Sam Kiki broke down his hand with a bluff against Negreanu on Hustler Casino Live
Daniel Negreanu's debut on Hustler Casino Live turned into a real bankroll rollercoaster for him. The eight-time WSOP champion first went down $160,000, then climbed to $120,000 in profit, but in the end finished the session with a five-figure loss. On top of that, however, the Canadian pulled off a spectacular bluff against Sam "Señor Tilt" Kiki.
Preflop there were several limps, and then Negreanu and Dr. H called Kiki's $6,000 bet. The players went to the flop with a $20,000 pot. On the K♦️3♦️2♦️ flop, Kiki with K♠️J♦️ had top pair and a flush draw, while Negreanu with A♦️Q♠️ had only a draw.
Everyone checked, and on the 6♣️ turn Negreanu bet $6,000, forcing Dr. H to fold his A♠️2♠️. Kiki called, and on the J♥️ river he bet $20,000. And here Negreanu decided to bluff and went for a surprising check-raise to $75,000. "Señor Tilt," after a long deliberation, folded his two pair, and his opponent with ace-high took down $40,100.
Now, on his X account, Sam Kiki has explained why he didn't call Negreanu's check-raise. According to the American cash-game player, he assumed his opponent had a pocket pair that gave him a set. "Señor Tilt" also admitted that he should have called Negreanu's bet.
"I need to find bluffs from him, right? A player as strong as Daniel is going to have both bluffs and value in this spot. His value is the flopped flushes. And, as it seems to me, sets, because they can also be played this way. And that's it. Two pair and hands like that aren't in his value range here.
And he should be bluffing with hands containing the A♦️. There are practically no other really good bluffing candidates here. So I start thinking: his value is 77, 22, 33, meaning sets, or suited diamond connectors.
I've watched how Daniel plays. He's a phenomenal player, one of the best. But I always separate old-school pros and new-school players — the GTO guys from online.
That said, Daniel has huge PLO experience. So the whole story with the nut blocker being used for a check-raise bluff is well familiar to him. But I just couldn't find offsuit combinations with an ace that he could have limp-called preflop. And that's exactly where all the logic of my decision started to fall apart.
I was thinking: "What is he even going to limp-call with? AKo? AQo? AJo? ATo?" Because with many of those hands I personally would just open-raise. Maybe there's a whole preflop strategy with limp-calls where tournament players mix in hands like that. But I just wasn't factoring those offsuit Ax combos into my calculations.
And so, if you saw me talking at the end of the hand, I said something like: "Damn, a set... This looks a lot like a set." I couldn't find those bluffs. I was thinking: "Okay, A♦️ and what else? What second card even makes sense here?" And I couldn't find anything. I couldn't reconcile it with his preflop line.
I don't know if Daniel thought about this. Although, of course, credit where it's due. This guy is one of the greatest of all time. So maybe he really did think it all through.
But preflop he played his hand so much like 22, 33, or 77 that I just thought: "God, he has exactly that. He literally has exactly those cards."
And if Daniel wants to add some other hands to his preflop limp-call range, it would make sense to add suited connectors there. They work great in deep stacks. You can add 4♦️5♦️, 5♦️6♦️, 6♦️6♦️.
And I'm thinking: "Damn, he has the nuts here much more often than bluffs." Ultimately that's what it all came down to for me. I think I probably should have called after all. I think with the J♦️ specifically I need to find a call.
But at the same time, it seems to me that a lot of KJ combos here can just be folded. At least, that's what I would assume. That was my logic."
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Preflop there were several limps, and then Negreanu and Dr. H called Kiki's $6,000 bet. The players went to the flop with a $20,000 pot. On the K♦️3♦️2♦️ flop, Kiki with K♠️J♦️ had top pair and a flush draw, while Negreanu with A♦️Q♠️ had only a draw.
Everyone checked, and on the 6♣️ turn Negreanu bet $6,000, forcing Dr. H to fold his A♠️2♠️. Kiki called, and on the J♥️ river he bet $20,000. And here Negreanu decided to bluff and went for a surprising check-raise to $75,000. "Señor Tilt," after a long deliberation, folded his two pair, and his opponent with ace-high took down $40,100.
Now, on his X account, Sam Kiki has explained why he didn't call Negreanu's check-raise. According to the American cash-game player, he assumed his opponent had a pocket pair that gave him a set. "Señor Tilt" also admitted that he should have called Negreanu's bet.
"I need to find bluffs from him, right? A player as strong as Daniel is going to have both bluffs and value in this spot. His value is the flopped flushes. And, as it seems to me, sets, because they can also be played this way. And that's it. Two pair and hands like that aren't in his value range here.
And he should be bluffing with hands containing the A♦️. There are practically no other really good bluffing candidates here. So I start thinking: his value is 77, 22, 33, meaning sets, or suited diamond connectors.
I've watched how Daniel plays. He's a phenomenal player, one of the best. But I always separate old-school pros and new-school players — the GTO guys from online.
That said, Daniel has huge PLO experience. So the whole story with the nut blocker being used for a check-raise bluff is well familiar to him. But I just couldn't find offsuit combinations with an ace that he could have limp-called preflop. And that's exactly where all the logic of my decision started to fall apart.
I was thinking: "What is he even going to limp-call with? AKo? AQo? AJo? ATo?" Because with many of those hands I personally would just open-raise. Maybe there's a whole preflop strategy with limp-calls where tournament players mix in hands like that. But I just wasn't factoring those offsuit Ax combos into my calculations.
And so, if you saw me talking at the end of the hand, I said something like: "Damn, a set... This looks a lot like a set." I couldn't find those bluffs. I was thinking: "Okay, A♦️ and what else? What second card even makes sense here?" And I couldn't find anything. I couldn't reconcile it with his preflop line.
I don't know if Daniel thought about this. Although, of course, credit where it's due. This guy is one of the greatest of all time. So maybe he really did think it all through.
But preflop he played his hand so much like 22, 33, or 77 that I just thought: "God, he has exactly that. He literally has exactly those cards."
And if Daniel wants to add some other hands to his preflop limp-call range, it would make sense to add suited connectors there. They work great in deep stacks. You can add 4♦️5♦️, 5♦️6♦️, 6♦️6♦️.
And I'm thinking: "Damn, he has the nuts here much more often than bluffs." Ultimately that's what it all came down to for me. I think I probably should have called after all. I think with the J♦️ specifically I need to find a call.
But at the same time, it seems to me that a lot of KJ combos here can just be folded. At least, that's what I would assume. That was my logic."
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