POTD #268 Losing a Million Dollar Pot with a Baby Flush
The biggest cash game pot I ever lost.
When I wrote about Andrew Robl’s big fold in POTD #265, a common comment I read on social media was some version of “What could Gavri be bluffing with here?” I don’t need to relitigate that hand, but I felt there were several hands he could be bluffing with: any non-flush hand that had the Kh in it and gets to the river, like AxKh, KhQx, or KhJx. Yes, those hands would check the flop sometimes, or fold the flop sometimes, or bet the turn sometimes; however, nut flush draws could also check the flop sometimes and bet the turn sometimes. It’s unlikely that Gavri is bluffing here, but it’s unlikely that he raises the river in the first place. Rather than continuing to argue with people that bluffing the river here is “impossible,” despite the fact that I’ve written about at least two recent hands where people did bluff-raise the river for close to a minraise and got people to make big folds (in POTD #185 and POTD #194)— I decided to look inward. Was there a hand where someone actually might have zero bluffs and where I got fooled by my hand strength and made a begrudging call when I could have found a big fold?
I thought about it and found the largest pot I ever lost in a cash game1, a hand where I got flush over flushed in a five-way pot 200bbs deep, had two opportunities to be a hero, and missed both of them.
Triton Poker Jeju 2018 Cash Game
(3M KRW/6M KRW/6M KRW) or approximately ($2700/$5400/$5400) (SB/BB/BBA)
Everyone is around 1.2B KRW (200bbs) deep. We are 7-Handed
I make it 14k UTG with 5♠️4♠️, Paul Phua calls in the CO, Patrik Antonius calls OTB, Mikita Badziakouski calls in the SB, Dominik Nitsche calls in the BB.
Flop (76M) K♠️7♣️6♠️: Mikita checks, Dom checks, I bet 22M, Paul makes it 100M, everyone folds, I call.
Turn (276M) J♠️: I check Paul bets 140M, I call
River (556M) 4♣️: I check Paul bets 353M, I call and lose to Q♠️T♠️
