Strategy Snapshot: Sung Stung for $176k

The big pots seem to be gravitating toward the Omaha tables so today we bring you a pivotal Omaha hand between Brian Hastings and Steve Sung.

(Hand history from PL.com MarketPulse Biggest Pots section.)

Players: Brian Hastings and Steve Sung

Game: $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha, Cash, Full Tilt Poker

Stack Sizes: Steve Sung $176,831; Brian Hastings $233,327

The Setup

The game is playing four-handed, with two players sitting out. Sung raises the pot to $1,200 and Brian Hastings makes a three-bet to $4,000.

The button and the blinds fold but Sung makes the call and they are heads-up to a K 7 J flop. Sung checks and Hastings bets $6,800. Sung check-raises to $28,800, but Hastings puts in another raise to $94,800.

Sung lets his time run down before eventually calling. The turn brings the 5 and Sung bets $78,031 all-in. Hastings makes the call and turns up 5 J 3 J; his set of jacks is ahead of Sung's huge 3 8 T 6 draw.

The river blanks out 3 and Brian Hastings is shipped the massive $354,060 pot.

The Breakdown

Because the game is so short-handed, Sung elects to steal the blinds with his 3 8 T 6. This hand is not a great hand but it serves its function as a steal hand. It has two two-gap connectors and one set of suited cards.

Hastings, who knows Sung is likely stealing, makes a three-bet to $4,000 with his 5 J 3 J. This hand is much stronger than Sung's and is a pretty good one four-handed. In a full ring game this hand would lose much of its value but in this spot it's good for a three-bet.

Sung makes a bit of a questionable call. He will be playing out of position with a hand that is fairly weak. He may have chosen to play the hand because they were both 300+ BBs deep.

Steve Sung.

Heads-up to the flop. K 7 J gives Sung a gut-shot straight draw as well as a flush draw for a total of 12 outs. He checks and Hastings bets $6,800 with his set of jacks; Sung now check-raises to $28,800.

Sung likely thought Hastings was on a resteal and that his check-raise would be a semi-bluff that would take the pot down immediately.

Unfortunately for him Hastings reraises to $94,800. Sung with his robust draw decides to peel one card off and calls.

The turn brings the 5, which gives him an additional three outs, bringing his outs to a grand total of 15. At this point Sung feels his hand is far too strong to fold so he elects to shove for his last $78,031.

This bet is good because he would likely check and call anyway, so by betting he does gain the fold equity. Remember, kids - if you are going to call a bet, you're generally better off betting it yourself.

Hastings, whose set of jacks still stacks up very well on this board, gets to make a fairly easy call, given that Sung's range consists of mainly draws or smaller sets.

Hastings is likely holding his breath as the river falls, though. Luckily for him, it bricks, and the massive $354,060 pot and prestigious largest-pot-of-the-month honors are now his.

To see more hand histories from their latest session and more of the Top 100 biggest pots online over the last day, week and month, jump to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

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