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Xuan Li and Taras Clash in a Big 4-Bet Pot

xuan li vs taras

4 minutes

Last Updated: October 4, 2024

The hand we’ll be looking into today comes to us from the Poker at the Lodge live stream and features some pretty insane action.

Two players driving the action are Xuan Li and Taras, both regulars in the game and presumably quite familiar with each other’s playing styles.

Stakes are #50/$100 and Xuan Li is the effective stack with $46,000 to start the hand, so, once again, we have a very deep-stacked scenario.

Preflop Action

The action starts with Dylan opening to $500 from the lojack with K8 and the player in the hijack position flatting with 107.

Taras decides to 3-bet from the cutoff with A9, making it $3,000. Xuan Li in the big blind looks down at KQ and goes for a 4-bet of $10,000! The other two players fold, and Taras makes the call.

The two go to the flop heads up with $22,750 in the pot.

Preflop Play Analysis

There is nothing too strange about the action in this hand to start with. The lojack raise is perfectly standard. The hijack calling with suited gappers is certainly too wide, but with super deep stacks, these players do try to get to many flops with suited cards, so it’s not that wild to see the call, even if it’s not +EV.

Taras 3-betting is somewhat wide here. From the purely GTO perspective, you shouldn’t be 3-betting any offsuite aces apart from AK. However, he plays a very LAG style, and the fact he’ll be in position is certainly playing into his decision to take control of the pot.

Now we come to the most interesting part of the preflop action. With her hand, Xuan Li has an easy fold. Offsuit broadways aren’t the type of cards you want to battle with in huge pots, and they’re not 4-betting material.

As far as bluffs go, GTO strategy suggests ATs, A5s, with a couple of small suited connector hands thrown into the mix for balance (although this is 200 big blinds strategy, but it’s the best we have to make decisions).

xuan li taras 4-bet range

So, her decision to go for a really big 4-bet of 3.3x can only be explained as an extremely exploitative play targeting a player she knows is too wide.

Her read is correct, but knowing Taras’ tendencies, she must also be aware that she’s unlikely to win the pot before the flop, and KQo doesn’t feel like a hand you’ll want to play against a loose and aggressive player out of position.

Flop Action

The flop comes Q94. Xuan continuation bets for $7,000, and Taras makes the call. The pot is $36,750 going to the turn.

Flop Play Analysis

The flop action is pretty straightforward. After 4-betting, Xuan will continue on most boards, and especially after hitting a top pair. The size of around a third of the pot is also super standard, especially on a fairly dry board.

For Taras, this is an easy call. A second pair and an ace kicker are more than enough to hang around for at least one more street. In fact, hitting a 9 may be slightly better than hitting an ace, as Xuan’s 4-betting range will contain a fair few aces, and it shouldn’t contain many queens.

Turn Action

The turn brings the 9, making the board Q949. Xuan now slows down and checks. Taras puts her all in for $28,825, and she makes the call for the total pot of $94,400.

Turn Play Analysis

The only reason why Xuan checks the turn is to induce bluffs. In a 4-bet pot, there is no reason to think that the second nine would help her opponent.

So, when Taras moves all in, she has to call. If she believes he’s the type of player capable of bluffing in this spot, which he certainly is, that second nine is not a bad card at all. In fact, it can be the card that will encourage him to bluff and try to move her off a hand, like a single pair or an ace high.

Unfortunately for Xuan, Taras isn’t bluffing this time, and although they run the board twice, she doesn’t find any help on either river, and Taras wins the pot of over $94,000.

This is an interesting hand as it shows that even when you have a good read on your opponent and their general tendencies, playing out of position can be very tricky. Plus, when someone is really wide, it’s really hard to put them on a range and figure out what cards may or may not have helped them.

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