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The hand I’ll be analyzing today is something a bit different. It’s from a recent live stream at Hustler Casino, which gathered some of the biggest streamers and YouTube personalities for some poker action, with Phil Hellmuth and Tom Dwan being the only pros in the field.
Given the setup, the action isn’t exactly standard, but the hand is still interesting to look at, as it sees MrBeast, a YouTube legend with 94 million followers, getting under Phil Hellmuth’s skin and extracting some very thin value (albeit possibly by accident).
The hand begins with Phil Hellmuth limping in from under the gun with 9♠9♦, sitting on a $68,000 stack, which is actually one of the shortest stacks at the table.
Several players follow Phil’s lead and just call for $200 until the action gets to Slime in the highjack. He decides to go for a $2,400 squeeze with A♠9♣, which is a fairly reasonable play given no one has shown too much strength.
MrBeast cold calls with a mystery hand (only revealed at the end of the video) from the cutoff, and then things get a bit out of control when xQc in the big blind goes for a re-raise with A♥2♦, making it $5,000.
This is definitely not a great play as you can be sure you’re getting called at least in one or two spots, and you’ll have to play the rest of the hand out of position.
Hellmuth calls once again with his pocket nines, which is fine, although there is probably some merit to just moving all in at this point, given it’s a very loose and splashy game.
Alexandra Botez folds, and the other three players make the call, going to the flop five-handed!
The Flop
The flop comes K♣Q♠10♦ and everyone whiffs. The action checks around to MrBeast (who is still playing a mystery hand) and he, being the last to act, bets $10,000 into the $25,500 pot.
Xqc gets out of the way, but Phil, with three overcards on the flop to his pair of nines and two players to act behind him, decides to call. Slime and Keating fold as well, leaving the two heads up.
I think this is a spot where you just have to fold the nines. There are players still left to act who could be slow-playing a big hand, and even MrBeast could just have a random queen in his hand, which still beats you.
Additionally, if MrBeast keeps betting on any turn and/or river, even if he’s just bluffing, can Phil really call him down with an under-pair to the board?
The Turn
The turn card is the 8♦, which doesn’t really change much. Phil checks and, after some deliberation, MrBeast checks back.
The River
After the action checks through on the turn, the dealer puts out the final card, which is the 3♥, and Hellmuth checks it over to MrBeast once again.
MrBeast then comes out with the bet of $25,000, and I think Phil has a very clear fold here even without knowing MrBeast’s cards.
Do you think Phil finally finds the fold and releases the hand, or does he stay stubborn all the way and take it to a showdown? Check out the video above to find out, alongside my final thoughts on this situation.