You’ve got to have nerves of steel to play at the final table of the EPT Grand Final, but Adrien Allain takes it to a completely new level in this audacious bluff against Jimmy Guerrero
There are five poeple left in the EPT Grand Final and you’re one of the two big stacks with three shorties and huge pay jumps. The only person that can knock you out is Jimmy Guerrero. Guerrero is also an accomplished deep stack player. Makes sense to avoid him then? Not if your name is Adrien Allain.
In one of the best hands we’ve seen live, and one of the most tense, Allain starts by raising to 300k with 6♦-9♦. Guerrero looks down at A♦-Q♥ and three-bets to 850k. That would be it for most players. Even the commentators call the hand over. But Allain has other ideas and four-bets to 1.8m. Guerrero makes the call.
The flop comes down T♥-4♥-J♥ and Allain continues the aggression after Guerrero checks. He bets 1.5m but Guerrero isn’t deterred and makes the call. The Four on the turn is checked before another Four drops on the river. Guerrero checks and Allain moves all-in. This is where the tension starts to ratchet up.
On the face of it the bet doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Allain could possibly be repping a set that filled up on the turn, but Guerrero isn’t buying it and puts Allain on the torture rack. He tanks for an eternity before the clock is called. As the ten- second countdown begins Guerrero is still playing with his chips but his hand is declared dead. Allain shows the bluff and Guerrero sees that if he’d made the call he would have been a massive favourite to win the tournament – with over 70% of the chips in play and four players remaining.
Adrien Allain v Jimmy Guerrero, May 2016, 2016 EPT Grand Final
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