Strategy Snapshot: Mr. B Gets Clowned

Pyramid? Pyramind? Pyrinnaid? Whatever David Benyamine's girlfriend called him, Jay Rosenkrantz gets the last laugh in this edition of the Snapshot.

Players: Jay "pr1nnyraid" Rosenkrantz vs. David Benyamine

Game: $300/$600 No-Limit Hold'em, Heads-Up, Full Tilt Poker

Stack Sizes:

David Benyamine ($121,052.60)
pr1nnyraid ($117,899)

The Setup

Krantz gets his wish to play Benyamine heads-up in this $300/$600 battle just a day after Mr. B's girlfriend, Erica Schoenberg, called him out in her PokerRoad blog. Krantz issued an open challenge in reply on his blog and bam! - this game happens.

To the big hand: Krantz has the button and raises to $1,800 from the small blind. Benyamine makes the call from out of position.

The flop comes 8 6 J. Benyamine checks and calls a $2,700 continuation bet from Krantz.

The turn comes 2 and Benyamine checks once again. This time Krantz fires $7,200 and Benyamine comes alive with a check-raise to $20,400. Krantz calls $13,200 more and the river comes 4.

Benyamine tanks on the river before firing $37,200. Krantz now ships it all-in for $92,999. Benyamine tanks once again before making the call.

Krantz flips over 5 7 for the straight and Benyamine mucks. Krantz gets shipped the $235,797 pot and a little vengeance for getting called an ass-clown by "Mrs. B."

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

The Breakdown

Krantz makes a raise off the button with 5 7 to $1,800. Deep stacks with position means Krantz can raise pretty much everything off the button profitably.

Benyamine flat-calls from the big blind for $1,200 more. His hand range is very wide here, as he likes to play a lot of hands pre-flop.

The flop comes 8 6 J and Benyamine checks; Krantz bets $2,700 with his open-ender. Krantz would be betting in this spot with a very wide range. A strong draw like an open-ender or a flush is worth a bet here about 99.999% of the time.

Benyamine calls again on the flop with his unknown hand. At this point his range looks like any pair, gut-shots, and slow-played sets.

The turn comes 2 and Benyamine checks. Krantz fires a second barrel of $7,200 with his open-ender. He likely puts Benyamine on a weak pair or a weak straight draw, and figures this second barrel will get a fold.

Benyamine, however, check-raises to $20,400. This is a sign that he has a pretty good hand. We can now narrow his range down to good jacks, two pairs, sets and the occasional crazy bluff.

Krantz makes the call. He has to call $13,200 more into a $36,600 pot. Getting 3-1 odds with plenty more to bet on the river makes this an easy call.

David has shown a ton of strength, but should Krantz hit his straight he is almost guaranteed to get paid since the draw is so hidden. So he makes the call.

Benyamine: Gets ginned here, but will likely recover.

The river is the 4. Benyamine fires $37,200. Benyamine almost surely has a pretty good hand here. Likely a set or two pair or A-J at very worst.

Krantz hits his gin card, giving him the nut straight, and he shoves all-in for $92,999. Benyamine makes the call only to find that his hand is no good in a $235,797 pot.

All in all, a pretty interesting hand from another great nosebleed session. Krantz gets to find out what it's like to run like Benyamine and Benyamine gets to figure out what it's like to run like everyone else! GG.

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

To rail any of the action, or try out some short-handed poker yourself, hit up Full Tilt Poker here and take advantage of PL.com's exclusive freerolls.

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