Jonathan Little Hand of the Week: Addamo Puts Schindler in a Tough Spot

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The hand I'll be analyzing today is from a $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl, and it features two world-class players, Michael Addamo and Jake Schindler.

Blinds are at 1,000/1,500/1,500 and the action start with Jake opening to 4,000 from UTG holding Q♠Q♣.

It folds around to Addamo in the big blind, who looks down at 8♥7♥ and decides to go for a huge 3-bet, making it 28,000 to go.

This play isn't something I've seen solvers do, but Addamo puts his opponents in the spots they might not know how to play well.

This might not be the perfect GTO strategy, but if this is a spot that Addamo studied a lot and his opponents will play really poorly, then it might be more profitable than the GTO approach.

Addamo is probably taking this sizing with the absolute top of his range and then some suited connectors. In this spot, given Addamo's sizing, Jake should probably have no 4-bets at all. So, he makes the standard call in position.

The Flop

The flop comes king-high as it peels K♥7♣5♠. Addamo fires a small continuation bet of just 19,000, and Jake makes the call.

The flop play is pretty standard. On king-high boards, Michael will probably bet with a high frequency and for smaller sizing.

Schindler should never do anything other than call in this spot. Addamo's value part of the range is ahead of pocket queens and is never folding. All of his bluffs will fold to a raise, so there is no reason for Jake to do anything other than call the c-bet and see what develops.

The Turn

An interesting card comes on the turn in the 6♥. This is an excellent card for Addamo's actual hand, as it gives him straight and flush draws, but not a good one for his entire range.

For that reason, he shouldn't be betting here that often, and he doesn't, as he opts to check it over to Jake.

Player images courtesy of PokerGO

For Schindler, this is a fairly easy check behind. He won't accomplish much by betting. If his opponent calls or raises, he is in a tough spot. If he folds, he probably didn't have much of anything, and queens were way ahead.

Jake does decide to check, and they proceed to the final card.

The River

The river comes K♦, pairing the board. Addamo is the first to act and checks it over to Schindler, who now has a decision to make.

Jake goes for a bet of 55,000, looking to extract some value from his two pair, but soon gets the bad news, as Addamo decides to move all-in for Jake's entire stack.

This is a tough spot since, if Addamo does have a premium hand here, like a full house or a strong king, he'll want to check-raise some portion of the time. If you have some check-raises for value on the river, then you also need to have some bluffs.

Does 8♥7♥ makes sense to use as a bluff in this spot? I think it does!

In these situations, you want to block your opponent's auto-calls, which would be full houses and kings in this particular scenario. Seven is a reasonable card to use as a bluff as it blocks pocket sevens.

What about Schindler, though? Should he find a hero call in this spot?

I think that queens are actually a pretty bad bluff catcher, as Addamo is less likely to have a bluffing combination. That being said, can Jake find the hero call and win a huge pot? Check out the video above to find out!