Here’s a very interesting hand from the FTOPS online tournament with Mike Matusow vs an amature player. The amature player makes a 4-5x bb raise from mid posiiton preflop. Mike Matusow simply calls on the BB with AQ diamonds. The flop looks quite benign with 7d4d4s. Mike Matusow is first to act, out of position after the flop, and dives all in on his flush draw and 2 overcards. Hm, it’s quite an aggressive play by Mike to shove his entire stack all in out of position. If the other player had pocket sevens or fours, it’s an insta call for sure. Unfortunately for Mike, he ran into a monster hand–quad fours. If the other player had maybe a hand like AK, pocket 55-99, they would probably consider folding. Usually, when someone shoves all in out of position on a flop like this, they are either: 1) diving the flush draw 2) shoving on a low to mid pair to protect against the flush hitting or an overcard or 3) rare naked bluff. If Mike had actually had a hand like 10/10 to A/A, he might’ve bet for information, bet to protect his hand (pocket 10/10 to k/k), or made a value bet.
Archive for May, 2008
Daniel Negraneau slow plays a flopped nut straight to watch it crack to Sammy’s nine deuce of spades. He makes the right read and lays down the hand to a large bet on the river.
Sammy Farha might have been disingenuous when he seemed to be surprised almost bordering on incredulous in his reaction to Daniel’s fold.
Nice read again, Negraneau! Watching how Daniel plays this hand is a great example what a pro poker player’s philosophy to playing strong hands. An amature player would’ve played the hand more aggressively to protect themselves from the potential flush draw whereas a professional player is more inclined to risk letting their hand crack in the hopes of extracting more value for their hand. Of course, this requires the ability of knowing when it has cracked and the ability to make the right play.
