Daniel Negreanu: Value Bet or Check-Call?

Daniel Negreanu’s newer, faster, stronger blog continues its new feature in which Negreanu dips into particular hands and talks about the kind of considerations a player should have on each street, pre-flop to showdown.

This week’s hand is taken from a late stage televised hand in the PokerStars Championship in the Bahamas, a fact thoroughly emphasised by Stars pro Daniel Negreanu in his somewhat over-caffeinated introduction/ Stars promo. The hand he chose is between Canadian pro Mike Gentili, and eventual winner of the tournament Christian Harder. The table is short handed when Gentilli raises his ace-queen off-suit in the cut-off, and gets reraised by Harder in the small blind with a suited king-ten.

Daniel then walks us through each of the decisions made by each player, giving his take on what should or shouldn’t have happened, and why. For example talking about why the suitedness of a hand like king-ten makes a difference far beyond just allowing one to hit a flush. Hitting a draw, he points out, can give you opportunities to stay in a hand longer, play more aggressively and take down pots you might have had to fold outright with an unsuited hand.

He also gets into the way stack sizes change the effect of a bet, and how the hand in question is influenced by the late stage of the tournament it is being played in, stressing as he goes along, just how important forward planning is - what are you gonna do on the next street if your opponent bets? What if he folds? What if he sets fire to the table and makes for the door?

But the central question Daniel raises is - should Harder have value bet his hand on the river rather than check-call? Watch the video and let us know your answers to the question on the back of a postcard or in the comments, please.