Setup Poker Hand of the Week
We have a brand-new and very interesting Poker Hand of the Week from WSOP Online Event #13, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em High Roller, where Daniel Negreanu avoids disaster with flopped Two Pair to continue his deep run.
The WSOP 2020 is in full-effect and Daniel Negreanu as usual plays almost every hand. He regularly publishes updates in his legendary WSOP Vlogs.
In his latest Vlog, we found a very interesting hand, which perfectly demonstrates Negreanu’s small ball tournament approach and why he is one of the most successful practising it as many players would have gone broke here.
We are on the Bubble of WSOP Online Event #13 and his opponent Darren “avocadotoast” Rabinowitz has Daniel covered.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop Action:
At blinds of 3,000/6,000 and a 600 Ante Darren Rabinowitz limps preflop from UTG+1 with A♠A♥. Daniel Negreanu defends his small blind with 4♠10♥. Pot size: 22,500
Flop:
The flop A♦10♠4♦ is a classic cooler as DNegs flops Two Pair, but “avocadotoast” has him absolutely crushed with Top Set.
Negreanu checks and the South African bets a little bit more than half pot with 12,150 into 22,500. Daniel now has 3 options: Call, Check-Raise, Check-Raise All-In.
Daniel elects to just call and see a turn. Pot Size: 46,800
Turn:
The K♦ is a very interesting card as the obvious flush draw comes in and it also makes higher Two Pair hands such as AK possible.
AK is a possible holding of Darren Rabinowitz and that’s probably one of the reasons, why Negreanu checks.
Rabinowitz also doesn’t like this card as Daniel could easily have had and played a flush draw like that, so he decides to go for pot control and checks behind in case Daniel has indeed made his flush. Pot Size: 46,800
River:
The river J♠ is another scare card as it completes a one card straight in case someone has a Queen.
It favors “avocadotoast” though as he has significantly more Queens and Broadway combinations in his range.
Negreanu checks a third time over to Rabinowitz, who goes into the tank and then decides to check behind again, before he wins the comparatively tiny pot of only 46,800 with Top Set.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
By playing small ball poker and having his spidey senses on Daniel Negreanu manages to avoid disaster and going broke on the bubble and instead loses the minimum.
But why was Negreanu extra cautious here? There are two easy answers: First and foremost, because we are on the bubble and the Independent Chip Model (ICM) plays a major role here.
And secondly, because Daniel is aware that limping Under The Gun at a Full Ring table can easily be a trap as certain players tend to limp very strong hands such as Aces or Kings UTG.
This is also the reason, why Negreanu decides to not check-raise or check-raise jam, what would under normal circumstances have been the right play.
The wet board structure certainly helped DNegs to lose the minimum here, as both the turn and the river brought in all possible draws, but just calling on the flop with Two Pair and not losing any more money was a great play by Daniel.
Did Darren Rabinowitz miss value? I would say yes. Daniel played the hand very passively by checking three times.
At the latest, when Negreanu checked a third time on the river, which he certainly wouldn’t have done with a flush and most likely neither with Broadway, Rabinowitz could have figured that Top Set is the best hand and go for a small value bet.
- View more poker strategy articles here
Watch the Hand of the Week from 22:23 here:
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