Poker Hand Matchup: Govert Metaal vs. Mike McDonald
Govert Metaal	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 163,000	81.16 %	60.91 %	72.73 %	Winner!
Mike McDonald	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 280,000	16.8 %	38.18 %	27.27 %

Posted On: May 08, 2012

Outcome

With the blinds at 2,000 and 4,000 and a 500 ante, McDonald raised to 8,000 from the cutoff seat, Metaal reraised to 28,000 from the big blind, McDonald called. On the Flop, Metaal bet 36,000, McDonald bet 77,500, Metaal went all-in, McDonald called.

Analysis

McDonald elected to carry his suited connectors to the flop. While he was guaranteed to enjoy position post flop, he was carrying a marginal and problematic hand into a large pot – Metaal’s reraise was substantial and McDonald would likely face heavy rounds on future streets. If he managed to make a pair or a draw, he would have difficulty getting away from his hand. Metaal welcomed the board without overcards and quickly led out with a somewhat baiting bet size. The bet of half the pot looked like a weak-lead which might inspire a reraise from McDonald. Despite the excellent pot odds that his flush draw with overcards received, McDonald responded to Metaal’s lead-out exactly as his opponent had hoped, with a raise. Once Metaal moved in McDonald faced another 57,000 for the pot of 274,000, obviously priced into his draw for the huge pot. This is the problem with taking marginal hands into large preflop pots, it becomes extremely difficult to get away from your marginal hand if you connect with the board. McDonald picked up a gutterball draw on the turn to go along with his Diamond outs, but Metaal faded the draws to score the double up. McDonald lost 58% of his stack on the hand.