Strategy with Kristy Podcast: Griffin Benger Laments About His PCA Bustout Hand
Griffin Benger, also known as "Flush_Entity" online, has had an enormous amount of success playing live poker in 2013 including a win in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Berlin High Roller event. This week, he came on the Strategy with Kristy podcast and discussed the hand that led to his demise in the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.
Here is a snippet from the interview:
"I had AxQx, and the guy to my right raised in the hijack. I called in the cutoff, the button and the big blind called. I decided to call instead of three-betting because I didn't really have any dynamic with the guy. The big blind was also a really weak player so I kind of wanted him to be in the hand. I would flop a lot of dominating hands against him. I also didn't want to three-bet fold, and I certainly didn't want to three-bet then five-bet against a guy who doesn't four-bet light. The only problem was that it let Matt Berkey into the pot on the button.
"The flop came Qx6x3x rainbow. The big blind checked, and the raiser checked. I bet half pot. Berkey called, and the big blind called. There was around 7,000 in the pot at this point. The turn was the A?, bringing a backdoor flush draw. The big blind led for 2,200. I debated whether or not I should flat, but I felt like this guy would never fold Ax3x or Ax6x. And it would be really hard for him to have a set there. I made it 5,200. Berkey overcalled which screams sixes or threes, but he could also have 4?5? or 5?7?, or also Ax3x or Ax6x. The big blind folded. The river was an offsuit 4?. There was around 19,000 in the pot, and I only had 8,500 behind. I had to decide whether I wanted to shove for value against Ax3x or Ax6x, or check-fold because he could have sixes, threes, and 5?7?. I decided to shove, and he called with sixes.
"It was one of those spots that was really annoying because I was kind of having a rough day. I think that sometimes, even though you try not to let it affect you, it can. In this spot, I could check-fold and I had the added benefit of being at a table with a lot of weaker players. I could have run up a bunch of chips and stayed in. So in retrospect, it's almost for sure a fold, but it's just really hard to check-fold top two. It was a rough spot."
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