range to be something like flush draws, J-x, 7-x, bluffs, 9-8, 10-9. Ivey thinks it over, and decides it’s unlikely Jackson would raise a jack at this point based on history, and three-bets Jackson to 320,000. Jackson briefly considers, then min-reraises to 470,000, leaving only about 380,000 behind. This is where Jackson really screwed up and where he let Ivey put the pieces together. Ivey knows if Jackson is on a semi-bluff with a flush draw or gutshot straight draw that he will go all in, instead of min-four-betting, which leaves an awkward amount of chips behind.

Ivey also knows that with J-x, Jackson is almost always just calling Ivey’s three-bet since Ivey is out of position and may continue to bluff the turn by making a bet that commits him for Jackson’s stack while way behind. He also knows that if Jackson has a jack he wouldn’t four-bet this size since it makes the strength of his hand too obvious against a thinking player. Ivey can also eliminate a seven from Jackson’s range since he’s taking a hand with a whole lot of showdown value and turning it into a bluff, and Ivey knows Jackson plays too well to do something like that. Therefore, Ivey deduces that the only hand left in Jackson’s range is a bluff. Ivey moves in (and despite the logic, it’s still one of the sickest plays I’ve ever seen) after putting the pieces together, and Jackson folds.

Celina: Ivey’s lead here is a very standard play, since most advanced poker players lead a paired board a lot of the time. Jackson plays back and reraises Ivey, knowing that he is capable of betting a flop of this texture to represent a strong hand. The flop allows the possibility of a flush draw or any pairs ranging from 2-2 to A-A to be played aggressively. Jackson’s reraise here doesn’t make much sense to Ivey due to his limp and call preflop. Ivey would have to put him on A-x, a small club draw or a small pocket pair lower than sevens. The possibility of Jackson having a seven or jack is eliminated in Ivey’s mind due to the aggression that Jackson is displaying on the flop, since a hand like that will just call Ivey and allow him to bet again on the turn and the river.

Ivey thus reraises, knowing that Jackson probably has a hand that most likely will fold to a reraise. Jackson briefly considered Ivey’s three-bet, already prepared for this anticipated move from the aggressive Ivey, and makes the four-bet. Now it goes back to Ivey, where he can now put Jackson on a hand that is a pure bluff, can’t beat a pair of sevens, or is a small flush draw. Ivey goes all in after considering all his options, thinking that if he goes all in here, he has two overcards with a backdoor flush draw, against what is at worst (for Ivey) Jackson’s small pocket pair or a small flush draw. The all-in bet also has the advantage of still having fold equity against hands such as A-x and small pocket pairs. Both players made probing bets on the flop, where the raising amount was minimal, rather than the standard 2.5x-to-3x raise. This allowed five bets to occur, including Ivey’s all-in move. The hand was crazy to watch and hard to comprehend, but both players’ minds and metagames really made this a hand to remember.

Tony ‘Bond18′ Dunst is a professional online poker player living in Australia. Dunst is one of the moderators of the strategy forum at 2+2, and is noted for his tongue-in-cheek recaps of big stories in the online poker world that he posts there and at pocketfives. Celina Lin is Tony’s girlfriend and a good player in her own right. In fact, Celina has just signed on with PokerStars as a player/endorser, and will represent Team PokerStars at events all over the world. These two spend an incredible amount of time at home discussing poker hands. In each volume of this ongoing column, Dunst and Lin break down a hand and ‘discuss’ it in a way only a boyfriend and girlfriend can.

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The Hand:

Blinds 400/800 with a 100 ante.
Terrence’s stack: ~72,000
Villain’s stack: ~70,000
Terrence holds: , Villain holds: 9-x

Pre-flop:

Folds around the table to the villain in MP1. Villain raises to 2,400, and it’s folded to
Terrence on the cut-off; Terrence calls, and the button and blinds fold.

Flop:

Villain checks, Terrence bets 3,600, Villain check-raises to 10,000, and Terrence calls.

Turn:

Villain checks; Terrence checks behind.

River:

Villain thinks for quite a while, then bets 14,000. Terrence thinks for an extended period of time, then raises to 32,000. Villain tanks for several minutes, gets the clock called on him, and calls. Terrence taps the table and reveals his . Villain instantly mucks and later says he had a nine.

Street-by-street analysis:

Pre-flop:

Folds around the table to the villain in MP1. Villain raises to 2,400, and it’s folded to Terrence on the cut-off; Terrence calls, and the button and blinds fold.

Tony: This seems like a pretty straightforward street. Terrence knows villain is open-raising a lot of hands, and he’s got a solid suited handed in position with deep stacks for exploiting the villain. Pretty easy stuff.

Celina: Both players had big stacks, with room to play a lot of post-flop poker. The structure of the tournament was very deep, so at 90 BBs, pre-flop calls can be made with small pocket pairs, suited connectors and so on. Terrence’s call here with is pretty standard.

