In our Poker Hand of the Week we analyze the worst fold of all time by Nick Vertucci having the Nut Straight and Nut Flush Draw vs. Dark Night at Hustler Casino Live.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
The controversial hand was played at the $25/$25 table at Hustler Casino Live, which featured Nick Vertucci, Francisco, Big John, Mike X and Dark Night among others.
The blinds are $25/$25 with a $25 big blind ante and Dark Night has Nick Vertucci covered at the start of our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Big John limps UTG with A♥8♣ to $500, Dark Night calls from UTG+2 with 3♥3♦. Nick Vertucci raises to $500 from the Hijack with A♣K♠ and gets four callers including Mike X with J♠9♣. Pot Size: $2,575
Flop:
5-way to an action flop of Q♣6♣10♠. Nick has two overcards and a gutshot, wbile Mike X flops an Open-Ended Straight Draw. The rest whiffs.
It checks to Dark Night, who takes a surprising $2,000 stab at the pot with Pocket Threes and Nick and Mike X both call. Pot Size: $8,575
Turn:
The J♣ on the turn is a great card for Nick Vertucci as it not only gives him the Nut Straight, but also the redraw to the Nut Flush.
Dark Night checks and Nick makes a $4,400 value bet. Mike X folds, but Dark Night comes back over the top by check-raising to $15,000.
Nick nods his head and for whatever reason goes into the tank for about 70 seconds before announcing “Fold” causing a “Wait. What?” from the commentator.
As insult to injury, Dark Night immediately shows him the bluff and Nick sinks into his chair realizing that he just made the worst fold of his poker career, while Dark Night wins a $27,975 pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
We will try to find out what happened here and why Nick folded his hand, although it won’t be easy to find an explanation for this.
Preflop is absolutely standard. Vertucci has an easy raise from the Hijack with AKo after two limpers in front of him. Once Mike X calls right behind him the rest of the table gets extremely favourable pot odds to call and so we end up going 5-way to the flop.
The flop is a special one as almost everybody whiffs except for Mike X, who picks up an OESD. Preflop raiser Nick Vertucci also has decent equity with a gutshot to the Nut Straight and two overs. However, it is Dark Night, who still has the best hand with Pocket Threes and 44% equity.
He can’t know that of course, but when it checks to him he decides to take a stab. Mike X and Nick are going nowhere though.
The Jack on the turn is a dream card for Nick Vertucci giving him the Nut Straight plus the Nut Flush Draw, it does however complete the flush. Dark Night now checks and Nick bets a little bit more than half pot.
Mike X makes a good fold, but Dark Night check-raises large to 3.4x. Nick nods his head several times before he starts going deep into the tank.
You are correctly asking yourself now: What is he thinking about for so long? As his hand obviously is way too strong to fold, but Vertucci disagrees and decides to lay down a monster, which as you can see is a terrible decision, since he is a …%favourite.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Long story short, this is the Worst Fold I have ever seen. You could argue now that Nick misread his hand, but this is very unlikely, since he bet the turn, when he made a straight.
The check-raise on the turn on a draw-heavy board is a strong line by Dark Night, as he is representing a flush, but he is also polarized to a flush or nothing.
Even if Dark Night has turned a flush, Nick Vertucci’s hand is still way too strong to fold as he has the redraw to the Nut Flush.
That means he always has outs in case he is behind and at the same time beats all of Dark Night’s bluffs and semi-bluffs, which makes the fold even worse.
What were you thinking Nick?
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