In the wake of the 2014 World Series of Poker, the high rollers have begun to flock back to online poker.
This past week a famous name who battled on the highest levels two years ago might have celebrated a comeback.
“Atha Cliath” (“Dublin” in the Gaelic language), reported to be Irish player Andrew Grimason (who may or may not have been “Eire Abu"), fought his way to the top and won the biggest pot of the week.
The Hand
The table is a $300/$600 Mixed Game and next to Atha Cliath are sitting Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz, Alex "alexonmoon" Luneau and Chun Lei "samrostan" Zhou.
The game is Pot Limit Omaha and the effective stacks of the players involved – punting-peddler and Atha Cliath - are 194 BB, equal to roughly $116.000.
It's a dream flop for Atha Cliath, who may or may not be Andrew Grimason.
From the cut-off punting-peddler raises to $1,800 but Atha Cliath re-pops it to $4,200 with
Both blinds fold but punting-peddler calls. There's now $9,300 in the pot and the flop falls
A check from punting-peddler, Atha Cliath bets out $3,400 and punting-peddler calls. There's now $16,100 in the pot. The turn is the
Another check from punting-peddler but then he responds to Atha Cliath’s bet of $11,300 with a check-raise to $36,600. Atha Cliath calls and the pot has now grown to $89,300. The river is the
Now punting-peddler moves in with his last $72,300. Atha Cliath calls with a full house and owns the punting-peddler’s total bluff with
Hand Analysis
Pre-flop both players are taking a pretty standard approach as they are both playing very deep stacks.
Punting-peddler's A♦ 5♥ 5♣ 4♦ has the potential to flop a set and a nut-flush draw. He’s in position and raises.Get $88 Free No Deposit!
Behind him Atha Cliath comes in with another raise with his J♥ T♣ T♥ 7♠ – not a terrific hand, but well sorted. He also has position, which is an amazing advantage when you play deep-stacked.
Luck of the Irish: Atha Cliath flops the world. It’s not actually the nuts, but the chance of his opponents holding the other two threes are extremely slim.
It's important here that there are a lot of high pairs, Broadway connectors and double-suited cards in Atha Cliath’s range. Pocket tens are on the low edge of this range, which is why his monster is hidden very well.
When punting-peddler calls Atha Cliath’s small bet without position and without a good draw, he's preparing himself for a disaster that’s going to cost him all his chips.
The 2♠ on the turn gives punting-peddler a wrap draw - he now needs an ace, four, five, or six for a straight. If he hadn’t been given that card (after which he is really drawing dead), he would probably just have given up.
However, after Atha Cliath’s second bet, he sees an additional chance to win and check-raises Atha Cliath’s bet with a semi-bluff. He is now representing trips or a full house, and he hopes to hit the supposedly winning card on the river.
It's a Dream
It’s a dream for Atha Cliath. He’s holding a huge hand and his opponent is building up the pot so high they can go all-in on the river. The river is a blank and punting-peddler decides to go with plan B, the big bluff.
With pot odds of 2.23 to 1, Atha Cliath would have had a hard time folding even a weaker hand but with the second nuts it’s an easy call.