Flop:

Villain checks, Terrence bets 3,600, Villain check-raises to 10,000, and Terrence calls.

Tony: When the villain checks, Terrence’s bet seems pretty obvious. When he gets check-raised he likely thinks the villain either has a big pair, a draw, or a bluff. He can pretty much expect the villain to lead out with most of his tens or medium pairs, so I think he probably imagines he fares well against his range. I think Terrence will be folding on a fair number of turns if villain bets very large, especially if it’s some form of scare card.

Celina: Terrence made a standard bet; most of the time, he should win the pot there and then. Villain probably expected Terrence to bet here if he checks, so he could check raise-here with air, draw or top pair. Terrence, holding top pair, can see a couple of possible straight draws out and probably figures that the villain will probably be betting the flop with a ten. Making the call here to see how the villain will proceed on the turn is the best option.

Turn:

Villain checks; Terrence checks behind.

Tony: Terrence can’t afford to get check-raised here again since it will always blow him off his hand, so he checks behind intending to call a river bet on about any safe river. Villain has taken a fairly weird line, especially if he has a big pair, so Terrence likely believes he has a bluff or perhaps semi-bluff.

Celina: Terrence made the correct check here, as he does not want the pot to be too big, so both of their stacks are in play for the final street. At this point, Terrence does not know if he’s still ahead or behind, and getting check-raised here would be disastrous.

River:

Tony: The villain thinks for quite some time then fires 14,000. Terrence now believes that villain has perhaps tried a bluff on the flop with a hand like A-J/A-Q/A-K because he believes a flop continuation bet will get played back at so often on a board of this texture. Terrence believes that if he raises the villain on the river (turning his one pair into a complete bluff, in his mind) then villain will almost always have to put Terrence on two pair, a straight, or a back-doored flush. In theory, I think Terrence’s raise is a very good and complex play, as if I was in the position of the villain I would always be folding one pair. However, that the villain called with a very weak folding makes me think Terrence picked the wrong time and wrong player to pull this on, though it’s the kind of play I could see using in the future in the right circumstances.

Celina: I literally stood there with my mouth open when the hands when turned over. I was standing on the rail watching with a friend, and we both tried to guess their hands and we decided that the action on the river could mean someone probably hit a flush / set / two pairs. Once we saw Terrence’s hand turned over, we can begin to see the logic for the river playing out the way it did. Villain represented a big hand when he bet the river; it looks like he hit the ace, but most of the draws wouldn’t get there excepting the back-door flush. Terrence is thinking he is probably behind now and decides that he can represent a much stronger hand by raising here and that would most likely get villain to fold a better hand. Villain probably concluded that this was a good spot for Terrence to bluff him off a hand by making a raise here, and thus decided to make the call. Villain was correct that Terrence was bluffing, but it was with a pair of tens. Terrence had accidentally turned his bluff into a winning value bet with second pair.

Tony ‘Bond18′ Dunst is a professional online poker player living in Australia. Dunst is one of the moderators of the strategy forum at the 2+2 forums, and is noted for his tongue-in-cheek recaps of big stories in the online poker world that he posts on 2+2 and pocketfives. Celina Lin is Tony’s girlfriend and a good player in her own right. In fact, Celina has just signed on with PokerStars as a player/endorser, and will represent Team PokerStars at events all over the world. These two spend an incredible amount of time at home discussing poker hands. In each volume of this ongoing column, Dunst and Lin break down a hand and ‘discuss’ it in a way only a boyfriend and girlfriend can.

pokernews.com

Celina: There are many factors to consider throughout this hand due to how much the two players have tangled throughout the day, the amount of leveling and metagame that is going on here.

The Hand:

Blinds: 150/300 with a 25 ante.
Patrik’s Stack: ~45,000
Adam’s Stack: ~ 60,000
Adam holds
, Patrik

Preflop: It’s folded around to Antonius on the cutoff. He raises to 1,000, Adam (on the button) three-bets to 3,200, the blinds fold, Patrik reraises to 9000, and Adam calls.

Flop: (Pot 18,375)
Patrik moves all in for 34,475, Adam ponders, then calls.

Turn: 8

River: A [Antonius wins the pot with a wheel straight.]

Street by street analysis:

Preflop: It’s folded around to Antonius on the cutoff. He raises to 1,000, Adam (on the button) three-bets to 3,200, the blinds fold, Patrik reraises to 9000, and Adam calls.

