Garrett Adelstein had a bad run at High Stakes Poker Season 9 lately making a couple of bad decisions. Now one of the best live cash game players in the world seems to be back on track with an excellent fold, where he lays down the Nut Straight against alleged cheater Bryn Kenney. Let’s take an in-depth look at this great fold in our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
Our Poker Hand of the Week comes from the latest episode of High Stakes Poker Season 9, which features poker superstars Bryn Kenney, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius and Garrett Adelstein.
They are playing NL$500/$1,000 and Garrett has Bryn easily covered at the start of our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
A♥9♠K♥
Garrett Adelstein raises from UTG+1 to $3,000 with 10♣7♣ and gets three callers with Stanley Tang (10♠8♥), Bryn Kenney with K♥10♥ and Tom Dwan completes from the Big Blind with Q♥5♦. Pot Size: $13,000
Flop:
4-way to the wet board of 6♥A♥9♠, which gives Bryn Kenney the nut flush draw, while both Adelstein and Tang flop inside straight draws. Adelstein makes a $5,000 continuation bet into three opponents with his gutshot and both Tang and Kenney call, while Tom Dwan folds. Pot Size: $28,000
Turn:
Bink! The 8♠ on the turn is an absolute action card, since Garrett hits his gutshot straight draw and on top Bryn adds a gutshot to his nut flush draw.
Bryn checks and Garrett fires a large second barrel of $25,000 into $28,000 (89% pot) in order to protect his hand and maximize value. Tang quickly gets out of the way, but Bryn can’t fold and could potentially even raise here with his combo draw. Kenney decides to take the passive route though and just calls. Pot Size: $78,000
River:
The 2♥ river maker Bryn the flush and he checks it! Garrett has to go for value here and decides that 96% pot is the right sizing for a value bet.
What he definitely didn’t want to see is Bryn’s check-raise to $270,000. It’s deja vu all over again! Garrett is put in the same spot as against Jennifer Tilly, where he lost a massive $515,000 pot.
This time Garrett ends up making the right decision and a great fold though, while Bryn Kenney collects a huge $432,000 Pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Let’s go through this very interesting hand and common spot step by step.
Garrett makes a pretty loose raise from preflop from UTG+1 with 107s, while Bryn’s call with K10s from the small blind is absolute standard.
The flop is interesting as it gives the preflop raiser a gutshot to the Nut Straight, while Kenney flops the nut flush draw. It checks to Garrett, who decides to make a continuation bet to take down the pot right here and since only one opponent is left to act behind him. However, both Bryn and Stanley make the call.
The turn is a very spicy card as Adelstein not only hits his gutshot, but it also adds equity to Bryn’s hand by adding an inside straight draw. I like Garrett’s big second barrel of 89% pot as the board is very draw-heavy with two flush draws. Bryn could definitely check-raise here, since he has decent equity against any hand, but decides to play it safe by just calling.
On the river the front door flush comes in and now Kenney makes a great check with the Nuts pretending to have an Ace. Adelstein now has to bet for value with the nut straight and he goes very big with a 96% pot bet sizing.
The last thing he wanted to see is the check-raise by Bryn Kenney to $270,000 posting an “It’s so frustrating” as he is put in almost exactly the same spot than against Jennifer Tilly, where he lost a huge $515K pot.
And once again Adelstein manages to getting away from a very strong hand. After thinking everything through Garrett realizes that the only hand he can beat is 87. He knows that Bryn is basically never bluffing in this spot and almost always has the flush here, when check-raising big on the river.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
One of the signs of a good poker player is that he is able to make big folds. Poker is not only about maximizing your value, when you have the best hand, but also about minimizing your losses, when you have the second best hand.
Garrett shows why he is one of the greats of live cash game as he got away from the hand against Jennifer and he gets away from the Nut Straight here too.
Great Fold!
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