‘Giselle54’ remains one of the most consistently active players in the CoinPoker high-stakes PLO games, but their results continued to suffer this week. On Wednesday, they battled ‘LUKAKU’ in both regular PLO and five-card PLO, and LUKAKU emerged with an emphatic win.
LUKAKU added $637,492 to their bankroll, while Giselle54 saw $874,160 drained from theirs. Much of the damage came at $500-$1,000 with a $200 ante, and it got bad enough that Giselle54 wasn’t topping up at points in the match. LUKAKU, meanwhile, built a stack of about $600,000.
A couple of incredibly lucky runouts did a huge chunk of the damage. This week’s second high-stakes review will take a look at how the deck tilted in LUKAKU’s favor.
LUKAKU Finds Miracle Backdoor Runout
When the following hand occurred, the players were 165 big blinds deep.
Giselle54 opened for $3,000 and LUKAKU called.
After a J♥3♣2♣ flop, Giselle54 continued for $4,755, only to face a raise to $15,057. Giselle54 called, bringing a 2♠ turn. LUKAKU sized down to $11,665, and Giselle54 called once more. The river brought the 2♦.
LUKAKU potted for $59,786. Giselle54 shoved for $135,484.
LUKAKU quickly called, since they had 7♥7♣5♠2♥ for backdoor quads. Gisell54 showed that they had gotten incredibly unlucky after flopping top set with J♠J♣8♦6♦.
🚨Quads alert🚨 pic.twitter.com/yKE9FUAzWh
— CoinPokerAction (@CoinPokerAction) September 5, 2025
Hand Analysis
On the flop LUKAKU has one of the best hands to bluff with. 7-7-5-2 pretty much checks all the boxes.
- The 2 blocks strong hands like 2-2
- Pocket 7s give it immediate equity against every hand besides J-J
- The 5 blocks some straight draws
- Backdoor hearts give it equity and playability when called
- The 7c blocks some flush draws
Given all that, LUKAKU goes for the check-raise bluff, but Giselle54 has the nuts and decides to slowplay.
Once the turn pairs the board, LUKAKU’s bluff becomes a value hand. Still, it’s not good enough to play for stacks, and things get uncomfortable if the pot gets huge, so they use a small sizing.
Holding a seemingly unbeatable hand, Giselle54 calls to keep in bluffs and disguise their strength.
Trips boards are strange in PLO, and Giselle54 winds up in an awkward spot on the end. Facing a pot-sized bet, pocket jacks are probably the worst hand they can consider raising. It’s unclear if shoving gets called by many worse hands, but Giselle54 goes for it in hopes of getting called by 3-3 or some other bluff-catcher.
Unfortunately, LUKAKU had gotten a dream runner-runner to scoop a $330,816 pot despite having 7.8% equity on the flop according to the Card Player odds calculator.
Giselle54 Value-Cuts Self
Prior to that hand, the players were even deeper, playing with 248 big blinds effective.
Giselle54 raised on the button to $3,000, LUKAKU reraised to $9,000, and Giselle54 called.
On the K♠7♣3♠ flop, LUKAKU continuation-bet $9,170. Giselle54 raised to $26,000, and LUKAKU called. The Q♣ arrived, and Giselle54 potted for $70,340. LUKAKU called, swelling the pot to $211,080 with just over $143,000 to play.
On the 6♦ river, LUKAKU checked and called the rest off.
Giselle54 showed A♠K♥Q♦2♠ for top two, but LUKAKU drilled a gutshot straight draw with A♣7♠5♣4♠. They scooped a $497,419 pot.
More high stakes PLO action! LUKAKU vs. Giselle54 in a $497k pot. pic.twitter.com/deNvgjd70D
— CoinPokerAction (@CoinPokerAction) September 5, 2025
Hand Analysis
Both players have strong hands preflop, with LUKAKU’s hand being an easy three-bet.
Both players then hit the flop pretty hard. Giselle54’s raise is pretty self-explanatory with top pair and the nut flush draw, and LUKAKU’s pair plus combo draw is much too good to fold.
On the turn, LUKAKU picks up a nut draw of their own. Boards with two flush draws in PLO are often played as pot or check, and LUKAKU does face pot. A draw this large isn’t even a 2-1 underdog against top set, so they have another clear call.
The river brings in LUKAKU’s straight, and with less than pot to play, the normal play here is to jam. However, LUKAKU goes for a check, perhaps figuring Giselle54 will find some bluffs with missed draws and some value jams with worse hands.
Giselle54 could have gone for a tight check on the river since they don’t have any blockers to the straight. However, the size of the pot relative to the players’ remaining stacks — the stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) was about 0.67 — necessitates that LUKAKU will call the river with worse hands than top two pair.
After a pot-sized bet on the turn, LUKAKU just won’t have a ton of 5-4 combos on the river, either.
So, Giselle54 tries to get one last street of value, only to find themselves on the wrong end of a cooler yet again.
