We all know by now that Ethan “Rampage Poker” Yau loves to fire some huge bluffs. This time he runs into the force that is Garrett “Gman” Adelstein on the Hustler Casino Live streaming. Will this huge bluff in a $150,000 pot get through in the largest game of his life?
In this PokerNews strategy column, I talk about the poker strategy on figuring out how to determine what bet sizes you should use at the poker table and which hands are the best ones to bluff with!
The hand starts with blinds at $50/$100/$200 and a standard raise to $1,500 from Rampage with 
on the button on top of a $500 straddle with a stack of around $127,000. Garrett then three-bet to $5,200 from the big blind holding 
with a stack of 282,000. Rampage made the call.
This is a perfectly fine hand for Rampage to open in a deep-stacked cash game. With the straddler still to act, Garrett should be mostly three-betting or folding with his entire range. While many people will fold in Rampage’s spot with five-high, he should be calling when deep-stacked and hope to flop something.
The flop landed 
to give Garrett middle pair and an open-ended straight draw and Rampage nothing. Garrett checked and Rampage bet a big $6,500. Garrett called.
Should Rampage bluff with his hand? Against a world-class player like Garrett, I think the answer is no. A better play would be to check back the flop and go for a turn and river bet if Garrett checks again. Garrett has an easy call with his pair and straight draw.
The turn brought the 
to give Garrett the straight and for Rampage to pick up a flush draw and a no-good gutshot. Garrett checked again and Rampage bet $16,000. Garrett called again. I like a bet from Rampage because his range is going to contain a lot of middling cards that make a straight, whereas Garrett’s three-betting range will not (even though he does in this specific hand).
I like Garrett’s check-call, even though many players will check-raise the turn for fear of being outdrawn. While Rampage will have a lot of bluffs in this spot and could get there on the river, he won’t have many outs and Garrett should be check-calling on most rivers.
The river brought the 
and Garrett checked for a third time. With nothing but five-high, Rampage pulled the trigger and bet $45,000. When Rampage goes for a roughly pot-sized bet, he should be doing so with hands that block full houses, such as hands with a jack, ten, eight or seven. Some hands Rampage could have in this scenario are ace-seven suited and eight-six suited.
Garrett made a quick call despite the board being paired. Garrett doesn’t have to be too worried about full houses because he has a ten in his hand and knows that Rampage enjoys a good bluff. I like the bluff by Rampage, but Garrett had too strong a hand for it to get through.
For more on this hand check out my breakdown in the following video:
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $7,000,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. Sign up to learn poker from Jonathan for free at PokerCoaching.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
