Trapping with pocket kings and calling with just king-high? This hand from the Triton Jeju II $100,000 Main Event had it all, and Lukas Robinson returns to PokerNews to analyze it using GTO Wizard.
The hand took place during heads-up play between Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman and rising Austrian high-stakes pro Bernhard Binder. It took place with blinds of 500,000/1,000/1,000,000 with Schulman having 37 million chips (37 big blinds) and Binder having 11.8 million (11.8 big blinds).
After an ICM deal, each player was guaranteed $3,080,112 while playing for the first-place money of $3,854,888.
Read About the Triton Jeju Main Event
Pre-flop Action
Schulman called with K♥K♠ on the button. Binder raised to 3.5M in the big blind with K♣J♦. Schulman just called.
Post-Flop
Flop (8,000,000 Pot): A♥8♦2♥
Action: Binder bet 1M. Schulman made the call.
Turn (10,000,000 Pot): 5♣
Action: Binder bet 2M. Schulman called.
River (14,000,000 Pot): 10♦
Action: Binder checked. Schulman put him all-in for his remaining 4.3M chips. After a lengthy tank, Binder eventually made the call.
Schulman revealed K♥K♠ and his pocket kings were good against Binder’s K♣J♦. With that final pot, Schulman stole the victory and took down the $100K Triton Main Event for $3,854,888.
But with so many fascinating decisions throughout the hand, did both players play it according to GTO? Let’s use the GTO Wizard solver to find out.
Pre-flop Analysis
Schulman calls with K♥K♠. GTO Approved ✔️
The solver recommends a polarised limping strategy, trapping with some of its strongest hands while also limping weaker holdings. Meanwhile, many of the middling hands prefer to simply go all-in preflop.
Recommended Strategy and EV for KK:
Calling with pocket kings generates the highest EV overall, allowing Schulman to trap and induce raises from the BB’s weaker hands. With Binder starting the hand with just 11.8bb, the SPR will already be extremely low post-flop, giving Schulman plenty of opportunity to extract maximum value later in the hand.
Binder raises to 3.5M in the BB with K♣J♦. GTO Disapproved ✖️
The first mistake of the hand. Although the solver uses the 3.5bb raise sizing with around 9% of its range, KJo is not one of these hands. Instead, KJo prefers to simply go all-in vs the limp.
Recommended Strategy and EV for KJo:
However, as you can see from the EV of each option, raising to 3.5bb performs only slightly worse than going all-in. Therefore, while it is technically a GTO mistake, the EV loss is minimal and the decision is far from costly.
I’ll nodelock the BB’s range to include KJo at full weight in the 3.5bb raising range, more accurately reflecting the strategy Binder used in game.
Schulman just calls the raise with K♥K♠. GTO Approved ✔️
Most players may instinctively want to go all-in here with KK, but neither the solver nor Schulman agrees. Interestingly, the strongest pocket pairs, from 99 all the way up to AA, prefer to just call the BB’s raise. But why?
Hands in BB’s 3.5bb Raising Range:
If we look at the BB’s 3.5bb raising range above, it contains relatively few Ax, Kx, Qx and Jx hands, as many of these prefer going all-in vs the limp.
By just calling, KK keeps the BB’s weaker hands in the pot and allows them to continue bluffing or improve post-flop. With the SPR already low, there is also no urgency to build the pot preflop.
Finally, keeping premium hands such as KK in the calling range protects the rest of that range, preventing a capable opponent from easily exploiting it post-flop.
Post-Flop Analysis
Flop (8,000,000 Pot): A♥8♦2♥
BB vs SB Range Comparison:
The BB holds a significant range advantage on this flop, with more equity and a greater proportion of the strongest hands. Let’s see how this advantage affects both players’ flop strategies.
Binder bets 1M with K♣J♦. GTO Disapproved ✖️
Due to its significant range advantage, the BB doesn’t want to check any hands on this flop. Instead, the solver recommends betting its entire range using sizes of 1bb, 2bb and 7.3bb all-in.
However, no KJo combos want to use the 1bb sizing that Binder chose in game, making his decision GTO disapproved.
Recommended Strategy and EV for KJo:
You can see that with most KJo combos, betting 2bb (25% pot) or going all-in generates higher EV than the 1bb (13% pot) sizing Binder used in game.
I’ll once again nodelock the BB’s range to include more 1bb bets with hands such as KJo, more accurately reflecting Binder’s strategy in game.
Schulman makes the call with K♥K♠. GTO Approved ✔️
Due to the BB’s significant range advantage, the SB mostly continues by calling, with only 9.7% of its range going all-in.
