Strategy Snapshot: Armed and Dwangerous

He takes a high-stakes savaging by trex313 in this pot - for $440k no less - but Tom "durrrr" Dwan shows exactly why he's such a dangerous player in this edition of the Snapshot.

Players:

Seat 1 Tom "durrrr" Dwan ($213,412.50)
Seat 2 Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton ($153,161.50)
Seat 3 Patrik Antonius ($142,785)
Seat 4 Hac "trex313" Dang ($449,411)
Seat 5 Gus Hansen ($124,549)
Seat 6 elmariachimacho ($50,497)

Game: $500/$1,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em, RailHeaven, Full Tilt Poker

The Setup

It's folded around to Hac "trex313" Dang, who raises to $3,000 from the cut-off. Gus Hansen folds on the button and elmariachimacho calls from the small blind. durrrr three-bets the pot to $14,600 and both players call.

The flop comes 7 2 7 and elmariachimacho checks; durrrr bets $27,800. Dang calls and elmariachimacho folds.

The turn brings the A and durrrr fires $47,600. Dang tanks before calling.

The river comes 5 and durrrr moves all-in for $123,412. Dang makes the call.

durrrr turns over K J for a stone-cold bluff and Dang shows A Q for two pair, aces and sevens, with a queen kicker - which turns out to be overkill for the $441,422 pot.

(Watch the action in the PL.com MarketPulse Hand Replayer here).

The Breakdown

The hand starts out folding around to Dang, who raises to $3,000 out of the cut-off with A Q. A huge ace like this is a great hand from late position in a six-max game.

Missing not a deterrent to three barrels.

elmariachimacho flat-calls from the small blind with an unknown hand. elmariachimacho is the "live one" in this game and could be calling with a fairly wide range, even from out of position.

durrrr three-bet squeezes from the big blind with K J. I really like this play. He knows that Dang could be raising light from late position and he three-bets, hoping to see Dang fold and elmariachimacho call.

That way he'd fold out the other good player and leave himself heads-up in position against the fish.

Unfortunately for durrrr it doesn't quite work out that way. Dang makes the call because, well, he has A Q and there is no way he is not seeing a flop. elmariachimacho makes the call too, likely drawn in by the attractive pot odds.

The flop comes 7 2 7 and elmariachimacho checks. durrrr bets $27,800. durrrr misses, but the flop itself is ugly. It is very unlikely that his opponents hit anything on this flop either, so he hopes to take it down with a continuation bet on the flop.

Dang makes the call in position. He may be planning to float durrrr on the turn if he checks, or he may genuinely (and correctly) believe that his ace-high is still good. elmariachimacho folds.

The turn is the A and durrrr fires a second barrel to $47,600. Any six-max player will tell you that when you have the lead and are just called on the flop, an ace on the turn makes for an excellent second-barrel card. That's because so much of your perceived range contains aces.

Dang, of course, is the one who has the ace, and with a good kicker, so he makes the call. Raising does nothing in this spot. It is a way ahead, way behind situation.

Either durrrr has a monster, in which case he is already losing, or he has a bluff or a hand smaller than aces, in which case he has very few outs to improve.

In either case raising accomplishes nothing. And in the latter situation, if his opponent were bluffing, then the call would allow durrrr to keep bluffing.

The river brings the meaningless 5. durrrr tanks and shoves all-in for $123,412. Although this play looks spewy to a mere mortal, it is in fact pretty sound.

If you look at Dang's range, the bulk of it is made up of hands that cannot call here - hands like mid pocket pairs. All of these hands would call the flop and all of these hands would likely call the turn as well.

That is because Dang knows that durrrr knows that the ace is a good barrel card. Thus he wouldn't just call the flop with his pocket pair and then fold the ace turn. He would call both because durrrr would fire that turn with aproximately 120% of his range.

Undwanted.

Any of these mid pocket pairs would almost always fold to the river shove, barring some godlike read. Also, there is a chance that Dang folds some of his weaker aces, so durrrr's shove has excellent fold equity against Dang's entire range.

Dang, however, is at the very top of his range here with top pair, second-best kicker. He still does not have an easy call, but he adds up the actions in his head and decides his hand is too strong to fold. He makes the call and finds himself $441,442 richer after catching durrrr on a sick bluff.

All in all, an extremely interesting hand from RailHeaven. I honestly think it was played well by both players and durrrr was just unlucky to find Dang at the very top of his range.

Also, this pot really shows why durrrr is such a dangerous player. He has no fear. He will take his read and he will go with it regardless of how much money is in play.

That is something I really respect. GG.

To see more pots from the latest RailHeaven sessions, or more of the Top 100 biggest pots online over the last day, week, month and year, jump to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

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More Strategy Snapshots:

• Strategy Snapshot: Mr. B Gets Clowned
• Strategy Snapshot: Much to durrrr's Dismay
• Strategy Snapshot: Déjà vu All Over Again
• Strategy Snapshot: PA Sentenced to the Cooler