Tony: This street has been extensively debated on discussion forums. Adam, in his description of the hand, feels like it’s much too big a waste of chips to simply move in preflop, but he feels like his hand is probably best since he anticipates Patrik four-betting an enormous range. I believe, based on Adam’s read of Patrik and Patrik’s reputation, that he is capable of making any form of highly aggressive play against an opponent is fighting back, he may be right. I agree that moving in preflop seems excessive, as he’s effectively moving in for 150 big blinds, which is never getting called by a worse hand and when called against Patrik’s likely calling range of J-J (and higher pairs), A-Qs and A-K, Adam only has 25% equity. I think Adam’s call of the four-bet is correct since he’s got position, likely has a better hand than Patrik’s range, and has the potential to dominate the table if he cripples or busts Patrik.

Celina: Patrik Antonius plays a very loose-aggressive style which confuses his opponents post-flop and disguises his range of hands very well. Patrik’s intention here is to steal the blinds and, in case one or both of the blinds defends, he will be able to play his hand optimally in position. Adam reraises with A-J, which he knows in most circumstances is the best hand. Patrik, true to his style, reraises knowing that Adam is capable of testing the authenticity of his preflop raise. Adam then decides to call here, probably thinking he is still ahead and opting to see a flop. I may have liked a reraise all in because now the pot is already 14K, and he still has fold equity against Patrik.

Flop: (Pot 18,375)
Patrik moves all in for 34,475, Adam ponders, then calls.

Tony: A lot of people have called this an ‘ego call’. I really disagree. I think when you slow down and think about Patrik’s range, then Adam’s call makes perfect sense. Here’s the key: There’s a bit under 20,000 in the pot and almost 35,000 left in effective stacks. Adam knows Patrik will almost never move in for such a substantial overbet with a hand that really wants a call. More likely, Patrik will bet an amount around 10,000 that gives Adam room to move in with a worse hand or even room to make a dangerous bluff. Either that, or Patrik will check-shove with a big hand, hoping to get maximum value from Adam. The board has a flush draw out, which is what Adam most likely puts Patrik on, and since Adam also has the he likely has Patrik down to 11-13 outs. It’s a completely sick call that many commenters believe was an enormous spew, but I think it’s the correct one.

Celina: Adam, knowing Patrik’s game, would think that Patrik would have checked the flop if he has a queen, instead of overbetting the pot and going all in here. Adam thinks about what range of hands Patrik could be on, including a total bluff, a straight or club-flush draw and maybe a small pocket pair. Adam decided that his A-J is still ahead of most of Patrik’s shoving range here, and he is getting the correct odds to call Patrik’s all-in.

Turn: 8
River: A

Celina: Both players made each play with tremendous amount of careful thought. Patrik Antonius was indeed on a straight draw and Adam made the correct call, though Patrik caught one of his few outs on the river for the win. Both players played the hand well, but the hand as it unfolded might appear absolutely insane to someone who doesn’t know the metagame of the two players involved.

Tony ‘Bond 18′ Dunst is a professional online poker player living in Australia. Dunst is one of the moderators of the strategy forum at the 2+2 forums, and is noted for his tongue-in-cheek recaps of big stories in the online poker world that he posts on 2+2 and pocketfives. Celina Lin is Tony’s girlfriend and a good player in her own right. In fact, Celina has just signed on with PokerStars as a player/endorser, and will represent Team PokerStars at events all over the world. These two spend an incredible amount of time at home discussing poker hands. In each volume of this ongoing column, Dunst and Lin break down a hand and ‘discuss’ it in a way only a boyfriend and girlfriend can.

pokernews.com

The table is playing extremely loose-passive. It was unreal, as we were often getting five- and six-way limped pots, and at least three guys on the table were huge stations with no clue.

My (Tony’s) image is TAG (tight-aggressive). I haven’t opened a ton of pots, but when I do I always continuation-bet and haven’t had to show my cards yet. In the last half hour I raised pre-flop, got called by Joe Hachem, bet out on a 5-A-9-J flop and turn, then check-folded a deuce river.

I also led into three players on a 2-3-9 flop, was called, bet the jack turn and got a fold.

The villain in the hand is ‘Scott’, a 30-ish guy I’ve been
talking to casually the whole tournament. He seems like a nice guy, and also seems pretty recreational. He has been tight-passive with raises pre-flop, and has been limping behind limpers and calling raises some but not much. I haven’t seen him get aggressive much, post-flop.

One hand I did see him play, he raised with K-K pre-flop and was called by the station. The flop came Q-8-4 rainbow, he check-called, and on the turn Q he check-called again, the river came a blank and went check-check. After the guy mucks, Scott says something like “Phew, that Q was no good; I gotta call you on the river though if you bet, though.”

The other players in the hand seem really spew-y or calling station-y. Now, here’s my perspective on the hand:

I hold on the cutoff. The table is eight-handed.
Blinds 50/100
Other players have ~15K in chips on average.
Me: ~15.5K
Scott: ~16.5K

Pre-flop: UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, UTG+2 raises to 350, then a fold, Scott calls, I call, button folds, blinds fold, and finally both limpers call.

