There was a $500/$1,000 high stakes cash game during the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe featuring poker legends Wiktor “limitless” Malinowski, Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov, Mikita Badziakouski and Dan “Jungleman” Cates. The latter shows what a perfect value bet looks like in our Poker Hand of the Week against Mikita Badziakouski.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
Poker legends Dan Cates, Wiktor Malinowski, Timofey Kuznetsov and Mikita Badziakouski sat down during the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe to play a Nosebleed $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em cash game!
They are playing 5-max $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em and Jungleman has Mikita Badziakouski covered at the start of our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Mikita Badziakouski raises from late position with K♠10♥ to $3,000. Dan “Jungleman” Cates calls from the button with 8♦8♥ and everybody else folds. Pot Size: $13,500
Flop:
Heads-up to the action flop of 10♣7♠10♦. Badziakouski flops Trips and Jungleman has Top Two, so he can’t fold.
Mikita chooses a very small cbet sizing of only 22% pot to keep his opponent in the hand and Jungleman insta-calls. Pot Size: $5,600
Turn:
The 9♥ on the turn is another very interesting card as it gives Jungleman a backdoor straight draw. Mikita now sizes up a bit and fires a $9,000 second barrel.
Jungleman goes into the tank for 15 seconds before calling. Pot Size: $37,500
River:
The J♠ on the river does indeed complete the runner-runner straight. Badziakouski visibly doesn’t like this card and checks.
Now it’s on Jungleman to extract some value and he decides that the perfect value bet size is $22,000. Mikita goes very deep into the tank for over 90 seconds and finally tosses in the chips with the words: “Yeah, I mean I have to”.
Jungleman chose the perfect amount that Mikita was willing to pay off and collects a nice $81,500 Pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Let’s analyse this very interesting hand step by step. Mikita’s preflop raise with K10o in a 5-handed game from late position is standard, while Jungleman had two options here sitting on the button. He can just call and control the size of the pot in position or he can raise and try to take the pot down pre.
Jungleman goes for the first option and we see a very interesting flop giving Badziakouski Trips and Cates Two Pair. The flop plays itself, since Mikita has to bet to build the pot with his very strong hand and Jungleman can’t fold.
The excitement continues on the turn, when Daniel Cates picks up an Open-Ender to go alongside his two pair. Badziakouski sizes up and Cates has to call again given his equity.
Jungleman then binks the runner-runner straight on the river and Mikita wisely checks. Cates comes up with the conclusion that $22,000 is the perfect sizing and after a 90-seconds long tank Badziakouski calls.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Jungleman demonstrates the Art of Value Betting to perfection. The fact that a world-class player like Mikita Badziakouski tanks for over 90 seconds shows that Cates chose exactly the right amount Badziakouski was willing to pay off.
Could Mikita have folded? This is a difficult question and the answer is as so often in poker: “It depends”. It depends on the playing style of your opponent and if you have some reads on him or he gave away a tell.
In general, Trips with good kicker are too strong to fold in a short-handed game, but in this case Mikita doesn’t beats much except for A7, K7s and 89. Jungleman has a lot of straights and some full houses with Pocket Sevens or 109s, 108s and 107s in his range.
Jungleman made his hand on the river and managed to get paid and extract close to maximum value. This is one of the key skills that differentiate the top pros from an average poker player.
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