Strategy with Kristy: Max Steinberg Talks About Getting Three-Outed For a Bracelet

Max Steinberg is fresh off an incredible summer having placed second in the World Series of Poker National Championship, seventh and second in WSOP events, and 115th in the WSOP Main Event. He returned to the Strategy with Kristy podcast to talk about it a few interesting hands he played.

In the $3,000 No-limit Hold'em Mixed Max event, Steinberg faced Isaac Hagerling in a heads up match for the bracelet. Steinberg was three-outed on the river (all in on the turn) in a hand that would have clinched him the win. He discusses the hand in depth. Here is a snippet from that part of the interview:

"With blinds at 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante, he [Hagerling] raised on the button to 65,000. I three-bet to 175,000 with . I expected he would call because he just seemed to like to call my three-bets. The flop came . I c-bet [continuation bet] 250,000. This seemed pretty standard up to this point. The only things I knew about Isaac were from hands that he played that I looked up on PokerNews. I saw that he had floated Jeremy Ausmus on a flop in a three-bet pot on a similar board. So, once I c-bet and he called, I was planning on check-raising the turn. I thought that he might float and bet the turn with a lot of his bluffs. I could put him in a really tough spot.

"The turn ends up being . I checked and he bet 525,000. This was another thing that was different than what people usually do. It was really big bet sizing but that was sort of normal for him. The downside for him making this bet was that it really can get him in trouble. It made the pot really, really huge, and I could make it even bigger. I decided to check-jam against him [check raise all in] for 2.2 million. He thought about it for a minute but really felt like he couldn't fold. I don't blame him with what he has because I could have easily had a flush draw or or some sort of draw like that. Once he bet that big, he just really shouldn't fold. He ended up having . At the time, I didn't realize I actually had him covered. I knew we were pretty even, but I thought he had me slightly covered. I didn't even really understand the gravity of the situation. I was all in for a bracelet with only three outs to deny me. Sadly, one of those three outs came. It was pretty devastating."

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