Daniel Negreanu is known to be a master in the live poker arena and he perfectly read the situation to lay a trap on the river before attempting to get extra value on the way to winning the 2022 Super High Roller Bowl for $3.3 million. Can world-class poker professional Nick Petrangelo sniff out this extremely strong poker hand and make a disciplined fold on the river?
In this strategy column, I will discuss how this poker hand is played differently due to the immense Independent Chip Model (ICM) pressure with just three people left in a huge tournament. Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger is the shortest in chips which should prevent Petrangelo and Negreanu from playing a huge pot when “LuckyChewy” should be all-in and at risk next.
The hand took place during three-handed play with blinds of 25,000/50,000/50,000. Petrangelo kicked things off by raising to 110,000 with K♠Q♥ and Negreanu called in the big blind with K♣10♠. Negreanu may want to three-bet some portion of the time if he thinks Petrangelo is going to raise too much on the button as the player second in chips, but calling is the standard move.
Negreanu checked on the J♠7♦9♥ flop and Petrangelo checked back. Negreanu will want to check with most of his range, although he should be leading some portion of the time as the big stack. Petrangelo could bet if there weren’t payout implications, but since there are I think checking is the right move.
The gin Q♦ turn gave Negreanu the nut straight while also giving Petrangelo top pair. Negreanu bet 175,000 and Petrangelo called.
While betting is fine, I think Negreanu should be checking a large portion of the time because it will allow Petrangelo to bet with his bluffs. It can go either way, but check-calling is definitely a viable strategy. Petrangelo is right to just call with a good but non-premium hand given the payout implications.
The Q♠ river improved Petrangelo to trips while keeping him behind Negreanu’s straight. Negreanu took the sneaky route and checked to lead Petrangelo to bet 180,000. I think Petrangelo’s value bet is perfect fine with trips.
What would you do as Negreanu with a straight?
Negreanu opted to check-raise to 580,000 and Petrangelo called before seeing the bad news.
Even though Negreanu’s hand was downgraded on the river, he made the right decision by raising with a hand that could be called by a worse hand like a queen or a jack. And Petrangelo has to call unless he is playing against a weak and tight player.
Even after all of these years, Negreanu is still a top player to watch on the high-roller circuit. To see my Top 10 Players to Watch, check out this PokerCoaching.com blog post.
For more on this hand, check out my breakdown in the following video:
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $7,000,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. Sign up to learn poker from Jonathan for free at PokerCoaching.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
