Hand goes like this:
Gus Hansen raises to 2100 with 5/5. Negreanu re-raises to $5000 with 6/6. They are the only two players to see the flop.
Flop comes 9 6 5, with both players hitting a set. Both players surely think that their hands are good here. Negreanu leads out with an $8000 raise. Hansen thinks it over, and re-raises to $26,000. Negreanu calls.
The turn comes a 5, the absolute money card for Hansen, leaving Negreanu with one out (a 6). Hansen now leads out with a $24,000 bet. Negreanu ponders, but still thinks his hand is good, as he now has 6's full. He slowplay's his hand, and just flat-calls.
The river comes an 8, a good card for both players as they both hope that the other player made a straight. Hansen checks (!), and Negreanu bets $65,000. Hansen thinks for a minute, and re-raises all in, for $167,000 more. Negreanu ponders, and makes a call. Hansen flips over the nuts.
The question is, could Negreanu have gotten away from this hand? Hansen is a notoriously loose player, and could have had just about anything. Looking at the hand, Hansen appeared to have a decent hand the whole way, and this should have set alarm bells off in Negreanu's head. Hansen raises, then flat-calls preflop. He re-raises Negreanu on the flop. He leads out with a weak bet after the turn. He then checks the river. This just screamed monster to me, though I guess it's easy to say that as an observer.
There were a lot of hands beating Negreanu after the river; 55, 99, 88. This was a situation where a loose image got a call; I think that Negreanu would have laid down this hand on the river to a number of other players. But Hansen? His loose image got a call here. Great hand.
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Filed Under: Poker on TV