Poker Hand of the Week Setup
Our Poker Hand of the Week was played at the massive £3,000/£6,000/£6,000 (NL$6,000/$12,000) Triton Poker London Cash Game Episode 4.
The action-packed lineup is the perfect mix of high rollers like Tom Dwan and Elton Tsang and rich Chinese businessmen such as Quiang Wiang, who love to gamble.
All players, know each other’s game pretty well as they are regulars at Triton Poker and the Big Game in Macau. As background information, Tom Dwan couldn’t get anything going so far and is down approximately £150,000 ($185,000), while Wai King Yong is up a decent bunch.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop Action:
Tom “durrrr” Dwan raises to £19,000 with J♣T♣ on the button, which is a standard open.
Wai Kin Yong finds 7♣7♠ in the big blind and has two options here: Calling or activelv defending his big blind by 3-betting, which is also a reasonable option especially against loose-aggressive players like Dwan, who will raise from the button with a very wide range. Wai Kin decides in favor of a call. Pot size: £47,000
Flop:
The flop 6♣8♣2♦ is pretty good for Yong, while Dwan wiffs. Nevertheless, Tom has some backdoors and overcards and makes a continuation bet of £29,000, which Wai Kin quickly calls. Pot size: Pot size: £100,000
Turn:
On the 2♦ turn the board pairs. This is a pretty bad card for Tom Dwan as it doesn’t changes anything and he doesn’t pick up equity.
On the contrary, it is a really good card for Wai Kin Yong as the board didn’t change and if he believes his hand was good on the flop, there is a high chance that it still will be.
However, Dwan surprisingly fires a large second barrel of 3/4 pot by betting £75,000 into £100,000. Wai Kin calls again. Pot size: £245,000
River:
The river 9♣ now brings in several draws as the flush gets there as well as straight draws with 7-5 and 10-7. However, Yong has the perfect blockers with his Pocket Sevens, so he can basically discount all straights.
Tom can only win the hand by moving All-In and that is what he does. The problem is he only has a little bit more than half pot behind with £147,000, which gives Wai Kin very attractive pot odds of almost 3 to 1.
Yong goes into the tank and after a little bit more than a minute he slams a chip on the table signalising a call. Tom looks disgusted and very suprised, when he sees Yong’s hand, stands up and leaves the table.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
This hand is the perfect example of how important are dynamics at a cash game table. On the one hand, Tom couldn’t get anything going the entire session. He is down half a buy-in and also seemed to force it a bit as he already had been showing a bluff not long before this hand.
On the other hand, Wai Kin Yong is playing well and running great and already up £216,000.
Let’s go to the hand street by street. Preflop is standard and although Yong could have made a 3-bet against an aggressive player like Tom Dwan a call is totally fine.
The flop is also pretty standard as the initial raiser continues the aggression on a flop, where he has several backdoors and two overcards. Nevertheless, the flop is obviously much better for Wai Kin’s pair of sevens and he can’t fold here.
The decisive point in this hand is the turn, where Dwan makes two slight mistakes. He already got the information that Wai Kin has something, most likely a pair. When the board pairs and its structure doesn’t change, it is very unlikely that Tom will get top or middle pairs to fold.
In addition to that, the bet size is very supotimal. Dwan bets £75,000 into £100,000 leaving him only a liitle bit more than half pot behind. Tom is basically committing himself here on the turn and hardly leaves himself fold equity for the river in case he doesn’t hits.
By flatting the flop and turn, Wai Kin leaves all of Dwan’s Bluffs in and as the board structure doesn’t change on the turn, there is no reason for him not to believe that his pair of sevens is a scarecard.
The river is a scarecard, but the big problem is that dwan has only half the potsize left behind giving Wai Kin very favorable pot odds of 4 to 1. That means, Yong’s call only has to be correct every forth time to be profitable in the long run.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Would Dwan have had around potsize or more left, than he could have made a potsize or overbet putting a lot of pressure on Wai Kin, but as played and when calling the flop and turn and getting pot odds of 3 to 1, while blocking all the straight draws, this is a call although it is by no means an easy one.
What’s more is that the dynamics on the table and the fact that Dwan was stuck a lot and seemed to push to hard or even tilt a bit clearly favored a bluff in this spot.
Well played Wai Kin Yong, good call!
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Watch the Poker Hand of the Week here from 43:43 on:
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