Hand Analysis: How Esfandiari Beat Negreanu with the Worst Hand
The conclusion of last week's coverage of the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event saw Antonio Esfandiari once again join the team at ESPN to provide analysis for what turned out to be a stirring final table.
As this year's WSOP coverage was winding down, our Sarah Herring caught up with Esfandiari at the recently completed 888Live Poker Festival London to analyze yet another hand, one he'd played last year during the Super High Roller Bowl series recently been featured on PokerCentral.
The hand involved Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu, and came at a point in the tournament when Esfandiari had 105,000 and Negreanu 91,000, with the blinds at 500/1,000.
Negreanu opened from the button for 2,500 with A?9?, and Esfandiari defended his big blind with a call after being dealt 9?8?. The flop came 9?5?6?, giving both players top pair, with Negreanu having a better kicker and Esfandiari a gutshot straight draw.
After checking and watching Negreanu continue for 3,500, Esfandiari took over the initiative in the hand by check-raising to 9,000. Negreanu called, then after the J? turn called another bet of 13,500 from Esfandiari, bringing the pot to just over 50,000.
The river brought the 4? and an all-in shove from Esfandiari who had Negreanu covered. The latter tanked and talked, saying "you don't have a straight, you don't have three of a kind" before finally folding the better hand.
In discussing the hand, Esfandiari explains how the flop check-raise was a first step toward getting an idea where he was in the hand, then after his turn bet was called by Negreanu he was sure his hand was second-best.
"I decided to turn my hand into a bluff" with the river shove, explains Esfandiari. "I'd been trying to bluff Daniel for about 15 years, and finally it worked out."
Listen to Esfandiari's reasoning as well as his advice for how best to handle trying to get big bluffs through such as he did here:
