Poker Hand of the Week Setup
Garett Adelstein and Andy Tsai are two of the top cash game regulars at Live at the Bike and known for their epic battles. In our Poker Hand of the Week they once again clash in a huge pot.
We are in the high stakes cash game round on Live at the Bike featuring Bill Klein, Nick Vertucci, Garrett Adelstein and Andy Tsai.
The game in question is NL$100/$200 with a $200 Big Blind Ante. Both players are very deep with effective stack sizes of 425 big blinds, while Andy has Garrett covered.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Nick Vertucci calls from the cut-off with A♥8♥ as does Julie Yorn from the button with K♠2♠. Garrett picks up A♦10♠ in the big blind and raises to $1,500.
When the action is on Andy in the straddle he squeezes to $4,000 with Q♦J♥. Everyone folds to Garrett, who is the only caller. Pot Size: $8,725
Flop:
Heads-up to the very interesting flop of 5♥10♣K♣, which gives Andy an open-ended straight draw and Garrett middle pair with top kicker.
Adelstein checks over to Tsai and being the preflop aggressor, this is a mandatory cbet. Andy bets $5,200 into $8,725 and Garrett calls. Pot Size: $19,125
Turn:
The 5♣ on the turn is a scare card and neither one of the two likes it as they don’t have a club. Garrett checks and Andy checks behind. Pot Size: $19,125
River:
The 7♠ on the river is a blank and Garrett checks over to Andy for a third time. Tsai has queen-high and can only win the pot by betting. This is what he does and Andy choses a small sizing of 38% pot making it look like a value bet.
Adelstein goes deep into the tank for about 2.5 minutes and ultimately decides on a call. Andy mucks his hand and Garrett wins a nice $33,925 pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
This hand is a great example of how important are betting patterns and pot odds in cash games as those are the two reasons, why Garrett made the call.
Let’s go through the hand step by step. After two calls Garrett decides to squeeze the limpers from the big blind, which opens up the door for a re-squeeze for Andy in the straddle. Main goal of Tsai’s play is to take down the pot right here as there is already $2,325 in the middle, but Adelstein calls.
The flop is pretty standard as Andy has to make a continuation bet as preflop aggressor with an open-ender and Garrett can’t fold middle pair top kicker to a single bet.
The most street is the turn and here Andy makes the decisive mistake by checking behind. Sure, the flush came in and the board paired, which is scare, but given the fact that Tsai showed huge strength before and on the flop and only has queen-high a second barrel would have been the far better play and would have probably won him the pot.
The second reason for Garrett’s call is the river bet sizing, which is too small. Andy probably wanted to make his bluff look like a value bet, but he is simply giving Garrett to good pot odds with 5 to 1,
This means Adelstein only needs to be good here 20% of the time to make a call profitable long-term, which makes it really hard to fold here.
In addition to that, the line 3-bet preflop – bet flop – check behind turn – bet river is often a bluff. Sure, Andy has an occasional monster such as Top Full House, but in most cases checking behind on the turn in this spot is a clear sign of weakness indicating that your opponent is most likely bluffing.
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