Poker Hand of the Week Setup
In our Poker Hand of the Week we analyse one of the sickest and most controversial folds of all time with Queens full of Aces by Thi Xoa Nguyen vs. Athanasios Polychronopoulos at the 2019 PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) Bahamas.
We are at the end of Day 2 of the biggest $25,000 buy-in tournament in history, the $25,000 PokerStars NL Hold’em Players Championship (PSPC) in the Bahamas.
There are 220 of 1039 players left and 181 places get paid with a significant min-cash of $25,450. That means, there are some Independent Chip Model (ICM) considerations in play.
The blinds are 3,000/6,000 and we are pretty close to the money.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop Action:
Our Poker Hand of the Week starts at Blinds of 3,000/6,000. The action folds around to Thi Xoa Nguyen on the button, who makes it 12,000 to go.
Athanasios Polychronopoulos looks down to Pocket Aces! An absolute dream spot and he consequently 3-bets to 37,000, Nguyen calls. Pot Size: $77,000
Flop:
We are going to an interesting flop of Q♦9♠K♠. Not really a board you want to see, when you have Aces, as the flop is very draw heavy and hands such as KQ, JT 99, K9s and Q9s, which are all part of the button opening range have now moved into the lead.
Nevertheless, more often than not Pocket Aces are still in the lead in a button vs. big blind scenario, but Polychronopoulos decides to check. Thi could make a small continuation bet here, but decides to go for pot control and checks it back. Pot Size: $77,000
Turn:
Things get really spicy on the Q♥ turn. Another scare card for Athanasios as he is now behind Trip Queens and he checks again.
Thi Hoa Nguyen can now be almost sure that she has the best hand as she has Trips with top kicker. She decides to be very small with 17,000 into 77,000, which is only slightly more than a one-fifth pot-sized bet. Polychronopoulos check-calls. Pot Size: 111,000
River:
The river A♠ is the final Ace in the deck and a sick card as it makes both players a full house! Polychronopoulos continues to trap by checking a third time.
Action is on Nguyen, who makes a rather smallish value bet of 50,000 into 111,000. Athanasios Polychronopoulos then check-raises All-In for 153,000.
The pot is now 314,000 and Thi Hoa Nguyen gets more than 4 to 1 on her money. She thinks for only seven seconds and then open-folds A♦Q♣ for Queens full, just to get shown Aces full by Polychronopoulos.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Apart from the fact that this is one of the sickest hands of all time, it raises the question: Is it a good fold or not?
And our answer to this is very clear: No, it is not good at all!
When you get more than 4 to 1 on the river in a live poker game with Queens full of Aces, then you have to snap-call simply due to pot odds.
Thi Xoa Nguyen has a very strong hand and there are simply to few combinations of Pocket Kings and Pocket Aces that justify such a big fold.
What if you have your opponent beat or he is bluffing? Then this insane fold quickly turns into a catastrophe, that’s why you have to call here.
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