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This week’s hand comes from the Hustler Live stream and features none other than Garrett Adelstein, the man with a few tricks up his sleeve.
He is up against a businessman and recreational player, Michael, and the two end up playing a pretty hefty pot.
The action begins with the $300 button straddle, and Michael is first to act in the small blind.
Michael, with almost $90,000 in his stack, looks down at K♦K♣ and decides to just call the straddle, which is a good strategy.
In these button straddle scenarios, you should be limping a lot of hands from the small blind, looking to limp-raise a fair bit.
The action folds to Garrett in the UTG+2 position, and he decides to bump it up to $1,600 with K♥6♥.
Everyone else gets out of the way, and when it gets back to Michael, this is the perfect spot to execute the limp-raise. However, he decides to play his pocket kings tricky and just calls.
The Flop
The flop hits Garrett pretty hard as it comes 5♥4♥3♣, giving him a straight and a flush draw, while Michael holds a very strong over-pair.
Michael checks it over to Garret, who continues for $1,100. He doesn’t want to slow-play his pocket kings anymore, though, and re-raises to $4,000.
I’m not too keen on raising in this spot. If your opponent is capable of having all sorts of hands in this spot, you’ll give them an opportunity to get away from all of their air by raising, and they’ll only continue with hands that connect fairly well with the board.
If you just call, you’ll give them every opportunity to keep bluffing on later streets.
Adelstein decides to just call, which may seem a bit surprising given he has a very strong drawing hand. Both calling and raising have some merits here, depending on the type of player you’re up against.
If you believe that you can get them to fold hands like pocket tens or jacks or think that cards improving your hand will scare them away and they won’t put in any more money in the pot, then raising on the flop and trying to win right here is the better option.
The Turn
Garrett gets there as the dealer flips over 7♦, giving him the straight. This doesn’t deter Michael, though, as he comes out betting $5,000.
After some thinking, Adelstein goes for a raise and makes it $25,000.
Normally, I don’t hate Michael’s turn bet as not that many players will have a straight here, but Garrett will have a wide range of hands here.
As for Adelstein’s raise, he’s probably not putting Michael on a hand like pocket aces or pocket kings. He may think that he has another flush draw, a set, or a flopped straight with A-2.
If he knew the hand he was up against, he’d probably just call, as many people will fold pocket kings or queens to a big turn raise here.
As is, though, Michael decides to call, and they proceed to the final card.
The River
The river card is the inconsequential 10♦, and Michael checks his option over to Garrett. Michael only has about a pot-sized bet left in his stack, so the decision is pretty straightforward for Adelstein.
After a few moments, he moves all in for $57,600, putting Michael to the ultimate test for what would be an almost $180K pot if he decides to call.
While Michael’s hand doesn’t contain any blockers to the most obvious bluffs, this seems like a very risky call to me. Does he end up making it, or does he eventually find a fold? Check out the video above to find out!
