Hand of the Week: Kabrhel Levels Altergott into €276k Fold

This week we’re guests at the €500/€1,000 high stakes cash game held last week at King’s Casino.
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Arved Klöhn Pokerlistings Author
  • Fact Checked by: PokerListings
  • Last updated on: September 18, 2024

We’re watching a spectacular hand between the former European champion Martin Kabrhel and multiple-time High Roller champion Max Altergott. Altergott won the €100k event in Monaco, the €15k event at WPT Paris and the $25k event at the Aussie Millions — all within six months — and he has several more high roller final tables under his belt. Kabrhel won the €20k high roller in Deauville and has been on the high-roller scene for many years.

Poker Hand of the Week

As if the game wasn’t high enough with blinds of €500/€1,000 there have been no less than three straddles of €2k, €4k and €8k. Kabrhel has a stack of €350,000 and is first to act on the button. He raises €22,000 into the €15,500 pot. Fedor Holz in the small blind and Igor Kurganov in the big blind fold. Altergott has a stack of €250,000 UTG.

He calls. Richard Yong and Leon Tsoukernik also fold. The pot is now €57,500 and effective stacks are just shy of €230,000. Altergott checks the flop, Kabrhel bets €22,000 and Altergott calls. There’s €101,500 in the pot and effective stacks are €218,000. The turn is the  

Altergott checks again and Kabrhel bets €50,000, which Altergott again calls. There’s now €201,500 in the pot and effective stacks are just €168,000. A third check from Altergott is met with a big €75,000 bet from Kabrhel. Altergott takes his time to think about his next move but eventually folds. Kabrhel rakes in a pot of €276,500 and then shows his bluff with    

martinkabrhel
Steal attempt gets bigger

Hand Analysis

In a really big hand Kabrhel manages to pull off a major bluff. He fires three barrels to steal a pot of €276,500. Even pre-flop we already have a massive €15,500 in the pot. Kabrhel’s hand is a rather speculative one and he decides to try to steal the pot.

Altergott holds A♦ J♦, a strong hand, but without position he doesn’t want to re-raise. This way he can keep Kabrhel’s bad hands in the pot and watch how the hand unfolds. The other two straddles fold and the flop A♣ Q♣ Q♦ is a rather static one. Whomever has the best hand now will probably still have it on the river.

Altergott checks to the raiser and Kabrhel puts in a regular c-bet. He thus represents an ace to force folds from middle and low pairs which Altergott could have. Altergott calls, which is the obvious and only reasonable move.

Altergott Checks Again

The 3♥ on the turn is a total blank. Altergott checks again, as worse hands than his can hardly call, but they might bet into him. Indeed Kabrhel comes up with another bet — this time €50,000. Altergott now knows that he has to plan for several scenarios on the river. If he calls now he pretty much has to call the river, too.

AA, AK, AQ and every queen are the hands that can beat him while all other hands – except the very unlikely 33 – lose. Apart from total bluffs further possible hands are club flush draws and straight draws. With these hands Kabrhel might try to force weak aces to fold.

Polarized Range to the Max

Martin Kabrhel
Who’s leveling deeper?

The river is another card that most likely changes nothing. Altergott checks again and now Kabrhel bets €75,000. This is a very well-timed bluff. The European Poker Champion of 2009 manages to find a bet that shifts the odds-profit relationship in his favor.

His bluff only needs to work one in four times to be profitable. It also looks like a sucker bet. On the other side of the table Altergott has sensational pot odds of 3.7 to 1, which is an offer you can hardly refuse.

He’s now sure that Kabrhel has either AA, AQ, a queen or total air. If he had AK Kabrhel would probably check. The Czech has polarized his range to the max. Eventually Altergott decides to fold, although a call was more or less a must in this spot. Kabrhel’s mystifying bet on the river had his hand look so strong to Altergott that it manages to make him fold incorrectly.

Who’s Leveling Whom?

Who’s levelling deeper? That’s our question of the week. Martin Kabrhel finds a bet “you cannot fold to” to confuse his opponent so much that he folds the best hand, giving him a huge pot.

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