In this post, we look at a hand where Daniel Negreanu hits a draw to a straight and ends up making his hand but not winning the pot, we look into this pot in a little more detail…
Blinds $300/$600
Brad Booth: Limps on the Button for $600 with 9♦ 8♦
Minh Le: Raises to $2200 from the Small Blind with A♠ 4♦
Daniel Negreanu looks down at Q♥ 9♠ in the Big Blind and calls the Raise
The action gets back to the Button with Brad Booth and he calls the Raise
Preflop Decisions
Let’s look at this pre-flop action for a moment, Brad Booth chooses to limp in on the Button, which is fine because he can then call raises, however, if we are looking to make moves like this long term then we will want to be completely balanced in this spot, because if we only ever limp with weaker hands like this one then our opponents can just raise us more often and we can be bluffed off pots which will give the raiser a range advantage.
Looking at Minh’s decision to raise from the Small Blind with his hand, this probably isn’t the best and definitely not the best sizing ever. This is almost just increasing the size of the pot and never getting folds from either player, I would prefer to see either a much larger sizing to put some of Brad Booth’s limps in a tougher spot or just a smooth call from the Small Blind here.
As for Negreanu’s decision here it’s pretty close but I like the call, I think QTo is an easy call and would like to see a fold from hands as poor as Q8o, but Q9o has some playability so I don’t hate the call. It’s time to see how these holdings do on the flop…
The Flop
T♦ J♦ 4♣ ($7,500)
Something for everyone with bottom pair for Minh, an open-ended straight draw for Daniel and an open-ended straight flush draw for Brad Booth, giving him 48% equity in this pot with just nine high in a three-way pot!
The Action
With everyone flopping a piece, let’s see how the betting goes down…
Minh kicks things off by betting $3,600 and Daniel and Brad both quickly call.
Whilst continuing on this board isn’t the worst idea ever from Minh, against a button limp and a call from the Big Blind too, he is likely to be out flopped on a board like this. So looking to get to showdown and realise his equity I think I would prefer to see a check to start.
As for Daniel’s smooth call, I like this play, he has a draw to the nuts and has no reason to bloat the pot and get blown off his draw… Calling this bet and playing some turn cards seems like a solid plan here.
When looking at Booth’s decision we can go either way here, he has huge equity in the pot so raising here isn’t a bad idea, however, smooth calling and winning a large pot three ways also has its benefits. As it happens he chooses to keep both hands in the pot and just smooth calls the bet from Minh here.
The Turn Card from Heaven
The dream turn card for Booth Q♦ hits, completing Booth’s straight flush!
A truly rare sight the odds of this happening are 72,192 to 1
With now $18,300 in the pot Minh now checks and Daniel Negreanu bets out $8,000 to which Brad Booth smooth calls again and Minh ends up folding.
Let’s look at this decision from Daniel, where he has made a weak top pair on a straight and flush board and chooses to bet.
I think I would prefer to see a check from Daniel here, he has a decent amount of showdown value with top pair and a straight draw, however, he has no diamond on a 3 flush board. So much for the same reasons I would have liked to see Minh check on the flop are the same reasons I would like to see Daniel slow down on this turn, he wants to try and realise his equity and get to showdown with this hand.
He will have many better hands to bet with once just calling pre-flop and calling on the flop, he will have straights, two pairs and flushes in his range, so betting with probably the bottom of his range here means he is betting too many of his hands.
I would prefer to see bets from hands like AKo with one diamond, 98 or K9 to protect his equity with a straight against a possible flush draw, these hands make some sense to bet as they will get calls from hands like flush draws and two pairs on the turn.
The River
Q♥ hits the River completing Daniel’s straight.
With $34,300 in the middle, Daniel now has to decide how much he wants to wager, he decides to go with $16,000 which I don’t mind, I think the best line on this River is to make some bet folds with our hands like low straights and two pairs.
Brad Booth then announces $30,000 more…. which is a fair-sized raise exploitatively, if you think you’re opponent will call you lighter with a smaller sizing, however if we are looking to be balanced here between raising as a bluff and for value I would like to see a larger sizing maybe somewhere around $45,000 more to put our opponent in a tough spot with the bottom part of his range.
Daniel ends up folding to this river raise claiming he thought Booth might have had a flush, this is where checking the turn could have worked nicely, picking up information from Booth who would have no doubt wanted to build the pot himself if checked to.
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