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Eric Persson’s Insane Bluff Made Phil Galfond Say ‘Bye Bye GTO’

The game started with a double straddle and Eric Persson got dealt with A9s. What is so special about this hand? Well, this hand was a $200K bluff and both players involved had a lot on line. 

How does this hand unfold? Keep reading further to find out more. Poker player and Run It Once founder Phil Galfond tweeted about this hand and did his bit of dissection. But before we get to that let us see how this hand played out.

Eric Persson vs. Jean-Robert Bellande

Jean-Robert Bellande (JRB) was playing with AKo from the button. JRB makes the call and Persson follows suit.  The flop opens with 5 ♣ 6 ♦ A ♣. JRB bets $12,000, other players fold but Persson calls. 

Ten of diamonds show up on the turn and Persson instantly checks. JRB bets $30,000 and once again his rival makes the call. Next up was the river card which brought 8 of diamonds. 

Eric Persson sent @BrokeLivingJRB deep into the tank with TPTK.

I chatted with @IAmMaverick888 about the thought process that resulted in this exciting hand.

Was it a stroke of genius or total madness?

Let’s find out! ⬇️https://t.co/2t4z1V7cVB pic.twitter.com/xE3wCZFp57

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) August 18, 2023

JRB was in a mood to go nuclear and ended up throwing $65,000 into the pot. Persson thinks for a bit and goes one step ahead. He raises $200K. Yes, that is what the co-founder of Maverick Gaming did. Now the pot was bloated and stood at $435,400. God only knows what got into JRB, but he started praising Persson for his play. 

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He said whether Persson was bluffing or had the cards to justify that check-raise, it was excellent play from Persson. JRB in a candid confession mood said that he wasn’t rich enough to call Persson’s check-raise. 

Phil Galfond adds that Persson’s play was not GTO style and there is a strong case of Persson’s body language and strategy which was not standard.

JRB makes the painful decision of folding but not before requesting Persson to muck his cards to which he responds by throwing them face up. Oh lord, talk about rubbing salt on wounds. This was even worse. 

Folding AK was never easy, but Persson just made it so bad for JRB that it hurts to even comment on that hand. Not surprising that Galfond titled his video on the above hand as ‘Bye-Bye GTO’ because no GTO was recommending that check-raise. 

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