Loading...Strategy Snapshot: Destined to Go Broke
Published by: Daniel Skolovy
Posted In: The Poker Reporter Blog, Strategy Snapshots
His opponent was ultimately destined to go broke in the hand, but online superstar Isaac Baron still manages to maximize his equity the whole way in this edition of the snapshot.Players: Isaac Baron vs. hatzic
Game: $200/$400 No-Limit Hold'em, Six-max, Full Tilt Poker
Stack Sizes:
Seat 1: hatzic ($84,594)
Seat 2: Hac "trex313" Dang ($59,422)
Seat 3: SamH133 ($42,797)
Seat 4: David Benyamine ($209,430.50)
Seat 5: Isaac Baron ($82,391)
Seat 6: Eric Liu (0)
There is a dead button in seat #6
(Hand history and stats from MarketPulse Biggest Pots section.)
The Setup: The hand starts with two folds. Isaac Baron then raises from the button to $1,400. The button is actually on Eric Liu, but since he busted in the last hand, the button becomes dead and for all intents and purposes moves to Baron.
hatzic then immediately three-bets out of the small blind to $4,600. Hac Dang folds out of the big blind and Baron calls in position.
They take a flop heads-up of 5
6
Q. hatzic continuation-bets $7,200 and Baron flat calls.
The turn comes A
and hatzic tanks before firing a second, $24,000 barrel. Baron again smooth-calls hatzic's bet.
The river drops 4
and hatzic shoves all-in for $48,794. Baron snap-calls and shows A Q for top two pair. hatzic is left with a good, but second-best, two pair with A 5.
Baron finds himself the owner of a fresh $165,179 pot.
The Breakdown: Baron makes a standard raise from the button with A Q. This big ace is good for a raise in any position, even in a 10-handed game, so it is way ahead of his normal six-max raising range.
Baron: Wants to give hatzic the opportunity to bluff into him on all three streets.
hatzic three-bets from the small blind with A 5. This is more or less standard in an aggressive six-max game as well. Baron would be open-raising off the button in a shorthanded game very, very wide and a suited ace is well ahead of that range.
Ideally he would like to take the pot down pre-flop rather than play a pot out of position, although all is not lost should Baron call as he will still call pre-flop with worse hands.
The flop comes down 5 6 Q and hatzic fires a continuation-bet of $7,200 with his bottom pair. hatzic will be betting this flop with almost the whole range he three-bet with pre-flop.
Baron elects to flat-call in position with top pair top kicker despite the flush draw. He likely feels his hand is so far ahead of hatzic's range that a raise accomplishes nothing.
A raise would likely fold out any weaker hands and only keep in hands that beat him. Also he may be planning to spring a trap on the turn.
Note he doesn't raise with TPTK even though there is a flush draw on the board. This is because he has the A. Should a flush card fall on the turn he can still improve to a better flush on the river.
Thus a third flush card isn't as bad for him as it potentially could be if he didn't have the A.
The turn comes A. hatzic now fires $24,000. This bet you can guarantee is for value. In a button vs blind hand, two pair is a monster. Unfortunately for him, Baron also made two pair, but it is impossible for him to know that.
Baron again just chooses to flat-call. This is a great play. He has top two pair, a hand that is going to be good at showdown a very high percentage of the time.
He doesn't know that his opponent has also made two pair or else he would just raise and get it in right now. He wants to maximize his equity against his opponent should his hand be weak. He wants to give hatzic the opportunity to bluff into him on all three streets.
The A is an excellent card for hatzic to fire a second barrel at if he had actually been bluffing. Many players love ace turn cards after their continuation-bet fails to win the pot. The ace turn gives them another card to represent.
Baron knows this and would like to keep those second-barrel bluff hands in the pot so he again just flat-calls.
Baron: Proud owner of a fresh $165,179 pot.
The river comes 4 and hatzic has nothing left to do but shove all-in for $48,794. This hand is just a cooler for hatzic. He is not going to get away from two pair on this board ever. Just an unfortunate hand that he was meant to go broke on.
Baron of course calls with his top two pair on the river. This hand is a cooler but Baron played it extremely well.
It's a hand where once the cards are turned up it's obvious he is winning his opponents stack, but Baron maximized his equity against his opponent's entire range the whole hand. Meaning he would have made the most in this pot even if his opponent didn't have two pair.
A great hand, and he is rewarded with a $165,179 pot for his troubles.
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