WPH #561: He SHOCKS Everyone!!!!!!!

#gameofgold #pokerstrategy #ggpoker Playing poker on a TV table under bright lights with your cards revealed is a daunting challenge for any poker player. Adding a seasoned poker professional like Maria Ho as your opponent makes the situation even more nerve-racking! Lukas Robinson found himself in exactly that spot during GGPoker’s Game of Gold, facing a stare-down from Ho after firing a big river bet with just six high! Will he shock everyone with this audacious bluff, or will Ho sniff it out and pick him off?

When you’re on the fence about whether to call or fold with a hand, it’s important to consider the suits of the cards in your hand and how they may block or unblock your opponent’s bluffs. If there’s a flush on the board and you have a weak top pair, holding a card that matches the suit of the potential flush makes calling more profitable if you are following a game theory optimal (GTO) poker strategy, as it reduces the number of flushes your opponent could have.

Maria Ho is a professional poker player from America. She has over $5,400,000 in live tournament earnings, putting her in the top 350 on the all-time money list. She is well known for commentating on a wide variety of poker shows including the US Poker Open, Super High Roller Bowl, Poker Masters and the World Series of Poker.

Lukas Robinson “RobinPoker” is a professional poker player from England. He has over $50,000 in live tournament earnings. He is known for being the first PokerNews ambassador, a role that sees him streaming online poker on Twitch. He made a name for himself in 2021 when he became the first poker player to stream his poker sessions for over 1,000 hours across 100 consecutive days.

Filmed in Seoul, South Korea and hosted by experienced poker broadcaster Ali Nejad, Game of Gold combines high stakes poker with survival reality TV. Over the course of the 12 episodes, the sixteen participants competed across various poker formats, including Sit & Go’s, Heads-Up games, Indian Poker and a standard tournament poker game.

The poker players on the show included Daniel Negreanu “KidPoker”, Jason Koon, Fedor Holz “CrownUpGuy”, Kevin Martin, Kyna England, Josh Arieh, Daniel Cates “Jungleman”, Lukas Robinson “RobinPoker”, Nikita Luther ‘HiiiBarbie’, Charlie Carrel “Epiphany77”, Johan Guilbert “YoH ViraL”, Olga Iermolcheva, David Williams, Andy Tsai “Andy Stacks”, Michael Soyza and Maria Ho.

In Round 1, a four-tier Sit & Go poker format, each team (spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs) put a poker player into a separate round of four-handed poker action, with Game of Gold coins on offer for finishing first, second, third, or fourth. The rounds increased in the amount of coins that were offered, until the fourth ‘mystery’ round, where no one knew how many coins were on offer. The team with the least Game of Gold coins at the end of all four Sit & Go’s would be eliminated.

The final six players competed in a winner-take-all format Sit & Go (SNG). This was unique as it meant there was no Independent Chip Model (ICM) pressure on any of the poker players.

Game of Gold Results 1st: Maria Ho – U.S.A – $456,000 2nd: Daniel Cates ‘Jungleman’ – U.S.A – $0 3rd: Johan Guilbert ‘Yoh Viral’ – France – $0 4th: Fedor Holz ‘CrownUpGuy’ – Germany – $0 5th: Kyna England – U.S.A – $0

Preflop: After the cutoff and button fold, Maria Ho calls the extra 20,000 from the small blind holding J6o. Lukas Robinson decides to check his option out of the big blind with 65o and they head to the flop.

Flop – Jd 7d 2s: Ho flops top pair with a backdoor flush draw and leads out for a minimum bet of 40,000. Robinson floats the flop with just six high, a backdoor straight draw and a backdoor flush draw.

Turn – 8d: The flush completes on the 8 of diamonds turn. Ho checks her pair of jacks with a flush draw and Robinson tries to take down the pot with a bet of 80,000 after picking up an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Ho calls as they both make it to the river