Today, I’ll be looking at an exciting hand that took place at Hustler Casino Live a couple of months back, featuring none other than Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau.
It’s a high stakes game with blinds at $100/$200 and $400 big blind ante. In this particular hand, Rampage is in the straddle for $400 and the action folds to Brandon, another Hustler regular.
Brandon is the effective stack with $141,700, so it’s a very deep-stacked situation.
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Preflop Play
The action folds all the way to Brandon in the big blind, who looks down at 2♦4♦ and raises to $2,300.
Rampage wakes up with A♥J♦ in the straddle position and goes for a 3-bet of $7,000 even. Brandon calls.
Preflop Analysis
Brandon makes a rather wide preflop open with 2♦4♦ against a good player who’ll have a position on him for the rest of the hand. While this hand has a little bit of playability, out of position and with very deep stacks, simply folding is probably the best course of action.
Rampage goes for a standard 3-bet with A♥J♦, especially knowing that his opponent will open with a wide range of hands to try and steal the straddle.
Brandon should be releasing his hand at this point. There are very few flops he’ll be comfortable on and in most cases he’ll either have to give up right on the flop or stick around with a hand that never does well against the opponent’s value range.
Flop Action
The flop comes 9♦10♦K♠, and there is now $14,900 in the pot.
Brandon checks to Rampage, who fires a continuation bet of $6,000 with his A♥J♦, and Brandon calls with 2♦4♦.
Flop Analysis
The flop of 9♦10♦K♠ favors the 3-bettors range, so Rampage will be c-betting this board pretty much 100% of the time. The fact that his actual hand also interacts with the board (a gutshot straight draw) only helps.
Having flopped a flush draw, Brandon has only one option here, and that’s to call. So, his play on this particular street is correct.
Turn Action
The turn comes 6♥, making the board 9♦10♦K♠6♥, with $26,900 in the middle. Brandon checks once again and Rampage decides to slow down and checks back as well.
Turn Analysis
The 6♥ doesn’t change much, but it does complete one potential straight draw. Brandon correctly checks, as without turning any additional equity, leading out wouldn’t make much sense.
Rampage could certainly go either way in this spot. His decision to slow down and take a free card isn’t wrong, but he could also continue betting on this card with plans to fire the third bullet on the river, depending on what comes.
River Action
The river rolls off Q♦, completing the runout 9♦10♦K♠6♥Q♦. The pot is still $26,900, as no bets went in on the turn.
Brandon leads out for $23,000, and after a short deliberation, Rampage moves all in for Brandon’s remaining $105,900.
Brandon takes a couple of minutes but eventually calls to win the pot of $284,700.
River Analysis
The Q♦ on the river is the cooler card as it completes Rampage’s straight, but it also brings in the front door flush draw.
After the turn went check-check, Brandon naturally decides to go for value and chooses a big bet sizing. This is all pretty standard, especially if your opponent thinks you’re capable of bluffing on scary cards.
Rampage now takes a moment and decides to move all in for an additional $105,000+. This move seems a bit optimistic because the board is very scary at this point with straights and flushes, so it’ll be hard for the opponent to find a call with a weaker hand.
Brandon is still in a tough spot as there are very few hands that he can beat after the action goes this way, which underlines the importance of good preflop hand selection. With a hand like 2♦4♦, even when you make a hand, you’ll rarely be comfortable.
I might be leaning towards folds in this spot, but the fact that the turn went check-check does make it less likely that Rampage has a flush, as most flush draws, especially those he’d have after 3-betting before the flop, would likely continue putting pressure on the turn.
Rampage is also a very aggressive player, which means he’ll be doing this at least some percentage of the time with naked A♦ and with a straight, as is the case here.
So, with all these factors, it’s probably a good call by Brandon, but folding a 4-high flush facing a massive river raise can’t be a bad decision, either.