Recommended Strategy and EV for KK:
KK is once again a pure call, with combos containing the K♥ generating even higher EV from calling, as they require less protection against the BB’s king-high flush draws.
Turn (10,000,000 Pot): 5♣
BB vs SB Turn Range Comparison:
The 5♣ doesn’t significantly change the range dynamics, with the BB still holding the overall range advantage going into the turn.
Binder bets 2M with K♣J♦. GTO Disapproved ✖️
The solver does recommend mostly using the 2bb (20% pot) sizing on the turn, but unfortunately for Binder, K♣J♦ is not one of the hands that wants to use it.
Recommended Strategy and EV for KJo:
When betting KJo, the solver instead prefers the all-in sizing and never uses the 2bb bet. Specifically, K♣J♦ generates the highest EV by checking.
Let’s take a look at the SB’s calling range vs a BB all-in to understand why.
You can see above that many of the hands folding to an all-in contain a jack, while relatively few of the calling hands contain a king or jack. This makes most KJo combos poor bluff candidates, as they block many of the hands the BB wants to fold while unblocking much of the SB’s calling range.
Interestingly, K♥Jx is the exception, as the K♥ blocks some of the king-high flush draws that can call the all-in, making these combos better bluff candidates.
I’ll once again nodelock the BB’s range to include more 2bb bets with hands such as K♣J♦, more accurately reflecting Binder’s strategy in game.
Schulman calls with K♥K♠. GTO Approved ✔️
KK is once again a pure call. Meanwhile, more vulnerable made hands such as 5x, 8x, 99 and TT prefer going all-in for protection rather than allowing the BB to realise its equity cheaply.
River (14,000,000 Pot): 10♦
Binder checks with K♣J♦. GTO Approved ✔️
Most of the BB’s king-high and queen-high hands now prefer checking rather than bluffing the river. Instead, the solver selects hands from the very bottom of its range as bluffs, including combos such as 63o, 73o, 93o, 76s and 96s.
Recommended Strategy and EV for KJo:
The solver does mix in some bluffs with KJo at a very low frequency. However, most KJo combos prefer checking, with checking generating the highest EV overall across every combo.
Schulman goes all-in 4.3M chips with K♥K♠. GTO Approved ✔️
Once checked to, the solver recommends going all-in for value with all hands that are third pair or better. With such a low SPR, most of the SB’s stronger made hands simply want to put the remaining chips in, making KK a clear value shove.
Binder tanks before eventually making the call with K♣J♦. GTO Approved ✔️
For many, this may be the most surprising decision of the entire hand, with Binder check-calling the river with just king-high. However, according to the solver, his hero call was correct.
Let’s take a look at the bluffing hands in the SB’s range to understand why KJo becomes a profitable call.
‘No Made Hands’ in the SB’s River Range:
Here you can see that the SB should be bluffing with hands such as 76o, 63s, 93s, 94s and J3s. KJo not only beats all of these bluffs, but also unblocks many of them, making it a strong bluff-catcher.
However, there is an argument that many players may not find enough of these river bluffs in game. So, let’s nodelock the SB’s range to contain fewer bluffs and see whether KJo remains a profitable call.
Nodelocked SB River Bluffing Range:
BB response vs SB nodelocked range:
Against the nodelocked range, all KJo combos now become pure folds.
Before the nodelock, the BB was calling 72.9% of its range and folding just 27.1%. After reducing the SB’s river bluffs, this completely flips, with the BB now calling only 28.3% and folding 71.7%.
Importantly, I didn’t remove all of the SB’s bluffs. Simply reducing the frequency of some bluffing combos was enough to dramatically change the BB’s response.
This highlights the importance of recognising whether an opponent is underbluffing or overbluffing in these river spots, as even relatively small changes to their bluffing frequency can have a huge impact on your optimal calling strategy.
Key Takeaways
- Preflop: Schulman correctly trapped with KK, while Binder’s 3.5bb raise with KJo was a small GTO mistake.
- Flop: Binder used the wrong bet size with KJo, while Schulman correctly called with KK.
- Turn: KJo prefers checking rather than betting 2bb. Schulman’s KK was again a pure call.
- River: Schulman correctly shoved KK for value after Binder checked.
- Hero Call: Binder’s king-high call was GTO approved against the solver’s bluffing range.
- Nodelocking: When we reduced Schulman’s bluffs, KJo became a pure fold, showing how important your opponent’s bluffing frequency is when hero calling.
Want to find these spots in your own game? Use GTO Wizard to analyse and study your hands, and download it for free today.
Watch the full hand at the 07:50:00 mark of this YouTube video.
Lukas Robinson
Poker Pro & Sigma Poker Tour Ambassador