Max Steinberg Hand Analysis!

All hands have been taken from the WPT Live Updates post.

Hand 1
SB: 100,000, BB: 200,000, Ante: 25,000
Max 64bb, Josh Hale 30bb


Max raises to 500,000 with Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif 6http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif, Hale calls.
Flop: Thttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif Thttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif 6http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif
Hale checks, Max bets 550,000, Hale thinks for about 30 seconds before he moves all in.
Max has 4,950,000 to call...


Hand 2
SB: 75,000, BB: 150,000, Ante: 25,000
Max: 53bb, Raouf Malek: 40bb, Josh Hale: 30bb

Raouf Malek min raises Button to 300,000, Max calls 150,000 from BB with Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif
Flop: 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif 9http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif
Max checks, Malek bets 325,000, Max calls
Turn card: Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif
Max checks, Malek checks
River: Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif
Max bets 900,000, Malek raises to 3,000,000, Max goes all in...


Hand 3
SB: 75,000, BB: 150,000, Ante: 25,000
Max 44bb, Malek 40bb, Hale 40bb

Max raises BTN to 425,000 with Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...es/diamond.gif 7http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif, Hale calls from the BB
Flop: Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif
Hale checks, Max bets 425,000, Hale thinks for 30 seconds before calling
Turn: 6http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif
Hale checks, Max checks
River: 3http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif
Hale checks, Max bets 650,000...

Hand 4
SB: 75,000, BB: 150,000, Ante: 25,000
Max: 60bb, Raouf Malek: 31bb, Hale: 33bb

Max raises BTN to 425,000, Malek calls from SB and Hale calls from BB
Flop: Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif 3http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif
Malek checks, Hale checks, Max checks
Turn: Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif
Malek checks, Hale checks, Max bets 750,000, Malek thinks for 1 minute and raises to 2,000,000, Hale folds, Max has 1.25m to call...

Hand 5
SB: 60,000, BB: 120,000, Ante: 20,000
Max: 51bb, Raouf Malek: 31bb, Josh Hale: 39bb, Ali Eslami: 34bb

Max raises UTG to 350,000, Hale calls from SB
Flop: Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif 7http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/spade.gif 3http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif
Hale checks, Max bets 250,000, Hale calls
Turn: 5http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...lies/heart.gif
Hale checks, Max checks
River: 9http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ilies/club.gif
Hale bets 300,000, Max raises to 1,500,000...

Hand 1

This actually was the easiest call in the world given 1) he never would play trips in this fashion and 2) it's highly unlikely he wouldn't reraise 77+ preflop. The strange part about the hand was he made the comment "You really like those Tens of clubs" referencing a comment I made earlier that the Tc is lucky in Tarot cards (I don't actually believe its lucky lol). Anyways, the calls was even easier with that comment, Josh didn't seem like the type to make comments when he had a big hand. I think we both played it fine although I think Josh is better off c/ring the flop smaller.

Hand 2 in hindsight I think I should have reraised this pre. Raouf was pretty lag and while I think he played well at the final table he was the type of guy who was never going to give me credit for a hand. So I felt like if I flopped well I could get him to call off with me dominating him. It ended up working very well in this hand. When he raised the river I was relatively certain he had a straight (would be an insane bluff), so I was basically fist pumping inside my head. Pretty awesome result for me obviously.

Hand 3

Josh was sort of a nit and I felt like this was the most effective line. I could induce bluffs from busted FDs and straight draws on the river and probably wasn't extracting 3 streets of value from anything worse. It's funny cause looking at the hand my river bet looks so clearly like a value bet but in live tournament play people call off value bets all day and night. Really liked the way I played this one.

Hand 4

This was a pretty crazy hand. I had K4o. I feel like betting the turn was basically pointless so I really hate my play there. Flop is fine given I don't have 3 streets of value. The fact that I even thought about continuing here I give myself a lot of credit for. I usually would snap fold but I had a sense that Raouf could make a play here even though in my mind it doesn't make sense to because he should put me on Ax a lot of the time. In the end I decided to fold for a few reasons:

1) Raouf called preflop which he rarely does, i honestly thought he could have been slow playing a big pair pre.

2) he may lead the turn with bluffs.

3) He doesn't have a lot behind, meaning he must think this bluff will work on this street which seems unlikely.

It turns out he was bluffing with a suited connector. I give Raouf a lot of credit, he made big bluffs at the final table and they worked. I think the way he looks really worked to his advantage. He doesn't look like a guy who will play crazy like that. That being said, I don't think the way he plays is strategically good and I hope I get to play with him again sometime.

Hand 5

This hand is hilarious. I had K9 here and think I played it well. The river was a value raise, I was pretty certain he had a worse 9 or 88 most of the time. I almost didn't raise because I felt like he may just fold a lot. But I'm always surprised at what people decide to call me with so I went ahead and raised. Josh later told me he folded Jx!!! I'll probably look like a genius on FSN in February. Another note. Right after the hand Raouf said to Josh "T9? I would've snap called that." I made a conscious decision not to bluff Raouf after that.

If anyone has anymore questions I'll be happy to answer them.

-Max

Thanks a lot Max :)

Hand 2 - you say in hindsight you think you should have 3bet, but how would you have reacted to a small 4bet or a 4bet shove? You say he was capable of big bluffs but it would put you in a horrible spot if you think he was capable of doing it light.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pascal

Thanks a lot Max :)

Hand 2 - you say in hindsight you think you should have 3bet, but how would you have reacted to a small 4bet or a 4bet shove? You say he was capable of big bluffs but it would put you in a horrible spot if you think he was capable of doing it light.

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I would go all in either way. 3 handed against Raouf I'd be happy to get it in with AJo there. I'd actually rather him small 4bet since I think he would be doing it way too wide. If he shoved I'd most likely be flipping but would still have to call.

Looks pretty cool :)

All the hands seem well thought out, except the obv K4o turn lead. I'm also surprised given how you were running over the table in general that you didnt just 3bc the AJo, but obv worked out fantastic for you. Is c/c the flop standard there? you had just the overs, no backdoors or anything, were you planning on doing a weird c/r or turn lead if the board bricked out, or did you just think AJhigh was ahead of his cbetting range?

Whats your weakest value-raise hand for Hand 5? I was thinking Q9 could do what you did too but it would be difficult to do it with worse kickers/etc. I think the raise with K9 was very well thought out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sykedupp

Looks pretty cool :)

All the hands seem well thought out, except the obv K4o turn lead. I'm also surprised given how you were running over the table in general that you didnt just 3bc the AJo, but obv worked out fantastic for you. Is c/c the flop standard there? you had just the overs, no backdoors or anything, were you planning on doing a weird c/r or turn lead if the board bricked out, or did you just think AJhigh was ahead of his cbetting range?

I thought AJ high was a profitable call (I'm pretty sure of this), I can bluff later, showdown sometimes, and hit value hands.

Whats your weakest value-raise hand for Hand 5? I was thinking Q9 could do what you did too but it would be difficult to do it with worse kickers/etc. I think the raise with K9 was very well thought out.

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I think Q9 and K9 are essentially the same. I wouldn't have raised T9.