- This is hand that occurred
in a cash game at Poker
After Dark and it's between
Michael Mizrachi and
Maria Ho.
So it started with the Grinder
raising from early position
and the small blind flatted
and so did Maria and the
big blind.
And, let's see what happens.
So the flop comes Ace, King,
Deuce with a flush draw, and
as we're gonna see both the
small blind and Maria caught
a piece of it and Grinder
completely whiffed, but he
still decides to bet.
But I actually like his bet,
because it's a really good
board for his range.
He opened in early position,
flat from the small
blind and the big blind
indicates that neither of them
has any strong hands really on this board
except pocket deuces and ace-deuce.
So I like his c-bet because
he has all the aces, all
the kings, ace-king.
Just a complete range advantage,
and he's also in position on both of them.
- [TV Announcer] Ho makes the call.
- So the small blind elects to fold,
even though he has a gutter
and a back door flush draw.
Pretty tight, in my opinion
versus a Grinder c-bet
but he also has Maria to worry
about, I suppose, and he's
out of position out of both
of them so it's not, not a
great spot.
Maria elects to call, which
looks pretty standard so far, so
let's see what the turn brings.
- [TV Announcer] Third spade
on the turn and now Grinder has
the only flush draw.
- So the grinder makes sure
that he has the seven of spades
before he elects to fire again.
At this point, Maria has a
lot of flushes too that she
doesn't necessarily
check-raise on the flop.
Actually I wouldn't expect
her to because she knows the
Grinder has, even though he's
a loose, aggressive player
he has a pretty strong
advantage on this board.
So she will have a lot of,
a lot flushes on this board
and she can easily have, you
know, king-ace of spades,
that she's just trapping
him with here so it's a bit
of a risky bluff by Michael here but
he's clearly with his
bet, I think, he's betting
half pot and she has 23k behind
he's betting 8,000, so I
think this indicates that he's
willing to go with it
and he's gonna barrel
almost regardless of
what the river brings.
- [TV Announcer] - Maria calls once more.
- Yeah, no, I think she, the
only option she has really is
to check-call.
Versus certain players
there, I can elect to fold
for sure, because it is super
scary when they bet again
after you call because they
know that you can easily have
a lot of flushes there.
They also know that their
flop bet was so strong
and that makes your flop call
pretty strong as well, so
I think more often than not
that turn goes check-check
cause, even as the pre flop
raiser you want to pot-control
with a lot of your A-X.
Yeah, I don't think Maria
wanted to do anything else than
check calling, keep the
Grinder bluffing, cause
you know, that's a strong possibility.
- [TV Announcer] Now Grinder
hit's a nine. She checks a
third time and grinder says all in.
- He obviously knows that his
nine is no good, maybe it's a
nice blocker but I'm pretty
sure if it was the eight of
hearts he would still make the same move.
So now Maria has a pretty
tough spot, I would say,
even versus someone very
aggressive as Michael,
it's still a pretty
nasty spot, she doesn't have
any spades in her hand, or
the ten of spades.
- [Maria] - Love my hand, but
you know, it's pretty good.
- [Michael] How good?
- Pretty good, like actually
if there was a stone definition
for pretty good, it's pretty good.
- Given the reasonable likelihood
of Michael being able to
pull something like this
off, and the pot odds she's
getting, she's only at,
she only has 15,000 left.
I mean, wishful thinking, she
probably was hoping he would
check behind on an off-suit
river, but I'm pretty sure
once she calls the turn she's
willing to call down any
blank river that isn't a spade.
So let's see if she can come
up with the right decision.
- [TV Anouncer] Maria makes the big call.
- [Farah Galfond] You guys are good.
(laughter)
[Farah Galfond] You're
both very good at poker.
- By the look on his face
when he saw her hand, I think
he was expecting her to fold
that, and, which I think she
would, like versus most players,
but I think specifically
versus him I think she felt
like she was a little bit
ahead of his range.
Very tricky spot, yep.
