Today, we’ll be revisiting a hand that happened quite a while back on the Hustler Casino Live stream, showing just how dangerous and unpredictable multi-way pots can get.
The game in question is $100/$200 with a $400 live straddle and $400 big blind ante, so there is a fair bit of money in the pot to entice the action.
The hand featured four HCL regulars, everybody playing with deep stacks. Pepe is the effective (shortest) stack, with $147,800 in front of him.
Preflop Action
The hand begins with Brandon opening from the HJ to $1,700 with Q♥4♥. Pepe in the CO makes the call with 7♦7♣.
Charles finds himself on the button with the best starting hand in all of poker, holding A♥A♣ and bumps it up to $6,000.
Raymond in the big blind decides to cold call with K♣Q♣. Pepe and Brandon follow suit, so the four proceed to the flop with $24,900 in the middle.
Preflop Play Analysis
The preflop action in this hand isn’t too wild, although there are some aspects worth looking into, starting with the original raise.
Brandon opens the action with a small suited queen, which is way too wide for the hijack. These types of hands look much better than they perform, and they are not the holdings you want to get involved with playing hundreds of big blinds deep.
Pepe’s call with pocket sevens is perfectly fine, although he can also raise with this hand some of the time.
Charles has to 3-bet with pocket aces as he doesn’t want to take this hand three or four ways to the flop. With a raise and a call in front of him, there is a case to be made for larger sizing – something like $8,000.
For the big blind, this is a super-easy fold, even if a suited KQ looks so attractive. There is so much action in front of him, and he’s not the last one to act here. So, the call can best be described as a very optimistic attempt to see the flop and hit hard.
When it gets back to Brandon, this is a great opportunity to get rid of his Q♥4♥. It was a wide open, but there was no need to double down on it and call a 3-bet out of position with a hand that can get you in a lot of trouble.
As for Pepe, closing the action with a pocket pair and with a lot of money to play for, he has a super easy call.
Flop Action
The flop has action written all over it as it comes K♦7♥6♥. The action checks around to Charlie on the button, and he fires a bet of $12,000.
Raymond makes the call with his top pair, as does Brandon with a flush draw.
Pepe flopped the middle set and he goes for a chunky raise, making it $47,000 to go. Charles makes the call and then Raymond proceeds to raise again, making it $90,000!
Pepe doesn’t have much to think about with a set, so he moves all in for a total of $141,800. Charles takes his time with pocket aces but eventually finds the fold, while Raymond makes the call for the remaining $51,800.
The pot balloons to $367,500, and Raymond finds himself in a really rough shape as he needs to catch a runner-runner to win. Although they run it twice, the board doesn't provide any assistance, so Pepe scoops a massive six-figure pot.
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Flop Play Analysis
This hand shows just how complicated multi-way pots can be if you don’t flop the nuts. Charles has pocket aces, but he is up against three opponents on a dynamic board, so it’s really hard to play, even on the button.
His half-pot bet is a decent option to thin the field and get a feel for where he might be in the hand. Raymond has a top pair with a good kicker, so he has to call. For Brandon, this is one of the best flops he could hope for with his starting hand, so he certainly can’t fold.
Pepe has a super strong hand with his set of 7s, but his decision to raise is the correct one. Against three other players and on the board where the turn card could really change things, bringing in potential straights and flushes, he has to protect his equity and charge his opponents.
Charles has a pretty tough decision with pocket aces. It is more than possible that any of the three opponents already has him beat, and Pepe’s raise is a very strong play. Although it’s not easy, this may be one of those perfect moments to just fold the aces and move on.
Once Charles makes the call, though, Raymond has no business staying in the hand, as it’s impossible for his KQ to ever be good here. If he decides to play, though, raising is better than just calling, since there are very few cards on the turn that he’ll like.
But, again, folding is way better than either of the other two options.
With Raymond committing his stack, Pepe has nothing to do but move all in, and so he does. Charles finally finds the fold button and sends his aces back to the dealer, which is easily the best decision given the action.
Once it’s back to Raymond, he can no longer fold, as he is getting massive pot odds, and Pepe could still have a few hands that he has some equity against.
Although all the action happened before and on the flop, this is an interesting hand that shows how one small mistake can compound to cost you your entire stack and why preflop hand selection remains the fundamental part of poker regardless of stakes!
