Strategy Snapshot: Throwing Money Away

This snapshot comes to us via the $1,000/$2,000 Hold'em tables at Full Tilt. The combatants: Legendary Frenchman David Benyamine and Matt "Hoss_TBF" Hawrilenko.

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

Players: David Benyamine and Matt "Hoss_TBF" Hawrilenko

Game: $1,000/$2,000 Limit Hold'em, Full Tilt Poker

Stack Sizes: Benyamine $44,995; Hoss_TBF $44,995

The Setup

David Benyamine raises to $2,000 in the small blind/button. Hoss_TBF makes the call and the flop comes 5 6 Q.

Hoss checks and David bets $1,000. Hoss check-raises to $2,000 and Benyamine three-bets to $3,000. Hoss caps the flop at $4,000.

The turn comes Q. Hoss continues his aggression by betting $2,000. Benyamine chooses to flat-call the turn. The river brings the Q, putting three queens on the board. Hoss bets $2,000, Benyamine raises to $4,000, and Hoss three-bets to $6,000.

Benyamine calls. Hoss tables 7 8 for the busted straight and Benyamine shows the K K for the full house - queens full of kings - which is good for the $27,999.50 pot.

The Breakdown

Benyamine raises the button with K K. In Limit, the button is just as important as in No-Limit. However, that said, you can't raise any two cards profitably like you can in No-Limit.

Obviously KK is still way ahead of your average button-raise range. Hoss_TBF makes the call with his 7 8. An offsuit connector is more than enough to make the call here.

Matt Hawrilenko: Not many know him outside of the poker world, but he's widely considered one of the toughest Limit players online.

In the BB you get 3-1 on any call. You are not a 3-1 dog to pretty much anything. A connector is a great hand to defend with.

The flop comes down 5 6 Q. Hoss, who flops an open-ender, checks. Benyamine bets $1,000 with his overpair and Hoss check-raises to $2,000.

This is a strong way to play his draw. He knows if Benyamine is weak he will have to fold to continued pressure. It is also a semi-bluff as well as a pot sweetener, building the pot for himself if he hits his straight.

Benyamine, however, has an overpair, and three-bets to $3,000. The three-bet here of course is still very very standard. Hoss decides to cap with his open-ender. Benyamine can only call the cap.

The turn is the Q, pairing the top card. Hoss bets $2,000 and Benyamine elects to just call. This card is a bad card for Benyamine. It pairs the top card against an opponent who has been showing quite a bit of strength. Usually that means it's a top-pair-type hand (that would have just made trips).

Hoss' range obviously does not just include hands with a queen in them. It also includes 5-6-type hands and a ton of draws. Which is why it confuses me that Benyamine just calls the turn. I like a three-bet here a good portion of the time.

Benyamine may have been trying to trap by making his hand seem weaker than it is. In any case, he just calls.

The river brings the Q. Hoss, who knows now that he can only win the pot by bluffing, bets out $2,000. Benyamine, who now has the third nuts behind a queen and pocket aces, raises to $4,000.

Benyamine: all smiles when he's full up.

Hoss, still aggressive, three-bets with his eight-high. This bluff I do not like all that much. Benyamine has called a number of raises and is very rarely going to fold on the river, getting better than 10-1 even with ace-high.

Hoss may feel that since Benyamine flat-called the turn, his hand wasn't very strong. Benyamine does, however, decide to just call - a play I don't really like. I believe you should almost always four-bet for value here.

There are so many hands that pay you off that it's pretty much throwing money away to just smooth-call. He may have read Hoss for a queen, but that would be such a specific read that it really makes no sense.

The third queen falling also makes it even more unlikely Hoss has a queen. At worst, even if he does, it only costs one big bet. The times he would have the queen there are so rare that in the long term, if he bets that river every time, he'll be a huge winner.

All in all, an interesting hand from a game that is often forgotten: min-bet Hold'em.

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

More Strategy Snapshots:

• Strategy Snapshot: Play Scared; Get Bluffed
• Strategy Snapshot: The Ego Has Landed
• Strategy Snapshot: Of Draws and Monsters
• Strategy Snapshot: Love For the Open-Shove