In our Poker Hand of the Week we analyze the failed bluff by Doug Polk vs. Alex that lead to the biggest pot in Lodge poker history worth $707,800.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
This huge pot was played in The Lodge High Stakes game, which featured Doug Polk, Bill Perkins, Nik Airball, Taras and Alex among others.
The game in question is $200/$400/$400 and Doug Polk has Alex easily covered at the start of our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Taras open-raises from UTG to $2,000 with A♦6♦, Doug Polk 3-bets to $7,000 right behind him with A♠4♠.
Alex then 4-bets to $20,000 from the cutoff with J♠J♦, Taras folds, but Doug Polk 5-bets to $60,000 and Alex calls. Pot Size: $123,800
Flop:
Heads-up to an interesting flop of 3♣2♣9♦, which gave Doug Polk a gutshot and overcard, while Alex flopped an overpair.
Doug Polk made a $28,000 continuation bet and Alex quickly called. Pot Size: $179,800
Turn:
The J♥ on the turn was a dream card for Alex as it made him the Nuts. Polk didn’t slow down tough and fired a $78,000 second barrel and Alex just called again.
River:
8♥ on the river and Doug puts Alex All-in. You can’t fold Top Set here and Alex quickly calls just to see that Doug Polk was bluffing all the way.
Alex wins the biggest pot in The Lodge poker history worth a staggering $707,800.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Bluff gone wrong. Let’s go through the hand step by step.
The foundation for this massive pot is laid preflop, when Doug Polk 5-bets with As4s.
This is a typical GTO solver play as you are blocking Pocket Aces and can represent them yourself.
In addition to that, you are getting some pretty big folds plus, if you get called, you still can make the Nuts.
This happens here as Alex calls the 5-bet with Pocket Jacks and just like that there are $124K in the pot preflop.
The flop of 3c2c9d is not too bad for Polk as he picks up a gutshot to go alongside his overcard.
This is enough to make a continuation bet and tell the story of the big hand, but an overpair is simply too good to fold.
The Jh on the turn is the dream card for Alex as it makes him not only Top Set, but the best-possible hand.
It is music to his ears when Doug continues to fire and in Alex shoes you should just call here as he is in position with a monster hand and you don’t want to push your opponent off his hand in case he is bluffing.
The 8h completes a highly unlikely backdoor Straight Draw with Qc10c. Polk puts Alex All-In, who obviously snap-calls to win the biggest pot in The Lodge live stream history worth $707,800.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Doug Polk clearly represents Aces here with his 5-bet preflop. However, he is also extremely polarizing his hand when making this play.
Alex knows this and decides to call the 5-bet with Pocket Jacks. The flop is pretty favourable for him and the turn the best card in the deck. Once the third Jack on the turn appears he can’t fold anymore.
Great news that Polk has missed the board completely and his only chance to win the pot is by betting big.
That’s what he does, but he simply picked the wrong spot as Alex snap-calls with his monster to take down this massive pot.
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