Jonathan Little Hand of the Week: Can Garret Get His Revenge vs. Dylan?
3 minutes
Posted by: Jonathan
If you want to increase your edge at the tables, make sure to get your FREE 3-day pass and check Jonathan Little training site at pokercoaching.com
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The hand we’ll be looking into today comes from the Hustler Casino Live stream and involves two of the stream regulars, Garret Adelstein and Dylan Gang.
There is some history between the two. Just a few weeks earlier, Dylan slow-rolled Garret in a big pot, and in this hand, Adelstein gets his chance for (poker) revenge.
The hand begins with Garret opening to $1,200 from the button with 9♣10♣ and Dylan 3-betting to $6,500 from the big blind.
Dylan opts for a big raise size because players are playing very deep-stacked, and he is out of position.
With Garret’s hand on the button, he doesn’t have much of a choice other than calling and hoping for a favorable flop.
On occasion, you might consider putting in a 4-bet with this hand, but only against someone you believe might be 3-betting way too often.
The Flop
The dealer spreads 2♦6♥9♦, and Dylan is the first to act. On this board texture, his action will be defined a lot by what his 3-betting range looks like. If it contains mostly overpairs, suited aces, and good suited connectors, I don’t mind betting with his entire range.
He goes for a small continuation bet of $4,500 into Garret, who has a top pair. This is an interesting spot because, against a bigger, more polarized bet, he’ll probably want to call with most of his range.
Against a small bet, though, you need to have a raising range, which contains some of your vulnerable made hands like the top pair.
Garret does go for a raise of $20,000, putting Dylan in a tough spot. With backdoor straight and flush draws and an overcard, with the odds he’s getting, I believe he has to stick around and peel another card.
This will lead to some difficult spots when you don’t improve or when you do improve but run into the top of your opponent’s range, but it’s the correct play. That’s exactly what Dylan does, as he calls Garret’s raise and the two proceed to the turn.
The Turn
The turn comes an action card in 10♥, giving Garret two pair. When Dylan checks to him, he definitely wants to bet to build the pot and give himself a chance to move in on the river.
His bet of $35,000 achieves this, setting up the pot size for a river shove.
What is Dylan supposed to do in this spot? If he just calls to try and get there, there is no guarantee he’ll get paid when he hits his draw.
At the same time, if you can shove and make him fold hands like a random top pair, that’s a fantastic result.
Given all that, this is a spot where I think shoving is the best play (Dylan has a total of almost $170K behind), but it’s not something most people do.
When you’re not getting that amazing odds on a call to begin with, and when there is no guarantee you’ll get paid even when you do hit, shoving becomes at least a viable option.
So, Dylan does shove for $168K, and Garret pretty much has to call in this spot. He loses to some hands like sets and straights, but that’s just the risk he has to take against a strong, aggressive opponent.
After some deliberation, Garret makes the call, and it’s time for the final card.
The River
Although there is almost $390,000 in the pot, Garret decides to run it just once for all the chips. He doesn’t know it for sure, but his two pair is way ahead, and he only needs to fade a few outs.
Can Garret hold and get some sweet revenge on Dylan? Check out the video above to find out the conclusion to this exciting hand!
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Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $7 million in live tournament winnings and best-selling author of multiple poker strategy books. If you want to learn from the best and increase your edge at the tables, make sure to get your FREE 3-day pass and check his training site at pokercoaching.com
