The Hustler Casino Live stream has become so popular primarily thanks to heaps of action at the tables. It’s fair to say that players don’t need much to play big pots on HCL, so what happens when two monster hands run into each other?
We had an opportunity to witness such a scenario during a recent stream, when Dylan and Peter, both HCL regulars, ended up playing massive pots after connecting with the board, big time.
The game in question was $100/$200/$400, with Dylan the effective stack, starting the hand with $180,100 in front of him.
Preflop Action
The hand begins with Nik Airball opening to $2,000 with A♥7♥ from the hijack. Peter is in the cutoff with 3♠3♣, and he makes the call, as does Dylan with K♠9♦ on the button.
Finally, Pipi is in the straddle with 7♣5♦, and closing the action, he tosses in the additional $1,600 to make the call. This brings the pot to $8,500, and four players proceed to the flop.
Preflop Play Analysis
Nik Airball’s open with a suited ace is fairly standard. The sizing is on the larger side, but this is pretty normal for live cash games where stacks are very deep.
Peter has the position on the original opener and a small pocket pair, so his call is nothing out of the ordinary, either.
Dylan’s call on the button is a bit questionable, as he has a hand that can get him in a lot of trouble, especially in a multi-way pot. A fairly weak off-suit king isn’t the kind of hand that you want to play a big pot with in most cases.
Finally, Pipi is getting such good pot odds and he has no one left to act behind him that he should almost call with any two cards to at least see the flop.
Flop Action
The flop comes K♣5♠3♥, so Peter finds his set and Dylan hits a top pair. Interestingly enough, the action checks around, so there are no significant developments on this street.
Flop Play Analysis
After getting called in three spots and missing the flop pretty hard, Nik Airball is wise to give up on the idea of continuation betting. He can expect to get called in one or two spots, and unless the turn improves his hand, he’ll have a hard time continuing the aggression.
With a bottom set, this would be a perfect opportunity for Peter to take over the betting lead. His opponents can still have a variety of holdings to stick around with, as he’s not really blocking any of the hands that could continue.
Finally, Dylan is aware that his top pair has a good showdown value, but can’t stand too much heat. So, he’s happy to check and try to get to the river without bloating the pot, unless he improves.
Turn Action
The turn brings the 9♣, making the board K♣5♠3♥9♣ and improving Dylan’s hand to top two pair.
When Pipi and Airball check to Peter, he decides it’s time to start betting with his set, so he fires for $6,000. Dylan is next to act, and he bumps it up to $18,000.
With this type of action, Airball and Pipi get out of the way quickly. Peter takes a few moments before deciding to just call Dylan’s raise, so they go to the river with $44,500 in the middle.
Turn Play Analysis
After the action checks through on the flop and no one takes the lead on the turn, Peter has to start betting to try and get some value out of his set.
Dylan turned top two pair in a hand where no one had shown any aggression up to this point, so it’s hard for him to think anyone has a strong hand. Peter’s bet could be any pair or a turned flush draw, so he is pretty certain his two pair is ahead, and he can go for value.
This is now a tough spot for Peter, too. While he has a set, Dylan’s range isn’t very well defined here. He can easily have a set of fives or even nines, and there aren’t that many realistic two pair combos. He doesn’t have a hand like Ace King, as he’d 3-bet with it before the flop.
Of course, it is possible that Dylan turned a draw as well and decided to play it aggressively, figuring his opponents aren’t very strong. In that case, Peter’s best course of action is to call and let Dylan continue telling his story on the river.
River Action
The river is the 9♥, for the full runout of K♣5♠3♥9♣9♥. With this card, Dylan backs into a full house to take a stranglehold on this hand.
After just calling the turn raise, Peter checks to his opponent. Dylan takes a few moments before firing a healthy bet of $30,000. Peter takes the safe route and just calls, sending the $104,500 pot Dylan’s way.
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River Play Analysis
The 9♥ is an interesting river card. While it improves Peter to a full house, it doesn’t really change much about the hand (other than it makes it significantly less likely for Dylan to have pocket nines).
When Peter checks and Dylan bets $30,000 into the $45,000 pot, calling is actually the best option. If Dylan is bluffing, he’s never calling a raise anyway. If he’s not bluffing, it’s hard to find a hand that he’s doing this with that Peter’s hand is actually ahead of (and that would still call a raise).
Even if Dylan is going for thin value with a hand like KQ or KJ, he’s certainly not calling a raise with it, so raising in this spot achieves very little in terms of value.
