Poker Hand of the Week Setup
In our Poker Hand of the Week we have a classic cooler situation, where LLinusLLove rivers a flush, while limitless at the same time makes the nut straight. Let’s see if he is able to escape and how two of the best poker players in the world play this spot.
We are at the GG NL$500/$1,000 tables and after all other’s left the 6-max tables, high stakes legends LLinusLLove and limitless decided to stay a bit longer and play some NL $500/$1,000 heads-up.
Both players are on a draw and make their hand on the river, let’s see how they play it.
Limitless and LLinusLLove have a lot of history from the legendary 6-max NL$1,000/$2,000 game at GGPoker, where they battled on an almost daily basis.
We are heads-up, both players are very deep with the effective stack sizes being 236 big blinds. LLinusLLove has limitless covered.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop Action:
Limitless raises from the button with 8♣7♥ at blinds of $500/$1,000 to $2,500 and LLinusLLove makes a large 3-bet of 3.6x with 7♠5♠ from the big blind to $9,000 and limitless calls in position. Pot size: $18,400
Flop:
The 6♣9♠K♦ flop is an interesting one as the preflop aggressor Linus flops a gutshot together with a backdoor flush draw, while Wiktor picks up an open-ended straight draw.
Loeliger elects to make a small cbet of 31% by betting $5,704 into $18,400. Malinowski could raise here, but decides to just call and we go to the turn. Pot Size: $29,808
Turn:
The 4♠ turn is the best card in the deck for LLinusLLove as it gives him a flush draw together with an open-ended straight draw. How big this card is for Linus becomes evident, when we take a look at the odds. On the flop he was a big underdog with only 16.06% to win the hand, but the turn changed things completely and made him a massive favourite of 68.16%.
Loeliger has a whopping 17 outs to win the hand and he understandably chooses a big sizing by betting 2/3 pot as it would be a great result, if he can end the hand right here and even if limitless calls, then he still has a lot of outs.
Wiktor still has an open-ender and as the turn didn’t change the board structure, he tries to hit his draw in position and sticks around. Pot Size: $69,154
River:
The T♠ river is an extremely interesting and spicy card as both players make their draw. LLinusLLove made a disguised backdoor flush draw, while limitless has the nut straight.
Now the question for Linus is how much to bet in order to get paid off? Loeliger goes for a small value bet as he thinks $17,288 or 1/4 pot is the amount Malinowksi is willing to pay off.
To his surprise, Wiktor now makes a very large raise of 4.23x to $73,153. Linus knows that this signals massive strength and that even though limitless is somewhat polarized and capable of making big bluffs, he likely has the top of his range here. That’s why he only calls with the flush and wins a nice $215,461 pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
What makes this hand so interesting is to see how the best players react in such a tricky spot. Let’s analyse it step by step.
Preflop is pretty standard as they are playing heads-up, where you are supposed to raise the button with most of your hands. As LLinusLLove’s hand doesn’t play well out of position, he understandably makes a 3-bet to take over the initiative and potentially win the hand right here, but limitless doesn’t gives up so easily.
The flop is pretty standard as well as both player flop equity and can’t just give up here.
Where things are starting to get interesting is on the turn, which brings the perfect card for Linus turning him from a 16.06& underdog into a massive 68.16% favourite. Consequently, he chooses a big sizing to either take the pot down right here or building the pot with his massive draw.
limitless has a strong draw himself and as the turn didn’t change the board texture he decides to call the big bet. It is very close, because when Malinowski calculates with 8 outs, then he has around 24%, while he needs 25%, so he is close to the right pot odds. However, in case Linus does have a flush draw, then he needs to discount 2 outs and he would only have 12% making a call here unprofitable. It’s very close, but mathematically a fold would have been the better option.
The river is a very spicy card as it makes both players are really strong hand plus LLinusLLove’s backdoor flush is well-disguised making it even harder to get away from for limitless. Linus goes for a nice, small value bet and it’s music to his ears, when Wiktor announces raise.
Malinowski makes a large raise of of 4.23x and for Loeliger now is the question just call or All-In? Limitless is pretty polarized here to the nuts or nothing and even though he is capable of making big bluffs, he just doesn’t have enough bluffs, when raising the river in this spot, that’s why LLinusLLove ends up just calling.
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Watch the Poker Hand of the Week from 1:16:35 on here:
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