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14/01/2012

PKR Raise your game HUGS: Alec Torelli vs Tony G

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HUGS: Alec Torelli vs Ton G

In this hand from the PKR Heads Up Grand Slam, Alec Torelli makes a brilliant
call to shock the normally irrepressible Tony G into silence
By Mark Stuart on Friday 30 Apr 2010 11:00
Part of the following series: Heads-up masterclass, Learn from the pros
5Recommend

Successfull calling a check-raise bluff on the river takes a strong read

and a lot of courage, as Alec Torelli shows in this hand against Aussie
Ton G
It s quarter-final time at the PKR Heads Up Grand Slam, and both online pro
Alec traheho Torelli and Aussie trash-talk specialist Tony G are in fine form.
In this hand, with the blinds at 300/600, Tony G limps in from the small blind
with Ah-2d and Alec Torelli checks his big blind holding 5c-4h. The flop
comes 4d-8c-Qc and both players quickly check. The turn is the 8h, which
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PKR Raise your game HUGS: Alec Torelli vs Tony G

pairs the board and leaves Torelli in front with two pair, Fours and Eights. He
bets 900 into a pot of 1,200 and Tony G makes the call with Ace-high.
The river is the Kc, completing a flush, and Torelli makes a razor-thin value bet
of 2,300 into the pot of 3,000. Tony G thinks for a short while, and then bluffraises to 7,000. Now it s Torelli s turn in the tank. At first it seems like a bit of
Hollywooding before folding, but after counting out some chips, he makes a
seemingly impossible call when he s only beating a stone-cold bluff. Let s find
out why he made it...

S ree alk
Tony G has been on the rack for quite a bit of this match, and it s easy to see
why when he s limping the button with A-2. This should be a mandatory raise
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PKR Raise your game HUGS: Alec Torelli vs Tony G

preflop to extract value from worse hands and build a pot when in position. His
limp is weak and Torelli gets to see a free flop with 5-4 offsuit.
On the flop it appears that neither player has anything, with the action going
check, check. At this point a bet from either player would have been good, with
Torelli semi-protecting his small pair, which is very often the best hand, or
Tony G representing a draw or made pair of Eights or Queens.
As it is, when the turn pairs, Torelli rightfully believes his hand is good and
bets, both for value and protection. His three-quarters pot bet is a good one,
as he knows he will get curious calls from Ace-high and some draws. Tony G s
call is quite a poor one with A-2 since he didn t bet the flop it s hard for him
to have any kind of hand here, although he may feel he has the best hand with
Ace-high, which beats drawing hands like 5-6, 6-7, 9-T, T-J and any flush
draws Torelli could have. Most of the time, though, he should just fold.

M stic river
The Kc on the river is an interesting card as it completes the flush. However,
Torelli is clearly not worried about it as he goes ahead and makes a super-thin
value bet with his lowly pair of Fours. As we can see, it is in fact a good bet
with the best hand, which could look like a bluff to Tony G. Torelli s other
option at this point would have been to check-call any reasonable-sized bet
from Tony G and expect to win against a lot of bluffs.
Once Torelli bets, Tony G has three options: fold, which is fine given that
Torelli has bet over two-thirds of the pot and looks reasonably strong; call,
which is okay if he thinks Torelli is bluffing with a missed straight draw; or raise,
if he wants to give himself the best chance of winning the hand. After a short
think he does go for the raise and, as Jesse May and Luke Schwartz
comment, it s a great move, correctly surmising that Torelli is weak.
The problem with it, though, as Schwartz quickly points out, is that Tony s raise
means he s only really representing a flush, which is quite a small part of his
range. He s extremely unlikely to have a full house, as there would have been
more action on earlier streets. He wouldn t raise with a Queen or King, which
has too much showdown value, and any other pair doesn t make any sense.
Torelli quickly assesses that Tony G s hand is polarised between a flush and
bluffs. He must also wonder why Tony didn t bet the flop if he had the flush
draw, or possibly raise on the turn. It s also worth noting that Torelli only has to
call 4,700 more into a pot of 12,300 and is getting close to 3-to-1 on his
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PKR Raise your game HUGS: Alec Torelli vs Tony G

mone . He onl has to be correct about 30% of the time to make it a +EV call.
With that in mind, and having weighed up all the hands Ton G would raise
with, Torelli makes a stunning call that leaves Ton shell-shocked.
5Recommend
Sha e

Commen
not big raise. too long thought to make decision about raise. not afraid of the
opponent bets on the river, but not raise on pre-flop...
too man strange
Eas call Torelli, for more iformation about Ton .
Comment b hippocat - 14/09/10 (Report)
What a read!
Comment b Krist82 - 11/05/10 (Report)
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PKR Raise your game HUGS: Alec Torelli vs Tony G

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