Tony: This seems pretty standard to me. Although my pre-flop call is pretty loose, having position here against a number of bad players with very deep stacks and a chance to hit a big deceptive hand has a huge upside. Online though, I wouldn’t be making this call.

Celina: Deep structure with great starting stack makes playing suited connectors very profitable to play in position. It is a hand that is disguised and has the potential to win a big pot; players such as Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius do this to perfection.

Flop: (Pot 1900)
It’s checked to me, I bet 1600, and it’s folded around to Scott. Scott thinks for a bit, counts out 1600, and throws it in.

Tony: I’ve bet a very large portion of the pot in order to make it expensive for draws, and to build a large pot on later streets so I can get a lot of value out of my hand. Checking behind seems really awful here with so many players and potential draws on the board, and betting small keeps the pot small in a situation where we have a very strong hand. I think that if Scott had top two pair or a set here, he’d be leading the flop to protect his hand, or perhaps check-raise me in the case of the set, though that seems less likely. Almost nobody check-calls a set on this kind of flop, especially since he has no reason to believe I’ll be betting into so many players.

Celina: The board has come all-spade, making Tony the flush, but at the same time, it is a baby flush. The original preflop raiser hasn’t shown any aggression, and it’s checked all around to Tony. Tony made the correct play here by betting the flop. A hand with the or may not fold, but they do not get to see another card for free. A bet of 1600 into 1900 is a very good, almost pot-sized bet, giving the villain the incorrect odds to chase a flush. When Scott calls, Tony may put him on a range of hands, Q-J, 4-4, -x, -x, and maybe J-J or Q-Q. A hand like or a small flush would raise/bet the flop to protect a bigger flush draw to hit.

Turn: (Pot 5100)
Scott checks, I bet 3600. This time he tanks a bit longer, counts out the chips and calls.

Tony: When he checks again I’m always betting here. If anything, I think betting slightly larger, say about 4000, would be better in order to set up a more natural river shove. Before my bet I considered what I would do if he check-raised, and I decided that I’d have to fold since very few live players are capable of making an enormous bluff or semi-bluff on this kind of board this early in the tournament. When Scott just calls I know for sure that he can never have a flush outside the nut flush, since he would either lead the flop, check-raise the flop, lead the turn, or check raise the turn in order to protect his hand. Right now I think the most probable hands in his range are the nut flush, -Jx, -Qx, -Kx, or -Kx. He could also possibly have A-Q off with no spade and believe I’m bluffing, but again a flop bet seems more likely.

Celina: The turn came a non-spade; I like the bet here, because most of the time your hand is still best here and because Scott checked as well, it is more likely his hand is on a draw. If Scott check-raises here, I would probably lay the hand down. A live player in a $15,000-buyin tournament most likely isn’t check-raising a worse hand here.

River: (Pot 12,300)
Scott checks, I think for about ten seconds, count my chips, and move in.

Tony: Some people have said here that I should be checking behind in case he has a full house. Honestly, I don’t believe that’s as likely since 4-4 or Q-J would be betting at some point, though Q-J is a possibility. I think shoving here gets value from -Jx, and it’s possible that -Kx or -Qx decides I’m bluffing and makes some kind of hero call. I will lose my stack when he has the nut flush or a very badly played set, but I think I gain value more often than I lose the rest of my stack. If I’d change anything about this river, I’d perhaps bet around 3500 and fold to a shove since I might get just as much value but be able to fold 100% of the time I’m behind.

Celina: I like a check-behind here. I probably would’ve liked a shove here if the board didn’t pair. At the same time, a guy who seems to have thought through his hands and called big bets on two streets may have a very strong hand also, and the only flush Tony is beating that may have played this way is 6s7s or 2s3s. If this was the case, I don’t think he is getting a call from these hands. I feel that the only hands he is getting called by on the river are hands that beats him. From the earlier hand range we predicted for the Scott (Q-J, 4-4, -x, -x, and maybe J-J or Q-Q), with the repeater on the river, Scott could’ve made his full house. Having said that, I would expect a live player to lead out on the river when he makes a full house because the player in position may very well check behind. I feel that over the long run, it is a more profitable play to check behind then to shove here, as no worse hand is calling an all-in.

Tony ‘Bond 18′ Dunst is a professional online poker player living in Australia. Dunst is one of the moderators of the strategy forum at the 2+2 forums, and is noted for his tongue-in-cheek recaps of big stories in the online poker world that he posts on 2+2 and pocketfives. Celina Lin is Tony’s girlfriend and a good player in her own right. In fact, Celina has just signed on with PokerStars as a player/endorser, and will represent Team PokerStars at events all over the world. These two spend an incredible amount of time at home discussing poker hands. In each volume of this ongoing column, Dunst and Lin break down a hand and ‘discuss’ it in a way only a boyfriend and girlfriend can.

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