Poker Hand of the Week Setup
We saw a very curious hand on the latest Poker After Dark episode, where former Box Champion Chris Eubank Jr. checked behind on the river with Pocket Aces against Dan Bilzerian. Let’s take an in-depth look, if he missed value and what might have lead to this decision in our Poker Hand of the Week.
The latest Poker After Dark week is called “Blitz Week” and as the name implies, it is hosted by GGPoker Ambassador Dan Bilzerian aka “Blitz”.
It features Bill Perkins and his fiancée Lara Sebastian, Star DJ Steve Aoki, David Bell, Mally Mall, Alan Richardson and former Box champion Chris Eubank Jr.
They are playing NL $50/$100. Dan Bilzerian is the big winner so far and has Chris Eubank well covered at the start of the hand.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Mally Mall limps UTG with 6♠6♥ and Dan Bilzerian raises from UTG+2 to $600 with Q♦J♥. Chris Eubank picks up Pocket Rockets A♠Q♥ in middle position and makes it $2,000 to go. Alan Richardson calls with T♥T♣ from the big blind and Mall and Bilzerian also come along. Pot Size: $8,600
Flop:
4-handed to a flop of 4♣5♠Q♣, which spells disaster for Dan Bilzerian as he flops top pair with a decent kicker. However, it’s Mally Mall who makes a small donk bet of $500 with Pocket Sixes, Bilzerian calls and when the action comes back to Eubank, he raises to $3,000. Richardson and Mall fold, but Dan calls. Pot Size: $15,100
Turn:
The 9♦ on the turn doesn’t improve Bilzerian’s hand and he consequently checks. Chris has to bet and bet is what he does, but only $4,500 into $15,100, which is quickly called by Blitz leading to a “Snap Call” from Chris. Pot Size: $24,100
River:
The 8♥ does complete 76 and JT, but the latter combo is very unlikely. Dan Bilzerian checks again. Chris Eubank Jr. now has a pretty clear value bet, but does go into the tank mumbling “That snap call really messed with my head here” followed by “I can’t believe I’m gonna do this, but I check.”
“Queen” says Bilzerian prompting a “Oh my God” as he turns over the Aces” followed by a round of Wows and a big smile from Bilzerian as Chris collects a $24,100 pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Let’s go through the hand one more time street by street, before we jump to conclusions.
The 3-bet preflop with Pocket Aces is standard, while calling out of position with QJ0 against a tight opponent such as Eubank is already loose and a borderline play.
On the Queen-high flop Dan Bilzerian obviously can’t fold to Eubanks small raise, but here Chris already starts losing value as he only raises to $3,000 with $8,600 in the pot and four players in the hand. A raise close to potsize to thin the fields, charge draws to see the next card and to maximize value would have been a much better play.
Chris Eubank repeats the same mistake on the turn after being checked to. There is a flush draw and several straight draws and Eubank only bets $4,500 into $15,100 (29.8% pot), which is way too small of a bet. Again a bet of at least two thirds or close to potsize would have been in order to set up a shove on a clear river.
The 8d on the river is a pretty clean river and after being checked to Chris has a very clear value bet or even a shove as he has exactly pot behind. However, Eubank checks behind missing out on a lot of value.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
This hand is the perfect example why sizing your bets properly and not playing money-scared is essential in live poker to not maximize your value.
While Chris Eubank’s preflop raise size is ok, the raise on the flop and bet on the turn are way to small. Would he have raised/bet close to potsize on the flop or turn, he would have set up a river shove and on the flop might even got a call from a loose player such as Dan Bilzerian.
The check behind on the river is obviously terrible, since you have to bet for value here after being checked to twice.
To conclude Chris Eubank Jr. could have more than doubled his stack with Pocket Aces in this 4-way pot as there was a lot of money in the middle on the flop already and then he got the perfect constellation as the loosest player on the table flopped top pair with a good kicker.
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