When it comes to live poker, multi-way pots tend to be some of the most exciting ones, often leading to massive pots that no one saw coming. This is especially true when you have one or two action players in the lineup, always eager to put their chips to work.
A recent hand from the Poker at the Lodge live stream that we’ll be analyzing today is a great example of this scenario, with several players taking the flop and things escalating from there.
The game in question is $50/$100, but for this particular hand, a double straddle is on, and everyone is very deep, with the effective stack just over $100,000.
It is worth noting that there is some additional money in the pot to start this hand as one of the players posted the “nit tax,” which provides an additional incentive for players to get in the mix.
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Preflop Action
The hand begins with Vinny in the lojack, calling $400 with K♠J♦. The action folds to Brown Balla in the small blind, who also calls with K♦7♦.
Moe Money is in the big blind with Q♣8♣, and he tosses in $300 to try and see the flop. T1000 in the first straddle completes with 8♦5♣, and finally, Taras in the double straddle completes the preflop round of betting by checking his option with J♥10♦.
Preflop Play Analysis
Vinny has the first option in this hand, and with a lot of dead money out there, he should definitely be coming in for a raise. His hand is strong enough to go for it and see what develops. By limping in, he doesn’t really define any ranges and his call increases the likelihood the pot will go multi-way.
Everybody else is content to just call as they have decent enough hands to see the flop but not strong enough to raise with. Taras could potentially go for a squeeze play, and with his usual aggressive style, this move is certainly in his playbook.
That said, he has a hand that plays well across a variety of flops and an option to see that flop without putting any additional money on the line, so checking is a very reasonable option.
With the nit tax added, there is $4,100 in the middle going to the flop.
Flop Action
The flop comes Q♦10♣2♦, giving everyone but T1000 something to work with. Moe Money flops the best with a top pair and some backdoors, so after Brown Balla checks, he starts the action by betting $1,000.
T1000 gets out of the way, after which Taras makes the call with his middle pair. Vinny calls with the open-ended straight draw, and Brown Balla follows suit with his flush draw, bringing the pot $8,100.
Flop Play Analysis
With a weak top pair in a multi-way pot, Moe Money could go either way, but betting small to test the waters is a very sound approach. This could help thin the field and define where he is in the hand, and there is always a (small) chance everybody else just folds.
Taras has a middle pair and some backdoor possibilities. In a heads-up pot, he should never be folding. With two players still to act, though, there would be nothing wrong with giving up. While he is getting a great price right now, things can quickly spiral out of control.
Vinny has six clean outs to the nuts and no incentive to do anything but call. Seeing a cheap turn card is the best-case scenario for him.
Brown Balla could potentially go for a raise here, but he’d have to go pretty big. If he was drawing to the nut flush, this would be a more viable option, but as is, closing the action and getting insane odds, he is more than happy to call and see what develops on the turn.
Turn Action
The A♥ comes on the turn, making the board Q♦10♣2♦A♥. This gives Vinny the nuts but also improves Taras and Brown Balla.
The action checks to Taras this time, and he decides to take the lead, betting $2,500. Vinny is next to act, and he bumps it up to $7,000.
Brown Balla has picked up some additional equity on the turn, so he makes the call, and Taras follows suit, bringing the pot to $24,600.
Turn Play Analysis
Ace on the turn is certainly a scare card. It is an overcard to the flop, and it completes the straight draw, so when the other two players check, Taras decides to take over the initiative.
Although it seems a bit ambitious against three opponents, this is not a bad spot to take a small stab at the pot. Brown Balla has been passive on both streets, so he’s not likely to have a strong hand, and Moe Money slowing down after betting the flop indicates he’s concerned about the turn card.
Of course, there is still one player left to act, and that player happens to hold the nuts. However, this is a pretty wet board, and with three players in the hand, Vinny needs to raise to protect his equity. It is very likely at least one of his opponents is drawing to a flush.
Facing a bet and a raise, Brown Balla should probably be folding when he is not closing the action and he will be the first to act on the river, making it harder to extract value when he does hit a flush or a straight. Additionally, he doesn’t have that much money behind as he started the hand with $45k.
With all that said, his combo draw looks nice, and sometimes it’s really hard to let go of these hands, so it’s hard to fault him too much.
Moe Money is done with the hand and it is back to Taras. He should really be folding at this point. His actual hand is very weak, and he only has three clean outs for the nuts.
But, his river plans clearly aren’t focused on just hitting a miracle card, in which case calling makes more sense, even if it is a very ambitious plan.
River Action
The river comes the 5♥, completing the board of Q♦10♣2♦A♥5♥. It is a complete brick and Vinny’s hand remains the absolute nuts.
The action check to Vinny who bets out for $10,000. Having missed his flush draw, Brown Balla folds. Taras now takes a few moments before coming over the top for $36,000 total.
It’s music to Vinny’s ears, who, after pretending to think about it, moves all in for a total of $86,000. Taras needs to call $60k to win $160k in the middle, but he thinks better of it and finally finds the fold button, sending the six-figure pot his opponent’s way.
River Play Analysis
Vinny picks an interesting sizing on the river, targeting some weaker hands to try and extract a bit of additional river value. It works out great for him as this bet size leaves the door open for Taras to try and pull a big bluff.
Taras holds a jack, which is an important blocker here. However, his hand would be a better bluff candidate if he didn’t hold a diamond.
Additionally, Brown Balla was in the pot until the river and then folded when diamonds didn’t come in, which makes it likelier that he was the one on a flush draw. Taking all this information into account, this was probably not the greatest spot to bluff, but if we know anything about Taras is that he’s not afraid to pull the trigger.
