In this post, we wanted to show you a recent hand between some high stakes players from a Poker Night in America game that was streamed where Randall Emmett faces off against Danielle Andersen and the mysterious WhoisWho in this three-way pot, let’s pick up the action…
In this action game, the pot is straddled to the button at $400 on Emmett, Andersen opts to just call the $400 with A♦ 7♦ from the Small Blind
The action then gets to WhoIsWho in the Cut-off who picks up 9♥ 9♦ and opts to make it $1,500.
Emmett decides his K♣ 9♠ is good enough to continue in position and calls the $1,100 extra…
Andersen comes to the same conclusion and we are going to see a flop three-ways…
First of all, when looking at this action pre-flop I think there is a little out of the norm dynamic herein that both these players just really want to play some post-flop poker with this amateur player.
So in a normal game, Andersen might opt to raise her suited Ace high, but here just limping means she has a better chance of Emmett not folding and being able to call any raise, if she opened for say $1,200 and gets 3-Bet to $4,000 for example then her hand is almost unplayable then.
So whilst limping may not be conventional, there are going to be spots where it makes a little sense… now the same is true about WhoIsWhos play here, normally I think we would like to see a bigger sizing when raising into 2 players who already have a decent chunk of money committed to the pot, but he doesn’t want to chase out his customer in this spot either, so I don’t mind a smaller sizing to get an amateur in the pot with his weak holdings, this seems like a pretty decent plan!
The Flop
Andersen flops pretty much a hammerlock on this hand hitting top pair of Aces…
The action is checked around with WhoIsWho wisely shutting down on this board, it’s likely that this hits his opponents range of hands they will be happy to call a raise with pre-flop, so I like just shutting this one down, there are plenty of better hands that we will have raised with which we could continue with on this board and so theres just no need for us to turn a pair of nines into a bluff here.
Action checks all the way around with Emmett checking back his King high on the button and it’s off to see the turn…
Turn Card
A pair for everyone now on the turn with a King hitting the board too…
Action is once again checked around to Emmett on the Button and he decides to bet here, placing $1,500 in the middle around a 33% pot-sized bet.
I don’t really see much point in this bet unless you think no one can ever have a better King or Ace in their hand here, this bet just seems a little too thin here in a three-way pot, we just want to get to showdown with this weak second pair on this board at this point, so betting here is a mistake.
As for Andersen’s play, checking twice with her top pair has worked out well, we now have someone betting second pair for value against us due to us playing our hand in a check call line.
This is where many new players will miss value, by simply leading out on this flop or betting big on the turn because we have top pair… but in doing this we will allow our opponents to play perfectly and only continue when they are strong and make easy folds when they are behind. Remember to mix in checks and allow worse hands to bet in spots and you can win much more money!
Andersen calls the bet and WhoIsWho gets out of the way and these two will see a river card…
The River
This is where things get weird…
Emmett Rivers three of a king Kings and bets pretty small for value with $2,000…
Andersen then decides to presumably turn her hand into a bluff, maybe fearing that Emmett is value betting three kings here and trying to represent a flush she raises to $10,500
Emmett decides to instant fold against this action! Which is crazy because his hand has almost perfect removal in this pot, he blocks full houses and flushes with his nine of spades…
This is the problem sometimes with betting very small for value in spots where you might bet larger with a slightly stronger holding, like a flush on this board for instance… players can read into bet sizes and just go rogue with a huge bluff to put the pressure on.
This is a great bluff from Andersen, applying pressure when her hand was no good and she sensed it! Many players would simply call here and lose this pot, but against this bet size and spicy river card, she decided to turn up the heat and turn a strong hand into a bluff here.
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