Holding the best hand is one thing. Getting the most money out of it is another.
And sometimes the best way to maximize your value — maybe the only way — is to check the nuts.
Colorful, aggressive pro Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari faced that kind of decision at the $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Championship at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in April.
Antonio Esfandiari
ACE OF SPADES
JACK OF HEARTS
The flop
QUEEN OF HEARTS
KING OF DIAMONDS
10 OF HEARTS
The turn
5 OF CLUBS
The river
4 OF SPADES
With blinds at $50-$100, two players limped ahead of Esfandiari, who was holding A-J offsuit in late position. He limped, as well.
“I limped because I don’t want to really play a big pot with AJ,” said Esfandiari, who has won World Series of Poker and WPT events. “I’d rather see a flop.”
Mark Seif, another aggressive pro, holding K-2 of hearts, limped behind Esfandiari, as did the player on the button and both blinds. So, seven players took a flop of Q-K-10, two hearts. Esfandiari flopped nuts straight, but the two hearts put a flush draw on board.
The first four players checked. Esfandiari made it $550 to go.
“I want to get money in the pot when I have the nuts,” he said. “What am I trying to do — dodge the turn and the river, and then bet? Of course not. If they have a flush draw, let’s get the money in.”
Seif called, holding top pair with the second-nut flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. Plus, he had position on Esfandiari, so he could decide after his opponent acted.
The five other players folded. The turn came the 5 of clubs. Esfandiari bet $1,625 into an $1,800 pot. Seif called.
“When he calls, I know at this point that he doesn’t have just a straight draw and I know he doesn’t have the stone-cold flush draw because he would never call that with one card to come because he knows I’d never pay him off,” Esfandiari said. “If he had a flush draw, he had something else with it. Once he calls, I think he has a real hand like K-10, bottom two pair, something like that.”
The river came the 4 of spades. The flush draw missed. Esfandiari held the nuts. He had to decide whether to make a value bet small enough that Seif would call or to check in hopes that Seif would bet out believing his top pair was good.
“If I put him on bottom two pair or something like that, I figured I could maybe get a check-raise in there,” Esfandiari said. “And if he did have a flush draw and missed, he might make a stab at it. I just didn’t feel like he would pay me off if I bet again.”
Esfandiari checked. Seif also checked.
“He tried to take my head off by checking the nuts on the river,” Seif said when he saw Esfandiari’s straight.
Said Esfandiari: “If I know he’s not going to call a bet, the best thing I can do is check and let him bluff at it or let him value-bet at it.”
Table talk
Second-nut flush draw: Holding the second-highest card of a suit that would complete a flush.
