Setup of the Poker Hand of the Week
This hand comes from the €2,000/€4,000 Triton Poker Montenegro NLH Cash Game, which was the biggest televised cash game of 2019 and had a stellar lineup including LLinusLLove, Ike Haxton, Dan “Jungleman” Cates and Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov.
Our two protaganists are poker legend Tony G and high stakes crusher Mikita “fish2013” Badziakouski.
As this was the last hand of the session, both are very deep at this point with effective stacks of 250 big blinds.
View our analysis of one of the best calls in recent history below!
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Preflop Action:
Mikita straddles to €8,000 and Tony raises with K♦9♠ to €22,000 from the small blind, Ike Haxton calls from the big with J♦T♠ and Badziakouski defends his straddle with Q♣7♠. Potsize: €70,000
Flop:
The flop of dealer lays J♠K♥7♣ is very interesting as it hits all three players.
Tony has the best hand and fires €20,000. Isaac Haxton calls with middle pair and so does “fish2013” with bottom pair. Pot size: €130,000
Turn:
The turn 2♦ is as blank as it gets and changes nothing. Consequently, Tony G fires again this time €70,000, which is almost 60% Pot. Haxton folds, but Badzakouski surprisingly stays around with his bottom pair with the plan to take the pot away on the river. Pot size: €270,000
River:
The River 8♦ doesn’t complete any draws and Tony decides to make a value bet of €120,000 with his top pair mediocre kicker. Now this is, where things get interesting, as Mikita now makes a play at the pot by making a large raise to €400,000.
Badziakouski is trying to represent a set or a random two pair, but the problem is there are not too many combinations that make sense.
With Pocket Jacks and Pocket Kings he would have most likely have reraised preflop in a 3-way pot. This leaves basically only Pocket Sevens and K-J as valid possibilities, but there is a high likelihood that Mikita would have either raised the flop or turn with those hands making them more implausible.
Since Tony has a King himself and Haxton called on the flop, with either a Jack or a Seven, the probability that Mikita holds a better two pair becomes significantly less likely.
The story Badziakouski is telling doesn’t make much sense and there are hardly any combos that beat Tony G, that’s why he is able to quickly put the puzzle together and basically insta-calls.
What at first glance looks like an insane hero call, turns into a much easier decision, when you analyze the hand thoroughly as Badziakouski is not repping much and the story he is telling just doesn’t adds up.
Watch the Poker Hand of the Week here from 4:28 on:
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