Poker Hand of the Week Setup
Our Poker Hand of the Week comes from the $25/$50/$50 Live at the Bike cash game featuring Garrett Adelstein, Barry Woods and poker superstars Maria Ho and Kitty Kuo.
The lineup consists mainly of Live at the Bike regs mixed with two female poker pros. All of them have played at Live at the Bike several times before, means they have some history and know each other’s game.
Both players are very deep with effective stacks of 300 big blinds.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop Action:
Andrea makes a big raise t0 $600 from the button with A♠J♣. Maria kicks up 7♣7♠ in the big blind and 3-bets to $2,100. Well played given that Andrea is more on the looser side and will open with a wide range from the button, which Maria is ahead off. In addition, she gets all his steals to fold.
Not this time though as Andrea calls. Pot Size: $5,975
Flop:
The flop T♠Q♠3♠ all spades is much better for Andrea as he flops the nut flush draw plus a gutshot to the straight. Ho also has a spade in her hand, but decides to check.
Andrea is now actually a 60/40 favorite and takes over the initiative by betting $1,400 into $5,975. This bet is however much to small to make pairs with a spade fold and Maria decides to stick around. Pot size: $7,375
Turn:
The turn 4♥ is an absolute blank. Andrea fires a bigger second barrel of $4,500 into $7,375 and probably would like to end the hand right here as he still doesn’t have a made hand.
However, the board structure hasn’t changed and when Maria believes her pair is good on the flop, there is no reason to think it is not on the turn, so she check-calls again. Pot Size: $16,375
River:
On the river 3♥ the board pairs making a full house possible in addition to the flush. Ho has a bit more than half pot left and checks a third time over to Andrea.
Andrea has $19,200 left and after thinking a couple of seconds he checks-behind and a nice pot is pushed to Maria Ho.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
This hand is a great example of why not consequently finishing the story that you are telling often costs you a large pot.
As always we go though the hand street by street. Preflop Andrea makes a rather large open of 3x from the button. He has a pretty strong hand and probably wants to make it look like a steal. Maria Ho herself picks up a really good hand with Pocket Sevens and decides to go for a resteal, which I like a lot as she protects her vulnerable hand and folds out all the button steals. Andrea does however call.
The flop is as good as it gets for Andrea flopping the nut flush draw plus a gutshot to the nut straight making him a 60% favorite.
He takes over the initiative, after being checked to, Maria does have a pair and a spade though and decides to take one of.
The turn is a complete blank, but with his strong combo draw Andrea fires a second barrel, which makes a lot of sense as he puts pressure on Maria. Ho has a difficult decision here, but as the turn card didn’t change anything, she decides to go with her read that her hand is still best.
On the river the board pairs and Maria checks a third time over to Andrea. Now a full house is also possible in addition to the flush making this a very good board to bluff. Andrea only has Ace high and a bit more than pot behind, so this is the perfect spot for aa three barrel bluff and moving all-in.
Andrea can only win by betting and this is where he makes a big mistake by not finishing the story he told over three streets and chickening out on the river.
Would he have made a large bet or moved All-In, Maria Ho would very likely have folded. On such a board this should always be a three barrel. Instead of going for it and completing what he has started, he gives up and surrenders a large pot to Maria.
The moral of the story: Be consistent and follow through with your bluffs!
- View more poker strategy articles here
Watch the Poker Hand of the Week here:
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