In our Poker Hand of the Week we analyze the most interesting spot of the High Stakes Poker Live Stream, where Doug Polk gets check-raised for $150,000 on the river by Rob Yong.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
This spectacular hand was played on the High Stakes Poker live stream, which featured poker superstars Matt Berkey, Nik Airball, Jennifer Tilly, Andrew Robl, Eric Persson and Doug Polk among others.
There is a straddle to $800 is on and Rob Yong got Eric covered at the start of our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
K♦Q♥A♠K♣
Preflop:
There is a straddle to $800. JRB raises UTG to $4,000 with 7♥6♥ and Doug Polk 3-bets to $12,000 right behind him with J♥10♥.
Nik Airball calls on the button with 9♦9♣ and Rob Yong calls from the straddle with K♥Q♥ as does JRB. Pot Size: $53,100
Flop:
4-way to an interesting flop of 7♠10♣A♥, which has a little bit for everyone. It checks to the preflop raiser and Polk makes a rather small $17,000 continuation bet (32% pot) and only Yong is the only one that calls with the gutshot to the Nuts. Pot Size: $87,100
Turn:
Rob binks the Straight on the J♠ turn. He checks over to Doug, who checks behind with his turned Two Pair. Pot Size: $87,100
River:
The 3♦ on the river is a blank and Rob Yong checks again with the Nuts. Now Polk makes a $50,500 value bet (58% pot) and Yong quickly check-raises him $150,000 to $200K.
Doug Polk goes deep into the tank for 80 seconds, before flicking in the call just to see the bad news. Rob Yong wins a huge $487,100 pot with the Stone Cold Nuts.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Tough spot for Doug Polk. The question here is Call or Fold?
In order to be able to answer this question we need to go through the hand step by step. Preflop JRB opens with a loose UTG raise with 76s and Doug 3-bets with JTs, which is fine as the hand has a very good postflop playability in position. Airball and Rob Yong have a standard call with Pocket Nines and KQs and JRB can’t fold a Suited Connector regarding the great pot odds.
The flop is very interesting as it has a tiny bit for everybody, but no one hits it really hard. Doug has the best hand with middle pair and 42% equity, but Yong is not far behind with 33% even though he only has a gutshot.
On the flop, Polk makes a GTO continuation bet of 1/3 pot and only Rob Yong calls, while both JRB and Airball make a good fold.
Dream card on the turn for Rob as he turns the Stone Cold Nuts, while Doug improves to Two Pair. He checks and Polk thinks he is setting a trap by checking behind, while being way behind.
Blank on the river and Rob Yong makes another cheeky check with the Nuts to induce. A risky play, but it pays off as Polk now thinks that he has the best hand, which becomes evident by his value bet.
What Polk definitely didn’t want is getting check-raised for $150,000 on the river, but this is what happened.
Now Doug only beats a bluff as potential Straight Draws KQ and 98s got there and he also loses to a lot of possible Two Pair combos, while sets except for Pocket Sevens are rather unlikely.
The only bluffs Yong has here are busted flush draws and there are not many that make sense except for AsXs. However, Doug Polk makes the call just to get shown the bad news and Rob Yong wins a huge $487K pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
To answer the initial question Call or Fold, we have to consider that it was a 4-way pot as well as the line Yong took Call Flop, Check Turn, Check-Raise River.
Rob Yong has very few bluffs here and is very high up in his range. With the middle Two Pair, you don’t beat anything check-raising for value here not even Ace-x.
So a fold would have been the better option, but it is very close.
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