How Did These Two Players Read Each Other’s Hands Perfectly?

Deep on Day 4 of the WSOP $1,500 Millionaire Maker, only 13 players remained from a massive 11,769-entry field. With huge pay jumps on the horizon, most players would tighten up, but Halford Fairchild and Garry Gurevich did the exact opposite.

The two locked horns in an incredible dynamic. Gurevich fired a multi-street bluff with just pocket deuces, while Fairchild laid a trap with a flopped Broadway straight. It all led to a river showdown where the two literally called out each other’s exact cards during the table talk.

Was this just a pair of crazy live reads, or does modern poker strategy perfectly explain how they figured it out? Let’s plug the action into GTO Wizard to find out.

The Hand

Halford Fairchild opens to 2,00,000 from the CO holding Q♥10♦. Garry Gurevich calls from the BB with 2♥2♦.

The flop came A♣K♥J♣ and both players checked. Gurevich bet 1,100,000 on the 7♠ turn and Fairchild called.

The river was the 3♥. Gurevich bet 3,100,000 and Fairchild raised to 10,100,000.

After spending some time in the tank, Gurevich looks across the table and asks, “You flopped queen-ten?”

Fairchild immediately replies, “I can beat a pair of deuces.”

Smiling in disbelief, Gurevich eventually finds the fold, revealing 2♥2♦ face up before saying, “That’s kind of crazy.” Fairchild laughs before tabling Q♥10♦.
Let’s use GTO Wizard to analyse the hand and understand how both players were able to narrow down each other’s ranges so accurately.

Pre-Flop Analysis

Halford Fairchild opens to 2M from the CO holding Q♥10♦. GTO Approved ✔️

Qx10x offsuit is the lowest off-suit Qx combo that opens from the CO in this spot.

Garry Gurevich calls from the BB with Q♥2♦. GTO Approved ✔️

The solver mostly prefers raising all-in with 2x2x in this spot, although it does mix in some calls at a low frequency.

Post-Flop Analysis

With 5,500,000 in the middle on the A♣K♥J♣ flop, Gurevich checks with 2♥2♦. GTO Approved ✔️

The BB checks range on this flop, as the CO holds the overall range advantage.

Fairchild checks back with Q♥10♦. GTO Approved ✔️

The solver recommends a mixed strategy with most QTo combos, splitting between betting and checking on the flop.

Recommended Strategy for QTo:

The solver recommends checking with 32.9% of its range on this board.

On the 7♠ turnGurevich bets 1,100,000. GTO Disapproved ✖️

Unfortunately for Gurevich, the solver does not recommend bluffing with pocket deuces in this spot. Instead, it prefers using hands such as flush draws, which retain equity when called.

To better reflect what happened in game, I’ll nodelock the BB’s range to bluff with pocket deuces on the turn so we can analyse the remainder of the hand using Gurevich’s strategy.

Fairchild calls with Q♥10♦. GTO Approved ✔️

Recommended Strategy for QTo:

Again, the solver recommends a mixed strategy with all QTo combos, splitting between calling and raising in this spot.

The 3♥ completes the board with 7,700,000 in the middle. Gurevich leads for 3,100,000. GTO Approved ✔️

If pocket deuces bluff the turn, the solver then recommends continuing with a pure bluff on the river, using the exact 3.1M sizing that Gurevich chose in game.

Recommended Strategy for 22:

Betting 3.1M with all pocket deuces combos produces the highest EV overall in this spot.

Fairchild responds with a raise to 10.1M. GTO Approved ✔️

The solver does not use the 10.1M raise size that Fairchild chose in game, its preferred raise is an all-in for 16.9M. Given how close these sizings are though, there is very little difference in EV or the solver’s overall recommended strategy.

Gurevich folds his pocket deuces. GTO Approved ✔️

Pocket deuces are an easy fold vs this raise.

Psychic or Just GTO?

Now that we have analysed how the solver recommends playing each hand, let’s return to the main question: how were both players able to read each other’s holdings so accurately?

Let’s start on the flop. Which hands in the CO’s range does the solver prefer checking vs the BB?

You can see that the solver mostly checks weaker top pairs, second pair, third pair, and underpairs. Interestingly, the majority of the trapping strategy comes from QTo, while stronger value hands such as sets and two pair mostly prefer betting the flop.

Now let’s move on to the turn. Which hands in the BB’s range does the solver prefer leading after the flop checks through?

For value, the solver primarily bets straights, two pair, top pair, and second pair, while its bluffs mostly come from flush draws.

The solver does not recommend bluffing underpairs on this turn, as doing so would create too many bluff combos relative to value. However, I still quite like Gurevich’s decision to bluff with pocket deuces.

When the preflop aggressor checks back on a board that strongly favours their range, they are often capped towards weaker holdings such as second pair, third pair, and underpairs. Many players would c-bet most of their strong hands, top pairs, and flush draws on the flop, so leading with pocket deuces on the turn can put hands such as 33–99 under significant pressure, potentially forcing them to fold either immediately or on the river.

Pocket deuces also retain some equity when called, as Gurevich can still improve to a set against second- or third-pair holdings. These are likely some of the factors he considered in game, and Fairchild also appeared to recognise that Gurevich could be bluffing with a hand exactly like pocket deuces.

Now let’s examine the CO’s response. Which hands continue by calling vs the BB’s turn lead?

You can see that the CO mostly prefers calling vs this bet size, with only the strongest value hands mixing in some raises. QTo is mostly a call, as playing in position with a low SPR allows it to realise its equity and still get the money in on many river cards.

Let’s now move on to the river. Which hands in the BB’s range does the solver prefer turning into bluffs?

You can see that many of the missed flush draws now prefer checking, while the solver instead chooses low pairs such as 22, 3x, and 7x as river bluffs.

The reason comes down to blockers. The best bluff candidates are hands that unblock the CO’s folding range while blocking some of the hands that continue. The CO’s folds are mainly missed flush draws, missed straight draws, and pocket pairs such as 44–TT, while the hands that continue are mostly top pair, two pair, and sets.

This is why the solver prefers bluffing with low pairs rather than missed draws. These hands help balance the BB’s value range while still allowing the CO to hold plenty of natural folds.

Fairchild may simply have taken a great guess by naming pocket deuces, but it is also possible that he worked through the range logically and realised that 22 is one of the weakest made hands reaching the river, making it a natural candidate to bluff across both the turn and river.

CO’s River Raising Range:

Once the CO raises the river, it is reasonable to narrow their range heavily towards QTo, as this hand has the greatest number of combos that would take this line.

To Summarise – How Did These Two Players Read Each Other’s Hands Perfectly?

Although some incredible live reads and endless hours of playing against each other were undoubtedly involved in both their decisions, both players’ conclusions can also be explained through sound range analysis.

After Fairchild checked back the flop, his range became heavily weighted towards medium-strength hands and traps such as QT, as most stronger value hands prefer betting. When Gurevich then led both the turn and river, his value range was relatively narrow, while his bluffing range became concentrated around low pairs such as pocket deuces after the missed flush draws largely gave up.

By the river, Fairchild could reasonably identify pocket deuces as one of the most likely bluff candidates. Likewise, once Fairchild raised the river, Gurevich could heavily narrow his range towards QTo, as it is the hand with the greatest number of value combos that naturally takes this line.

What initially looked like two unbelievable live reads was, in reality, an excellent demonstration of both players understanding each other’s ranges at an elite level.

A really fun hand to analyse. If you’d like to break down your own hands like this, use the link below to download GTO Wizard for free today.

Full Hand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_1OY9vaQAE (05:27:15)