Playing good poker is all about planning ahead and knowing what your move is going to be across different flops, turns, and rivers.
However, every now and again, the board runs out in the most unexpected of manners, creating interesting scenarios and putting players on the spot.
The hand we’ll be looking at today is one such example, coming to us from a recent Hustler Casino Live stream. Stakes are $200/$400/$800, and the two main protagonists are Jae ($354,200) and Huss ($186,500).
Preflop Action
The hand begins with the action folding to the blinds. The small blind calls for $600, Huss calls for $400 in the big blind with K♣8♣, and it gets to Jeff in the straddle.
Jae looks down at 8♠6♠ and goes for a squeeze, making it $5,000. The small blind folds, Huss makes the call, and they proceed to the flop heads-up, with $11,200 in the middle.
Preflop Play Analysis
With no aggressive actions in front of him, Huss could certainly go for a raise with his hand, but calling and controlling the size of the pot out of position is perfectly fine as well.
Jae has an option to check and see the flop with a very playable hand. However, with the absolute position before and after the flop, a big squeeze play is certainly an option.
With his opponents not showing any aggression, he could pick up the pot before the flop or at least get rid of one opponent and play a heads-up pot in position with a hand that plays well across many boards.
Facing a big raise, Huss could certainly fold his suited king, but it’s safe to assume that his whole plan was to let Jae, who’s a very aggressive player, do the betting, allowing him to see the flop without investing too much (which could have happened if he were to raise and Jae decided to 3-bet).
Flop Action
The flop comes A♣9♦5♣, giving Huss a nut flush draw, while Jae picks up a gutshot. After Huss checks, Jae fires a continuation bet of $5,000.
Huss wastes very little time making the call, so the pot grows to $21,200 as the two proceed to the turn.
Flop Play Analysis
Huss will be checking his entire range on this board, so not much to dissect there. As for Jae, he definitely wants to c-bet on this flop as his range should contain more aces the way the hand played out.
Although Huss has a nut flush draw, the best play is to just call here. While he could check-raise some of the time, it’s hard to do so credibly after just calling twice before the flop. Pretty much all of his strongest hands like A9, AK, AQ, and pocket 9s would raise after the small blind limps in.
So, by raising, he’d be representing a very narrow value range, and his hand would be weighted heavily toward draws. In this scenario, calling to try and realize his equity instead of reopening the action and potentially allowing his opponent to blow him off a very strong draw is the superior play.
Turn Action
The turn comes the 8♦, bringing in the second flush draw and also improving both players to a pair on the board of A♣9♦5♣8♦,
After Huss checks, Jae goes for another bet, but this time makes it $30,000. His opponent proceeds to call once more, and they are off to the river with $81,200 in the pot.
Turn Play Analysis
It’s interesting that Jae goes for an overbet on this turn. Having picked up some showdown equity to go with his gutshot draw, he could certainly slow down, check back, and see a free river.
A big bet does make some sense, in the light of the fact that Huss isn’t likely to have a super strong hand in this spot, so it really puts the pressure on. Had Huss not picked up a pair to go along with his draw, this big turn bet would have probably worked, but, as it is, he has too much equity to just fold.
River Action
The river is the exciting 8♥, completing the board of A♣9♦5♣8♦8♥ and improving both players to trips.
Huss takes a few moments, going over his options, but ends up checking. Jae, having backed into a big hand, moves all in for $146,500 effective – almost twice the size of the pot.
Huss beats him into the pot with a snap call and delivers the bad news in the form of trip eights with a better kicker to scoop a massive $374k pot.
River Play Analysis
With the board pairing to give Huss a concealed three of a kind, taking over the initiative and betting big on this river is certainly an option. If his opponent has a hand like a big ace or two pair, this might be the best way to extract value.
Huss could have a variety of missed draws in this spot, which he could turn into a river bluff, making it very hard for his opponent to fold.
As played, Jae has an easy value bet. The only question is that of sizing. After check-calling twice, it’s unlikely that Huss has a very strong hand that’s capable of calling a massive bet. On the other hand, Jae might be banking on his image to get paid by a bluff-catcher of some sort.
Of course, with both players hitting that river hard, all the money was always going to end up in the middle, so there was no real way for Jae to get away from it.
The hand would be much more interesting if Huss had something like a weak ace or a nine even, where he’d have a really tough decision against a player who’s shown repeatedly he’s not afraid of pulling big, multi-street bluffs.
