High Stakes Hand Analysis with Pro Player Melika Razavi P6

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 raise with  from small blind to 400, and JeSuisJP1963 3betsmy open-raise to 1,200 from the big blind. I have an easy call.

When I’m small blind playing against big blind I like to raise by 4x. Since I am out of position I don’t mind taking down the pot pre-flop. I have a tighter open-range from the small blind compared to the button, and it will be harder to win pots out of position post-flop.

The flop is  and I check-call a cbet of 1,400 into 3,600.

With top pair and top kicker, my hand is too good to fold here.”

The turn is a  and I check-call a bet of 3,700 into 7,800. With top pair and top kicker, my hand is too good to fold here, even though my opponent can have any overpair, two-pairs, sets, or straights. This cuts it close and I don’t think it’s a mistake folding on the turn against many players.

However, there are still plenty of straight-draw and flush-draw hands he can have that he would give up if he misses the river.

The river is a . I check and JeSuisJP1963 bets 10,700 into 19,000.

The only hands I could beat now is a missed flush or straight-draw that doesn’t have an 8 for straight. JeSuisJP1963 could potentially have , , , or any random two clubs with an 8.

This makes it an easy fold for me and JeSuisJP1963 takes it down.

Hand #2

undemoni0 open-raises 150 from the cut-off. I respond by 3betting to 550 from the small blind with . undemoni0 calls.

The flop is , giving me a backdoor flush-draw with my . With Ace high,  or  etc. I like to check out of position, especially on a wet board like this.

But now when I have backdoor nut-flush-draw I have a few reasons to bet. When another heart comes on the turn I can bet again and follow up with an all-in river. This is a great bluff-line that I will likely get away with for the entire hand.

A good rule to remember is to at least bluff when you have a nut-blocker.”

With the nut-blocker, I’m blocking my opponent from hitting a nut-flush, so I know I have higher chances of getting a fold.

Also, I will end up on the river with the flush with a lot of other combos with suited hearts and I can’t only be doing this when I have value. It’s called being balanced, and a good rule to remember is to at least bluff when you have a nut-blocker.

undemoni0 calls my 1/3 size cbet of 400, and the turn is a . I think it’s important to check here for the following reasons:

1. I won’t get 3 streets of value; maybe from  but we need to slow down the action now with only one pair
2. I can always call when our opponent bets the turn.
3. I have top pair and gutshot and will take down more pots on the river by check-calling the turn than by betting and then being forced to check-fold on a lot of rivers (i.e. a flush)

undemoni0 checks behind turn and the river is a .

Now it’s clear that I more than likely have the best hand. I can bet-fold without worrying about getting bluffed out of the hand or facing a raise from anything other than a 7.

It’s a clear value-bet to get a call from a lower pair. I chose a 2/3 size bet of 1,350 and got a call and a muck. The pot of 4,600 went my way.

Check out more hand analyses by poker pro Melika Razavi:

• 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
• High Stakes Hand Analysis with Pro Player Melika Razavi P5