This Poker Hand of the Week will blow your mind! Mike Nia calls Fransisco’s check-raise shove in a 360 BB Pot with 64 offsuit on Hustler Casino Live.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
This spectacular hand was played at the NL$50/$100 high stakes cash game at Hustler casino featuring Hustler regulars and legends Mike Nia, Nick Vertucci and Francisco.
They are playing 6-max No-Limit Texas Hold’em and Franscisco has Mike clearly covered at the start of our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Francisco raises from the small blind with A♠J♣ and Mike Nia decides to defend his big blind with 6♥4♦. Pot Size: $1,900
Flop:
Heads-Up to a flop of Q♠9♠10♠, which is great for Francisco as he picks up a big combo draw, while Mike whiffs.
Francisco gets creative by checking, instead of making a continuation bet and Mike does indeed try to take a $1,400 stab at the pot, which Francisco just calls, while being a massive favourite to win the hand. Pot Size: $4,700
Turn:
Things are getting interesting on the 4♣ turn as Nia makes a pair and the odds are shifting in his favour as now he is a 59% favourite. Francisco checks over to him once again and this time Mike checks behind. Pot Size: $4,700
River:
The 4♦ river is an absolute blank and Francisco knows that he can only win the hand by betting. However, he checks over to Mike for a third time.
Nia probably thinks himself he can only win the hand with a bet after getting called on this wet board. So he bets $2,500, which is a little bit more than half pot.
Francisco tanks for a few seconds and then decides to pull the trigger with a check-raise shove on the river! Very strong play as this move usually signals massive strength.
Nevertheless, Mike Nia surprisingly doesn’t seems to be too convinced and goes deep into the tank for more than three minutes, before announcing a Call with 64 offsuit for a mere pair of fours, which is good! Nia gets rewarded with a nice double up and wins a $14,200 pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
What a call and read by Mike Nia! Let’s have an in-depth look at this exciting hand.
Fransisco’s preflop raise with AJo from the small blind is absolute standard, but Mike Nia’s big blind defend with 64o is very wide and loose.
The flop is great for Francisco as he picks up a monster draw with the nut flush draw plus open-ender. However, he checks and after being the preflop raiser and having the initiative a continuation bet would have certainly been the better play and won him the hand straight away.
Francisco decides to set a trap though by checking. Mike now decides to steal the pot with a half pot bet, which obviously doesn’t work, but Francisco just calls. Again I would have loved to see a check-raise from him here, since he has a lot of equity against every hand Mike can have plus a lot of fold equity.
Like that Francisco allows Mike to make a pair on the turn and suddenly isn’t the favourite to win the hand anymore. He consequently checks and Mike, checks behind as he has some showdown value now.
The river is an absolute blank and Francisco checks over to Mike for a third time. After getting called on the flop, Nia might think that he has to bet in order to win the hand and that is what he does. However, now Francisco springs the trap by check-raising All-In. A very nice, but polarizing play, as it basically limits his range to a flopped flush or a bluff.
The problem is Mike has only $4,500 behind and gets very favourable pot odds or 3.2 to 1 on a call, which means he only has to be right every fourth time.
This is most likely also the reason why Mike makes the call here as there is a chance that Francisco is bluffing with for example Asx for the missed flush draw, especially since he checked all streets and hasn’t shown any aggression yet.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Amazing Call by Mike Nia, but a series of mistakes by his opponent lead to his correct decision.
First of all you should make a continuation bet as preflop aggressor, when you pick up a monster draw on the flop and in this case it would have ended the hand right there.
Secondly, as great of a play as the check-raise bluff on the river is, you should always have a look at the stack size and pot odds you are giving your opponent. When you offer 3.2 to 1 like Francisco did you are running a high risk to get called.
Last but not least, checking all streets as the preflop aggressor is in most cases a bluff as you would build the pot on the flop or turn with a really strong hand.
Mike is a very experienced live player and knows all of this. That’s how he is able to make this fantastic call in the end.
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