Could you pass this AK instead of Sammartino? Analysis by Jonathan Little

Jonathan LittleNot only is he a great poker champion, but he’s also one of the most prolific content creators on the web, with at least a few new analyzes a week.

Then when the hand in question affects ours Dario Sammartino At a major online final table, we just can’t help but hear his thoughts!

Dario Sammartino vs Benjamin Rolle

Situation: Super MILLION$ final table, Dario is the shortest at 20bb at T40k.

preflop: Sammartino raises to 80k from the cutoff with an AkBenjamin ‘bencb789’ Rolle on the phone from BTN to KQalso named by Niklas Astedt from BB with J10.

Flops: 493 (Pots 300k) – Check, check, ‘bencb’ bets 99,000, Dario flat.

turn: a (Pots 498k) – Sammartino checks again, Benjamin bets 164k again, and Dario calls.

river: 5 (Pots 826k) – Rolle moved all in for an effective 460,000 on Dario’s third check and Sammartino folded.

Jonathan Little’s analysis

I think it was a flop for Dario best choice be a check fold against big bets, maybe he can call a small bet from Benjamin Rolle if Niklas folds, but It’s not a great board for him.

Rolle’s use is reasonable, but why does it make sense on KQo and not AKs? Well, if you hit a Q or a King you’ll probably be good, plus Rolle has a pretty good flush draw backdoor and a straight backdoor. It won’t happen often, but they are there lots of turns to keep bluffing on.

It’s a difficult choice for Sammartino here because you can be ahead but you will have it Difficulties in realizing your equity. Rolle is known for being aggressive.

The turn is great for Dario, but he can lose against all suits. A sensible spot to check, leading here will likely call for many better hands. Benjamin’s bet on that turn seems excellent to me, knowing that often 3-barring is an effective move. He will be able to check the river cards like Ace, 9, maybe King and Q.

With his flush draw and that size, Ben folded Ability to fold against a push. Should Dario go all in? I don’t really hate it, the problem is that almost every time you get a call you get hit.

Ben didn’t actually draw a lot on the river, I don’t think he has a lot of 76s or A2s in his range, although he could. If he goes all-in here, his range would probably be flush and 2-pair.

If you get to the river and don’t go all in, you’re probably wrong unless it’s an opponent who would call easily with pocket aces (like me). If you want to bet the turn to check the river, why bet the turn at all?

When Rolle bets on the river, I don’t think he wants Dario to fold AK, I think he’s looking for weaker aces, 9X’s and underpairs, all of which fold reasonably. I AK wouldn’t classify it herebut Sammartino is a great player and I’m not pretending to be right, we just have two different thoughts.