Poker Hand Matchup: Sergio Aido Hero Calls With Fourth Pair

Outcome

Preflop: With eight players remaining and blinds of 150,000-300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya raised to 600,000 from UTG+1 with A♦J♣. Sergio Aido called from the big blind with 5♠5♦.

Flop: 10♦4♣3♥

Aido checked, and Skhulukhiya bet 300,000. Aido called.

Turn: 7♣

Aido bet 400,000, and Skhulukhiya called.

River: K♥

Aido checked, and Skhulukhiya moved all-in. Aido called all-in for 1,450,000.

Analysis

The Onyx Super High Roller Series $10,400 Premiere had 507 entries, and there were just eight left in contention for the $1 million first-place prize when this hand occurred. 

The payout was quite top-heavy, with the next elimination worth $89,800, so the players were incentivized to play for first. Despite that, there was still some small ICM pressure because one player was sitting with less than four big blinds. 

Giorgiy Skhulukhiya had a good enough hand to raise, even in early position. Sergio Aido was covered, but his pocket fives were plenty to see the flop for a min-raise. He could have jammed as well, especially given the payout structure. 

While 10-4-3 is often a decent flop for the big blind, that wasn’t the case here, since Aido wouldn’t want to defend many hands that paired the two low cards. Betting one big blind is a common strategy in these ultra-short-stacked situations. That’s what Skhulukhiya did. 

The solver does like jamming many hands here, including A-J. Aido could have responded by shoving for value, but he called. 

The turn brought a card that favored his range if he was playing low, suited hands like 7-6 and 6-5. Accordingly, he decided to try a small lead. It served to potentially clear out some unpaired hands that still had equity against him, but Skhulukhiya called with just such a hand, getting almost 7-1 on his money. Since he was only about a 6-1 underdog, he was correct to do so in this instance. 

The river card could have paired some of Skhulukhiya’s trailing hands, so Aido checked. Skhulukhiya had a hand that was very unlikely to win at showdown unless his opponent had exactly A-5 suited. 

He went for the bluff, and there were very few hands Aido beat. Accordingly, the solver actually folds fives in this spot despite the excellent pot odds. 

Aido’s gutsy call worked out though, as he found one of the few airballs in his opponent’s range on the river. Both players navigated to top-five finishes from there, with Aido taking fifth for $190,000 and Skhulukhiya fourth for $260,000. 

The winner was an anonymous player who goes by ‘Goofy.’ He beat Mikita Badziakouski heads up to take home the seven-figure payout.

• Photos by Onyx – Merit Poker