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Online-phenom "OMGClayAiken" rethinking a three-barrel bluff that went wrong

June 11th, 2009

Read this article at cardplayer.com

Phil Galfond has become one of the most respected cash game players in the world during his short career. At age 24, Galfond has earned millions playing the highest staked games live and online where he plays under the handle “OMGClayAiken.” Galfond can often be found playing the $500-$1,000 half pot-limit Omaha half pot-limit hold’em games on Full Tilt. He sits down with Card Player to discuss a hand during one of those sessions.

The Game

Game: No-limit hold’em
Blinds: $500-$1,000

The Lineup

OMGClayAiken [Phil Galfond] — $353,437.50 — Big blind
ahtata — $365,333.50 — Button
Patrik Antonius — $200,500 — Small blind

Preflop Action: ahtata raised on the button to $3,500, and Patrik Antonius called. Phil Galfond reraised to $15,400 with Ac Js. ahtata folded, and Antonius called. The pot was now $34,000.

Kristy Arnett: What went into your decision making to reraise preflop with this hand?

Phil Galfond: Well, it’s pretty hard to play hands out of position when you are this deep, especially a hand like A-J offsuit. We are three-handed, and both of them are playing pretty loose, so I think that there is a lot of value, first of all, in the chance that I just take down the money that is already in the pot. Some people don’t consider it that much when you have a hand like A-J that rates to be best, but there’s nothing wrong with taking down the pot there.

KA: What kind of hand are you putting Patrik on at this point?

PG: When he calls out of position to me, I think his range is pretty tight. He’s folding a lot of suited three-gappers. Hands like 10-7 or A-10 off. I think he folds A-J, K-J, Q-J offsuit, but he has a lot of pairs in his range, or even a hand like A-J suited or A-Q that he decided not to reraise.

Flop Action: The flop came 10h 5d 3c. Antonius checked, and Galfond bet $22,400. Antonius called. The pot was now $79,100.

KA: How did you decide whether or not to continuation-bet or check behind in this spot?

PG: This is one of those spots where, when you continuation-bet, you are not really getting better hands to fold, and you are getting very few worse hands to call, but the main problem with checking behind here is that against a very good player like Patrik, you are kind of turning your hand face up. Giving him that much information in a big pot with two streets to come is a little bit dangerous. He will be able to put me in a lot of tough spots. I usually opt to continuation-bet with a lot of my very weak hands and very strong hands and most of my medium strength hands like ace-high just so that he has a tougher time putting me on a hand. It would also be hard for him to check-raise on this flop, given how deep we are. If we were 100 big blinds deep, he could check-raise with 10-9 and get it in, but that would be kind of a spew this deep. So, I don’t expect to get check-raised that much, so a lot of times, I’ll be able to check behind the turn if I want, or bet some turns cards that improve my hand or would be good to bluff on. I think a bet here plays a lot better than turning my hand face up with a check.

Turn Action: The turn was the 10s. The board was now 10h 5d 3c 10s. Antonius checked, and Galfond bet $48,400. Antonius called. The pot was now $175,900.

KA: What type of hand are you trying to represent by barreling the turn again when he checks? A 10?

PG: With my bet-sizing, a 10 is definitely a big part of my range, but I can also have kings, queens, or aces. Whereas, if I had bet larger, I think it would have been harder for me to represent overpairs because the 10 paired the turn. I was mainly trying to represent overpairs still. This is one of those spots where, on the surface, if you are playing against a random opponent, this is a very bad spot to bluff. The 10 paired, so it’s possible he has a 10. If he doesn’t have a 10, he has an underpair or a 5 most of the time, and given that the 10 paired, he’s more likely to think his hand is best. So this is not a spot where most people should bluff against a player who is not as good or they doesn’t have history with. Given that it’s one of those spots that’s so “bad to bluff,” Patrik knows that, and he knows that I’m not going to be bluffing too much in this spot. I felt that it was a good opportunity to make a bluff in a spot that doesn’t seem “good,” but that he would give me a lot of credit.

River Action: The river was the 4s. The board was now 10h 5d 3c 10s 4s. Antonius checked, and Galfond bet $267,237.50 and was all in. Antonius called $114,300 and was all in. Antonius showed 8h 8c and won the pot of $404,499.

PG: The river logic is pretty similar to the turn logic. Just given that now that he has check-called the turn, I don’t think that it is super likely that he has a 10, but it is very likely that he had an underpair to the 10, or potentially an ace-high flush draw, but I think he would check-shove the turn with that rather than check-call. Most likely, he has an underpair or a 5, and again, it’s one of those spots where I don’t think that it’s a great spot to bluff on the surface, but because of that, he can give me a lot of credit. The 4 hitting the river isn’t completely inconsequential. It does complete 7-6, A-2, and actually 6-2. I could have three-bet light with 6-2 suited, so the 4 does complete a few of my draws. I think that the 4 helps a little bit. It was kind of a leveling war, where I thought that he knows I shouldn’t be bluffing in this spot, so I thought he could give some credit. I also have some decent pot odds on my river bluff in that it’s only $114,000 into $176,000, so it doesn’t have to work all that often to be profitable.

KA: What do you think went wrong in this hand?

PG: You don’t want to be results-oriented, because he did actually take a long time to call here — all of his time bank. I think one of the problems was that I would play aces or kings this way, but I’m not sure that Patrik thought that I would. So it is important to balance your range and be able to play bluffs the same way that you would play a whole variety of made hands, but it is also important to play a bluff in a way that they think you would play your made hands. I think this is the way I would play kings, but I don’t think Patrik believed that, which is why I think he ultimately called.

KA: Would you have done anything differently?

PG: I wouldn’t do anything differently. I’m happy with my play, and it’s important to have in my arsenal.

In late 2008, Galfond launched BluefirePoker.com, a subscription based training site where members can get access to in-depth strategy videos by in-house pros. Galfond is the lead instructor and contributes four to six videos a month. His personal blog is also posted on the website.