High Stakes Hand Analysis with Pro Player Melika Razavi P5

High stakes regular, magician, pageant queen, and CoinPoker ambassador Melika Razavi loves hitting the cash game tables. To give our community some insight into her pot-winning strategies, Melika will walk you through two great hands step-by-step.

Hand #1

I minimum raise 200 from the cutoff with  and Leroy 3bets from the button to 750, a position where we can expect a large number of 3bet bluffs.

I would guess that, on average, a random button 3bets a random cutoff player between 5-25% of the time, and up to half of those times it will be a bluff.”

I would guess that, on average, a random button 3bets a random cutoff player between 5-25% of the time, and up to half of those times it will be a bluff. Out of position, this suited one-gapper hand is no good to call in my opinion.

I’d rather call with a hand like  or  (suited) that would be able to defend itself better out of position against a 3bet range.  However,  is still a hand with lots of equity against premium hands, so it’ also too good of a hand to fold. That’s why I decided to add 79s to my 4bet bluff range.

I 4bet to 1,900 and Leroy calls. The flop gives us a very dry  rainbow.

I assume my opponent would 5bet shove all-in with AK and all overpairs higher than tens pre-flop most of the time for 100 big blinds.”

In this scenario, I would be in the lead most of the time, except on rare occasions when my opponent would decide to slow-play an overpair. I assume my opponent would 5bet shove all-in with  and all overpairs higher than tens pre-flop most of the time for 100 big blinds.

On this board, I decide to bet very small (1/4) with my entire range. Leroy will be forced to call  and  high when of I bet 1,000. He calls my 1,000 into 4,000 and the turn comes with a  giving me a flush draw.

The pot is now at 6,000 and I have 3 options. Bet small again, over-bet shove or check-call. I prefer check-calling with a mid pair and flush draw turn here for the following reasons:

1. My opponent might bluff their  and  high combos
2. Only a better hand would call my all-in, and there’s no reason to value shove when I can bluff-catch
3. I am not scared the river anymore now that I can hit a flush and get paid
4. When I check-call all-in I can sometimes get it in with the best hand or with a hand that can improve on the river and win

I check and Leroy checks behind. The river is a blank  that doesn’t change anything, so I check again for the same reasons as on the turn. The plan works and Leroy goes all-in 7,100 into 6,000 with . A hand he should have let go and folded a total of three times in this hand analysis.

There’s just too many floats pre-flop and during the flop that is in his range for me not to think that he would turn some of them into a bluff river. In the end, my pair of sevens wins the pot.

Hand #2

Ennuye opens with 6,000 and I 3bet 24,000 with . It’s a strong value hand heads-up and it can call a 4bet if Ennuye decides to raise to 50-70,000.

Instead of raising, my opponent calls and the flop is  rainbow.  high is not as good as  high to be check-calling with for showdown value, so I’d rather bet to try and pick up some equity. I bet 16,000 (1/3) and Ennuye flats.

The turn is , and I pick up some gutshot equity.

None of the other cards are worth continuity betting without equity.”

My plan on the turn here is to continue to bet on , , , , and . None of the other cards are worth continuity betting without equity since we only have overcards and our opponent will most likely call all of his pairs.

Ennuye calls and the river completes the backdoor flush with . I decided to shove all-in 196,000 into 300,000 for the following reasons:

1. The river is a good card for me since I now have many flush and straight combos, plus I have a heart in my hand so I’m blocking him from some flush combos
2. Ennuye will have to fold all his single pairs, and it’s hard for him to call with less than 2 pairs or a set as I can’t have that many bluffs (I don’t think he would assume I have gone bananas on both the turn and river without any equity)
3. I would have played the same way with value hands  or  for a straight when I 3bet them, as I would have many suited heart combos and also , ,  and  when I shove the river.

It would cost him 196,000 to win a 692,000 pot which means he needs to win 28% of the time when he calls.”

The only bluffs I can have are KQ, KJs, QJs, 10Js, 7Js, 8Js, A2s and A5s. These are not enough bluff combos for him to make a loose hero call. It would cost him 196,000 to win a 692,000 pot which means he needs to win 28% of the time when he calls (196000/692000=0.28)

Ennuye makes the correct fold and the bluff is successful.

Check out more hand analyses by poker pro Melika Razavi here:

• High Stakes Hand Analysis with Pro Player Melika Razavi P1
• High Stakes Hand Analysis with Pro Player Melika Razavi P2
• High Stakes Hand Analysis with Pro Player Melika Razavi P3
• High Stakes Hand Analysis with Pro Player Melika Razavi P4