In our Poker Hand of the Week, we are analyzing the most interesting hand from High Stakes Poker Season 9 Episode 2 between poker legends Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
This hand was played in the second episode of the brand-new High Stakes Poker Season which features Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Doyle Brunson, and many other poker superstars.
Phil Ivey has been quiet and played very tight so far, while DNegs already won a huge pot vs. Tom Dwan shortly before and got a sick bluff through against Kim Hultman. Daniel has Ivey clearly covered at the start of the hand.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Phil Ivey open-raises UTG to $1,200 holding Q♦10♦, Doyle Brunson calls from the Hijack with A♦7♦ and DNegs completes from the big blind with 6♠6♣. Pot Size: $4,200
Flop:
3-way to the very interesting flop of 5♥K♦5♦. Both Phil and Doyle flop a strong flush draw, but Brunson is drawing to the Nuts. DNegs has Two Pair.
Ivey makes a $2,500 continuation bet, Doyle just calls and Daniel reads the action as weakness and 3-bets to $7,500. Ivey calls and Doyle Brunson, who actually has the best hand with 42% odds, folds the nut flush draw. No idea why as he has to call here. Pot Size: $21,700
Turn:
Heads-up to a J♠ turn, which gives Phil Ivey even more equity adding an open-ended straight draw to his flush draw. Now it’s basically a coinflip. (DNegs 55% vs. Ivey 45% to win the hand).
Ivey checks and DNegs fires a $12,500 (58% pot) second barrel. Phil has two options here raise or call and decides to just call. Pot Size: $46,700
River:
On the 8♦ river the flush comes in. Phil Ivey sets the trap by checking and Daniel Negreanu falls right into it. Although the flush comes in and DNegs does have some showdown value, he decides to go for the third barrel.
He chooses a value bet like $36,000 sizing (77% pot) and gets called relatively quickly. Phil Ivey wins the maximum and collects a nice $118,700 pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Let’s take an in-depth look what happened here. go through this hand step by step. Preflop is absolute standard and there is not much to say about it.
As is Ivey’s cbet with the flush draw and Brunson’s call. DNegs now makes a very interesting raise with bottom Two Pair sensing weakness from his opponents and aiming to take the pot down right here. Ivey calls and Doyle makes an absolutely incomprehensible fold on the flop with the nut flush draw.
On the turn, Phil Ivey adds an Open-Ender and checks. Daniel can bet or check here and a check behind is in my opinion the better option, since he has Showdown Value and can control the size of the pot. Negreanu does however fire a second barrel to which Ivey can’t fold with his monster draw.
On the river the flush hits and Phil Ivey has an easy check-call. You don’t want to lead here, because if you get raised, you are most likely up against a Full House.
Daniel should check behind here, but continues to tell his story from the full house, which costs him $36,000, since Ivey has to call here.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Poker can be so easy, when you know your opponent as well as Phil Ivey knows Daniel Negreanu. Knowing your opponent’s tendencies and having reads is essential in live cash games.
Ivey and Negreanu have heaps of history and know each other’s game pretty well. In this spot, Ivey clearly outplays DNegs though, who should have checked behind on the turn and river, to control the size of the pot, which would have easily saved him $48,500.
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