Daniel Negreanu is one of the most known and respected poker players. He is not only a great tournament and cash player: his reputation also comes from his friendly and nice personality. He has one of the biggest (if not the biggest) fan bases as well. In this article you will see an amazing read from Daniel Negreanu.
The game is tournament no-limit hold’em with 9 players and the blinds are $100/$200. Adam Joens makes the call in UTG with 2h7h. It is a very loose call from UTG with the worst possible combination of cards. At least it is suited! Negreanu looks at his pocket nines (9d9c) and raises to $2 200. A reasonable raise to decrease the number of players and maybe it is even enough to win the pot right there. The next player, Peter Antill also has a pocket pair but a lot smaller (4s4c). His hand is still valuable with good implied odds if he hits it so he calls the $2 200. Now the amateur players make the hand a bit crazy: first the big blind call with KdTs and Joens does not want to fold his deuce-seven eihter makes the call. Four players see the flop. The pot is $8 800.
2s4h6d is the flop, giving Joens a pair of deuces, Antill a set of fours, and Negreanu an overpair of nines. Adam Joens makes a probe bet of $2 800 with his deuces. Daniel Negreanu starts his “amazing read series” in the hand and senses weakness. He raises to $10 300. Antill asks: “$10 300? I call.” I really liked his call. He wants more money in the pot. He thinks that with a raise he can scare the other players away and that is the last thing he wants. He can also make calmly the call because it is unlikely that someone would make a call with pocket threes or fives to hit a straight and there are no flush draws either. The board is just perfect for slowplaying against overpairs. The two other players fold. The pot is $32 200.
The turn is the 8s. Although Daniel still has an overpair he does another amazing read on Antill and checks. He was thinking if Antill made such a large call on the flop that means he had to hit. The board is so dry Antill would not call with a single pair. Overpairs are also not likely because there is a good chance Antill would have reraised with them before the flop. Antill then makes a surprising but great play. He feels weakness from Daniel but he does not want to scare him away. He checks on the turn hoping he can win an extra bet on the river.
Now comes the interesting part. The 8h on the river gives Daniel two pairs and Antill a full house. Daniel checks and Antill bets $15 000, a nice value bet. Daniel Negreanu shows his amazing reading ability and makes the following comment right after the bet: “Make it $15 000 with pocket sixes or pocket fours. Which one is it?” He tries to get information from Antill but this strategy does not work. Daniel does not understand why Antill checked the turn, but he confesses: “If you bet the turn I was just gonna fold.” He ends his analysis with the following comment: “I am gonna fold the second best hand.” Antill mucks his hand and takes the pot.
As you see poker is not about luck at all. Daniel Negreanu is an amazing player with amazing reading skills. He knew when he had to bet, raise, check and fold.
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