Quick answer: On Crush Live Poker, a caller named Micah described a $5-$10 home game hand where an aggressive hijack had 3-bet him "probably the last five hands that I opened." Micah 4-bet bluffed with A♦4♦, flopped top and bottom pair on A♠J♥4♠, and called a turn jam. The villain had ace-king and the river bricked. Bart Hanson's verdict: you fold ace-queen, you "begrudgingly call" with ace-king, and "you can't really fold ace-four."
Source: Crush Live Poker, "He Raised Me 5 Times... I Finally Had ENOUGH of It," clipped as a YouTube Short.
The setup
Micah, a 26-year-old caller from Utah, said the hand came from a private $5-$10 game, nine-handed, with no cap on the buy-in. He said it was bigger than his usual $1-$3 game, and they were $2,392 effective.
From one seat off the gun, he opened A♦4♦ to $35. The hijack, a player he said he had about 100 hours with, 3-bet to $105. By Micah's account, the same player had 3-bet him "probably the last five hands that I opened."
The 4-bet bluff
"I was a little fed up," Micah said, so he turned the hand into a preflop bluff and made it $335. His read was that the villain was aggressive but would fold, and didn't call 3-bets and 4-bets too wide. The villain called, and the pot was about $675.
Bart was fine with the bluff. Many charts would just fold here, he said, but suited wheel aces like ace-four and ace-five are usually part of a 4-bet bluffing range. He also warned that 4-bets sized too small give the 3-bettor too good a price to call with almost anything in position. Micah's $335 avoided that.
Top and bottom pair
The flop came A♠J♥4♠, giving Micah top and bottom pair. He bet $250, a bit over a third of the pot, hoping to keep the villain in with hands like queens. The villain called fairly quickly, making it about $1,175.
The turn was the 2♣, which Bart called "about the biggest brick in the deck." Micah bet $670, planning to leave about half a pot behind. The villain thought for about 20 seconds and said, "I guess I'm all in." Bart rounded the jam to $1,805, which covered Micah.
Bart's verdict
Micah said he felt "sick about it," but he couldn't see how to fold, so he called fairly quickly. Bart agreed. He said Micah is losing to ace-jack and pocket jacks, but that a good player holding those hands would often trap at such a low stack-to-pot ratio rather than jam. His line: it "makes a lot of sense to fold ace queen and begrudgingly call with ace king. And you can't really fold ace four."
The villain showed ace-king, the river was a brick, and Micah's two pair held. Bart's reply: "Nice hand."
For more Bart Hanson hand reviews from the same show, see the related links below.
More on RealNameOf:
- Bart Hanson on the checked-back nut flush on a paired river
- Bart Hanson on the instant $750 river shove and the bet-timing tell
- Bart Hanson on ace-king and river value on an ace-high board
- Bart Hanson on the river donk 3-bet bluff
- Poker players' real names
FAQ
Is ace-four suited a good 4-bet bluff? Bart Hanson says suited wheel aces like A-4 and A-5 are usually part of a 4-bet bluffing range, even if many charts would simply fold them in a given spot. The ace also blocks the opponent's strongest hands.
What did the villain have? According to Micah, ace-king. His ace-four held after the river bricked.
What were the stakes? A private $5-$10 no-limit hold'em game, about $2,392 effective, according to the caller.