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Garrett could not have played that hand any worse than he did.

Feels like a trap... why do you say this? Seems very untrue

You going to say "because he folded river every other street good"?

Actually, it was Berkey that could not have played that hand any worse than he did. He inflated the pot preflop with a dominated hand (25% equity). He bet over pot on the flop with just a gutshot (18% equity). He bet the turn with an open-ended straight draw (18% equity). Then, when he binked the straight on the river he got paid $0 (100% equity).

I don't fault the shove on the river. It's actually the only thing he did right in the hand. However, the fact that he couldn't get paid on the river makes all the previous streets that much worse.

He flopped top pair with a good kicker and played totally passive after that. He let Matt win that pot by never making a move on the flop or the turn. If he had bet out he would have won, and if he check raised he would have won. Check-call, check-call, check-fold. That's really weak sauce there!

Ah nice it wasn't a trap you just don't have a clue.... he played in the most standard way possible and likely the best possible way vs Berkey.

I may not have a clue but I know damn well I would have won that pot! This guy Garrett has no prayer playing against the top players. They would eat him alive.

Why would he want Berkey to fold preflop, on the flop, or on the turn? Makes no sense whatsoever.

Players have evolved beyond 2009. It's not just aggressive = good and passive = bad.

Right Vanessa?

It's the exact way to play the hand vs top players.... Doing anything else would be insane.

OMG, you must be kidding. I just watched a guy ask to lose his money and you say this is good play. Poker 101 is the object is to win the pot and not let the other guy take it from you. And that's exactly what Garrett did here. What if Matt had a hand like Q,Ts or J,Ts or T,9s? Which is a hand that you could easily put Matt on. Is Garrett supposed to string him along to the river, checking and calling all the way? By doing that he is giving Matt two chances to steal this pot by making two pair, trips or a straight. If Garrett had check raised the flop he would have won a nice pot. Same for the turn.

And you call that good poker. Well, I don't, and that's why old school players like the ageless Doyle Brunson can still make money playing against the current crop of young guns.

You live in a dream world. Doyle Brunson is not beating any of the mediocre-best pros at NL cash... He's a cheat to boot.

Ahh you are one of those anti gto idiots... You do know GTO just means playing "perfect"? Even in terms of trying to exploit a cr anywhere here would have been stupid. You'da been calling garett a genius if the 18%er bricks and he snaps off a 45k river bluff?

GOTTEM BEFORE THE EDIT TAKING OUT GTO! LMAO

Doyle would have played this hand mostly the same as Gman. Don't try to tarnish the names of pros by acting like any of them are on your side of the argument.

Toupee Jay is the type of guy to over-shove AQ on the flop because he doesn't want Berkey to catch up.

the only street he should have played differently is preflop, should prob 4bet at high frequency with AQo, especially since berkey is 3betting too wide, flop turn and river was fine from garret

and yes Toupee sometimes your hand is not strong enough to raise but good enough to bluffcatch and villain is going to realize his equity, this is part of poker

Yeah he wants to get stacked everytime he is behind and make the other guy fold if he's somehow ahead when 300bb going in a 3 bet pot on a dry a high flop cr lmfao.

Wouldn't brunson have folded the AQ preflop?

Sure Brunson says he doesn't like AQ but there's literally no chance he folds preflop. 0% chance.

Your first mistake is saying that playing GTO is perfect! There is no perfect or standard way to play poker. Every situation is different and every hand plays out differently depending on what you do and who your opponent(s) are. You can play out all the poker simulations you want on a computer, but I have news for you. The computer you've been carrying around in your head all your life still works better!

I've watched a lot of high stakes poker games online and on television and some of the best play has been very unorthodox and certainly not what GTO would tell you to do. The bottom line is that the very best players mix it up a lot and you don't know where they are or what they have.

Garrett gave that pot away with his passive play and any other explanation doesn't fly here. I've got more bad news for you too. The more time you spend depending on a computer to think for you the weaker your own brain becomes. Our brains need stimulation and allowing a computer to do our thinking stifles that. I don't play much poker anymore but when I see a table full of guys with their heads buried in their cell phones I know these guys are not growing as poker players. More poker 101 - you learn more in the hands you don't play then in the ones you do! The best players are paying attention to every hand and how it plays out.

GTO mixes it up better than any human can, you have no idea what GTO is or what it would tell you to do so you may want to avoid comparing it to a simplified human strategy

I was being facetious.

Ok... you are just saying things that are not true now. GTO crushes and the top pros strive to play GTO. It is the only "perfect" way and it's in quotations for a reason, exploiting people nets more often but even in that sense this hand would be a disaster to raise anywhere.

"I've watched a lot of high stakes poker games online and on television and some of the best play has been very unorthodox and certainly not what GTO would tell you to do."

There is not a single chance in hell you know the difference between gto and unorthodox when it comes to deep stack NL. All the top pros I know try to play gto and only deviate when some fish/reg fish is making a clear mistake/giving off a tell and it usually has to be pretty glaring and their confidence level has to be very high.

So True.

One of the best quotes I've heard to describe the game.

the misconception that fishes like toupee and ptlou seem to have about GTO is they think that GTO plays every hand the same way but it couldnt be further from the truth

Yet your post was less unbelievable than Toupee Jay's.

Is this on all over the weekend?

You are right that I don't know anything about GTO other than I believe the full name is Game Theory Optimal. Correct me if I'm wrong please. I will admit that I'm what you might call an "old school" poker player. I started out playing in Dayton, Ohio when I was 13 and have continued to play and enjoy poker for sixty years now. I've never been a "professional" poker player, making my living in other ways. I have supplemented my income from poker, mostly playing in the middle limit games and a few tournaments a year.

I admit that I don't know all the jargon that the current players tend to use when describing their play, but to me Poker is not rocket science. It is a relatively simple game compared to many other endeavors. Position, stack size, hand values and percentages are all key to how you play (or don't play) a hand. The final part of the equation is how well you can "read" your opposition and that's the hard part. If you have a good comprehension of the above things, and you can keep your composure at the table then you have a good chance to be a winning player.

This last thing may be the most important. I doubt there is more than 5% difference in ability among most professional and even semi-pro players. I suspect that the players who have the best self control and self discipline are the winning players overall. I often said that if you can't handle bad beats then you will never be a winning player at Limit Hold'em. This may be true for NL as well. I do know from experience that you will probably take at least one bad beat per hour playing Limit, and you can overcome that if you keep your cool and don't allow it to affect your play.

Good luck and stay humble.