In our Poker Hand of the Week we analyse a spectacular Check-Raise Bluff attempt by Jake Daniels against Trevor Pope in the latest PAD episode “”Gamblers Delight” 2.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
The latest Poker After Dark week is called “Gamblers Delight”, since it exclusively features action players, who like to gamble such as James Bord, Jake Daniels, Dan Shak, Lynne Ji, Albert Destrade, Jake Daniels, Trevor Pope and Bryan Ercolano.
They are playing 7-max NL $50/$100 with a mandatory $200 straddle. James Bord has Dan Shak covered at the start of our exciting Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Everybody folds to Jake Daniels in the small blind, who makes it $1,000 to go with A♣7♣.
Trevor Pope picks up 9♦9♣ right behind him in the big blind, but just calls. Pot Size: $2,800
Flop:
Heads-Up to a flop of 3♠6♣6♦. Daniels checks and Pope bets 60% pot with his overpair.
Jake decides to check-call and see a turn with two overcards and a backdoor straight and flush draw. Pot Size: $5,200
Turn:
The 4♣ on the turn is a very good card for Jake as it gives him the nut flush draw and a gutshot to go alongside his two overcards. While he was only 18% on the flop his odds of winning the hand now jump to a remarkable 32%.
However, Trevor still has an overpair in a blind vs. blind spot and he understandably fires a second barrel of $3,400 into $5,200 and Daniels check-calls again. Pot Size: $12,000
River:
On the 8♦ river Jake misses all his draws just has Ace-High and consequently checks.
Trevor Pope goes for three streets of value, but he only bets a tiny 27% pot.
Jake Daniels interprets the small bet as weakness and makes a big check-raise to $16,300 (4.9x).
Pope asks: “Do you have a good hand Jake”, before going into the tank for around 50 seconds and finally mucking his hand.
Jake wins a nice $31,600 pot with just Ace-High!
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Beautiful check-raise bluff and great play by Jake Daniels! Let’s analyse the hand step by step.
Jake’s preflop raise from the small blind with A7s is standard, but this is where Trevor Pope is making the first mistake as Pocket Nines is a clear 3-bet in a blind vs. blind confrontation against such a loose and aggressive opponent like Daniels.
The reasons for that are that you want to protect your very vulnerable hand as there will almost always be overcards on the flop and secondly you want to build a pot/maximise value with your strong hands in position.
The flop is very favourable for Trevor as he has an overpair on a paired board, which is almost always the best hand here.
Nevertheless, the flop isn’t that bad for Daniels either as Ace-High is often the best hand blind vs. blind on a paired flop and in addition he has a backdoor straight and flush draw, so he decides to check-call Pope’s bet and to see a turn.
The turn is one of the best cards in the deck for Daniels as it gives him the a nut flush and straight draw and almost doubles his equity from 18% to 32%.
There are arguments for a check-raise here since it would be an extremely strong play, but given that the board is paired and you could be dead a check-call is fine as well.
On the river Jake misses all his draws and now has two options: Give up or going for a big bluff. Daniels decides in favour of the second option as he correctly interprets the tiny bet as weakness.
Trevor Pope makes a decisive mistake by going for a tiny value bet here, while not being convinced of the strength of his hand, as it opens the doors for a check-raise.
Jake Daniels picks up on it and goes for a massive 5x check raise bluff and puts Trevor in a difficult spot as this looks extremely strong and is a very polarizing play, which means Daniels represents a very big hand/the Nuts.
It works since Pope folds his hand after tanking for a while.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
The biggest takeaway from this hand is that you should not bet the river in position with a good hand, which has a lot of showdown value, in this case an overpair on a paired and straight board, and you are not willing to call a check-raise with it.
Simply check behind and realize your equity and showdown value, instead of risking getting check-raise bluffed off the best hand in a big pot as this is the worst case scenario.
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