Phil Galfond, known as “OMGClayAiken” online, is known for his high stakes cash game prowess, as well as his analytical skills. This has not only made him a talented player, but a successful poker coach, as well. The subscription-based training site Blue Fire Poker features in-depth strategy videos by Galfond, and in a special High Stakes Adventure video series, he analyzes hands from his latest high-stakes sessions against some of the toughest players in the world. The following is one of those hands:
The Game
Stakes: $500-$1,000
Game: No-limit hold’em
The Lineup
theASHMAN103 — $105,997.00 — Small blind $500
durrrr — $104,606.00 — Big blind $1,000
martonas — $121,8877.00 — Under the Gun
OMGClayAiken — $201,190.25 — Cutoff
Urindanger — $38,352.00 — Button
Review of the Hand
Preflop Action: Martonas raises under the gun to $3,000. Galfond calls with A
Q and the rest of the table folds. The pot is now $7,500.
Phil Galfond: A-Q suited is a hand I’d often three-bet here, but I have some very squeeze-happy players behind me. I think that in a vacuum, calling is probably the best play. It does some good things for my range… Obviously, it should go without saying that if somebody were to three-bet and martonas either called or folded, I would be four-betting and getting it in with A-Q suited.
Flop Action: The flop comes 10
5
2
. martonas bets $6,000. Galfond raises to $16,800. Martonas calls and the pot is now $41,100.
PG: I flop pretty badly— ace-high, two overs. I don’t have a back-door flush draw. I have backdoor straight draw. He bets $6,000 and I decide that calling here is ok, but I’m not getting that much EV [expected value] from calling. I feel a little be weird folding as well. I think if I had to choose between the two of them, I’d decide to call, but I thought it’d be a pretty good spot to raise. It’s tough to say, because I haven’t played a ton against him, and I can’t say for sure what he thinks of me or how he’d interpret a play on a very dry board like this, but I haven’t been too active in these games, which I’m sure he noticed. This is a board that does well for my calling range. I can definitely have tens, fives, or deuces for a set, obviously I can’t really have any kind of two-pair combo hands here, but A-10, K-10— both very possible, as are slow-played aces, kings, queens, jacks, things like that so I think I should get a lot of credit. I do have my six outs against almost all of his hands. I have the best hand a decent amount of the time, not that that matters but he’ll fold most of his air. I don’t think he’s super likely to come over the top here. If he does call, I’ll probably be following up on a lot of turn and river cards. I make it $16,800. I don’t think you need to make any big raises on a board like this with any of your hands. I think that kind of goes without saying.
Turn Action: The turn is the 6. The board now reads 10 5 2 6. martonas checks and Galfond bets $28,400. Martonas calls, and the pot is now $97,900.
PG: The turn is an offsuit 6. That completes 4-3 which is very possible for me to have. I don’t want to say extremely possible, but possible for me to have, possible for him to have, but pretty unlikely for both. It doesn’t do too much to change things. I think that the type of player he is, at least the impression I had at this time, was that he’d be calling with a lot of Ace-high hands there on the flop and pretty much every pair, but the reason I raised [on the flop] was because I’d get him off all the hands that were airy and that were going to potentially barrel me off my hand, or improve to beat my hand. And because I thought that on a lot of turn and river cards, specifically over cards, I could take him off of his mid-pair type of hands. He checks and this is kind of a close spot. I thinking checking behind and seeing a river is an ok play. Potentially you win sometimes at showdown, but not all that often. I think that stacks are pretty good for a bet here with the plan to follow up on a lot of rivers. He is kind of likely to call here on the turn if he does have a pair, especially because pocket fours, pocket threes, 5-4, 6-4, well he’s not going to have 6-4 that often, but hands like that now have a “gutterball” [gutshot] to go with their pair. The good thing about this turn is that now there are a lot of river cards that will be a little bit scarier to him.7-8-9 all complete straights if I was raising the flop with random air and even though no legit hand I’d be rising on the flop would have a straight by the river, I could definitely be raising with a hand like a 7-9 suited and that’s sometime he has to worry about by the river because that’s something I’d be betting a lot on the turn with those hands. Basically what I’m doing in this spot is that I’m keeping my hand range very wide while learning a lot about his hand range each street.
On pretty important thing which is a read I had at the time after playing a little bit of heads up against martonas, is that I haven’t seen him slow play that often. Even though it’s not a huge concern, to run into a few combos of sets on this board, the fact that he’s not likely to come back of the top on the flop or on the turn with those hands makes me more comfortable turning my hand into a bluff or turning it into a thin value bet if I managed to hit an ace or a queen on the river.
I am only betting $28,000 to win $41,000 and I do have those six-outs which is not nothing. He does end up calling, which I expect a decent amount of the time.
River Action: The river is the J. The board now reads 10 5 2 6 J. martonas checks and Galfond goes all in for $152,990.25. martonas folds. Galfond wins the pot of $97,900.
PG: The river is a jack which is a pretty good card to continue on. It’s very possible that I have a jack in my range. I mean, just as easily as I have an ace or a queen in my hand. A lot of over card air-type hands that I have are going to play like this just as often as any other air-type hand, so I think it’s another he’s going to have to worry about. I think it’s pretty unlikely it hits him. It’s definitely a card that hurts the majority of his range and relative hand strength, or absolute hand strength really, because he’s going to have a lot of mid-pairs or even tens is going to be hard for him to call a bet here, given the way I’ve been playing and the board has come off and the way the flop was so airy.
He checks and I shove the river, and he ends up folding. This is just a spot that isn’t by any means a standard spot, but something that you should have in your game. I think a lot of people will usually make a flop raise here and give up and by doing that, their ranges are really unbalanced because they are never really firing the turn unless the improve to a pretty good draw, and they pretty much never fire the river Unless I guess if they improve the turn, sometimes they barrel off the river, but for the most part, people take one shot at boards like this. So, you find other opponents calling flops and giving up on future streets which is what I was hoping for with my A-Q, but as part of my overall game, when I do have big hands, now I can get paid off, or I should get paid off, or at least I should be putting them in tougher spots when the board comes off like this.
BluefirePoker.com, a subscription based training site where members can get access to in-depth strategy videos by in-house pros. Galfond is the lead instructor and contributes four to six videos a month. His personal blog is also posted on the website.
