Casino Owner Blows $630,800 Poker Hand (Review)

You know that adrenaline rush when you hit a big pot in a poker game?

Some people don’t even feel that when playing for $10,000, $20,000, or $40,000.

No, for these sick people to feel a real rush, they need to gamble enough money to buy a house.

Let’s look at one of the house level hands now. This is from the show “No Gamble, No Future” produced and broadcast by Xgtiger Casino.

Blinds are $200/$400 with an $800 straddle and double straddle up to $1,600. There is also a $400 big blind ante.

Effective stacks are around $300,000.

Without any further ado, let’s jump into the action here at Xgtiger Casino!

Preflop Action

Casino owner Eric Persson closed on the Button with K♥ 3♥. Chugh over-limped with 8♠ 4♥ from the Small Blind. Alan Keating raises to $11,600 with A♣ Q♠ from the Big Blind. Hanks called from second straddle with J♣ 8♣ . Persson calls. Chugh is calling.

Preflop Analysis

Persson kicks this one by piling with a hand strong enough to raise. Personally — pun intended — I would never be crippled in this situation. There’s an ante in play, but it’s only $400, so it’s not juicy enough to justify a lame 4-player range to move behind.

Chugh should fold from the Small Blind with 84-offsuit and 3 players left to make a move behind him. It’s hard to say exactly what hands he should play here, but it’s safe to say that he should raise Persson’s limp with a strong range, made up of the top ~15-20% of hands. This way he can maximize some fold equity and also increase the size of the pot.

Keating makes the best play here by raising with Ace-Queen offsuit in limpers. He should be raising with roughly the same range that Chugh should be raising. His raised size is also good.

Hanks calls the J8-suited too loose. He just won’t win enough times to justify the call with the odds he’s getting. He must reraise most or all of the hands in which he continues. Hands worth playing here include 99+, AQo+, ATs+, KTs+, and A5s–A4s.

Persson’s call with K3-suited and Chugh’s call with 84-offsuit were too loose, but both decided to call. Let’s see three!

Flop Action

The poker flop comes K♣ 9♣ 3♣. The pot is $47,600.

Chugh (8♠ 4♥) checks. Keating (A♣ Q♠) c-bets $20,000. Hanks (J♣ 8♣) calls. Persson (K♥ 3♥) calls. Chugh folds.

Flop Analysis

Chugh’s check is fine. His hand is gone forever.

Keating was probably checking his entire range because he was out of position against 2 players on a monotone board. This type of board usually favors callers because they tend to have more suitable hands in their range, and thus they are more likely to have flushes.

That said, if Keating wants to have a betting range, his nut flush draw is a good candidate because he can improve on nuts often. However, his size is probably too big because there are so many players involved. A smaller bet such as $12,000 will force about the same amount of folds for a smaller risk.

Hanks can call or raise on his flopped flush; both decisions seem good. Calling works a little better in practice because you can induce additional calls behind you with hands like two pairs and pair+flush draws, whereas those hands can hit the mud if you raise.

Persson has a tough decision to make here. On the one hand, he has a strong hand in absolute terms (two pairs). On the other hand, unless he improves to a full house, his hand is a pure bluff-catcher in many runouts. I can’t blame him for calling the flop, but he should proceed with caution – this is a certain area for two pair.

Turn Action

The turn was the A♦, making the board (K♣ 9♣ 3♣) A♦. The pot is $107,600.

Keating (A♣ Q♠) checks. Hanks (J♣ 8♣) checks. Persson (K♥ 3♥) bet $35,000. Keating calls. Hanks is raising $115,000. Persson immediately reraised all-in to $244,000. Keating folded his arms.

Turn Analysis

The turn doesn’t change the board much. Keating now has little showdown value with his top pair. The review has the most important meaning for several reasons:

• He can see the river card for free if the players behind also check
• He does not risk being raised from his equity

Hanks did a very good job of checking and in a sense “limiting” his scope. His action prompts Persson to bet K♥ 3♥. Great game from Hanks!

Persson’s bet was very good. He is looking to gain value, and rightly so because his opponent’s actions indicate that he is likely to be ahead of both players.

But faced with Hanks’ rise, Persson’s resurgence is likely a massive -EV (expected value) punt. If either player has a nut flush draw, they are more likely to check-call than check-raise. Therefore, when he gets a check, he will almost certainly be up against a slow played flush.

It’s a tough spot when you’re playing in the air, with houses on the line.

River and Results

Hanks snap-calls. The river 8♥ didn’t hit Persson and Hanks took home the $630,800 pot.

Persson rose from his seat when Hanks called, watched the river fall, and he was out, opting to book the loss.

What did you think of the play in this hand?

Let me know in the comments.

A wild game indeed.

There were some obvious mistakes made in this hand, and this time, they were punished. That said, it won’t always be that way. Online poker is all about tipping the odds slightly in your favor and making money in the long run.

That’s it for this breakdown! If you want me to check it out another hand, feel free to suggest one below!

Until next time, good luck, grinders!

Conclusion

Are you an avid gaming fan and want to know how to bet on online casino games? At Xgtiger, you’ll get the latest information on this year’s best casino games and a variety of gaming options, all in one place.

To start your online gambling journey, all you need to do is create an account on the site, deposit funds and you’ll be ready to bet on the best and most anticipated casino games.

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