There are some poker players we love to see on tilt, and Nik Airball might just be one of them! On Hustler Casino Live Airball gets himself into an awful spot, but can he somehow muster up the wizardry to find a way out or is he doomed into being put on mega tilt?
When you’re out of position with a strong combo draw such as a straight and flush draw, raising is usually preferred over calling. However, if you’re playing extremely deep-stacked and against multiple opponents, you should play more cautiously if your draw isn’t to the nuts.
Nik Airball is an investment banker and an amateur poker player, he occasionally plays at The Lodge Card Club but mainly plays on the Hustler Casino Live poker stream. He will play any stakes, and is often involved in heated table talk with the other poker players. Nik Airball is almost fluent in Mandarin, engaging in table talk with many Mandarin-speaking poker players. He often voices his strong opinions about current trends, topics and scandals in the poker world on social media and poker podcasts.
Mars is introduced as being a snowboard instructor and an amateur poker player, he has often played on the HCL live stream in the past usually up to $50/$100.
Hustler Casino Live is a full-scale, high-value poker production. Close to a million dollars was spent transforming the casino’s high-limit poker room, the Crystal Room, into the set of this new state-of-the-art live show. Hustler Casino Live looks more like coverage of a TV broadcast sporting event and appeals to those beyond the poker community. Unscripted and unedited, they host regular poker streams such as ‘Max Pain Monday’ and ‘Thirsty Thursday’. Some of the most notable poker players to have appeared on the show are Phil Ivey ‘The Tiger Woods of Poker’ ‘RaiseOnce’, Tom Dwan ’durrrr’, Phil Hellmuth ‘The Poker Brat’, Chris Moneymaker, Doug Polk ‘WCGRider, Garrett Adelstein ‘Gman’, Tony Guoga ‘Tony G’ and many more.
Pre-Flop Action:
Nik Airball opens the action with Q6 of clubs from under the gun with a raise to $300. Raymond calls from the hijack with pocket deuces. Henry joins in from the cutoff with 98o, and Mars calls from the small blind with 86 of diamonds. Finally, Will defends from the big blind with T8 of hearts, and they head to the flop five ways.
Flop – Qd 7h 5d:
Mars checks after flopping an open-ended straight draw and an 8-high flush draw. Will checks with his backdoor flush draw, Nik opts not to continuation bet his top pair and checks. Raymond follows suit with his underpair, but Henry decides to fire out a bet of $500 with a gutshot straight draw to the nuts. Mars then check-raises to $2,100 with his huge combo draw. Will folds whilst Nik cold-calls the raise with his top pair and backdoor straight draw. Raymond folds, and Henry calls as three players head to the turn.
Turn – 3h:
The 3 of hearts on the turn isn’t one of the cards Mars needed to complete his draw, but that doesn’t slow him down as he continues his aggression by firing out a bet of $10,000. Nik, with his pair of queens has now also picked up a gutshot and opts to make the call as Henry folds. Both Mars and Nik are now heads-up to the river.
River – 4s:
The 4 of spades on the river is the best possible card for Mars. Not only does it give him the nuts it also completes a disguised backdoor straight for Nik Airball. Mars now puts in a small bet of $8,000. Nik has to decide how to respond. Will he lean on the side of caution and just call, or put in a raise? If you know Nik Airball, you probably know how this is going to end, but you must watch this poker video to see Nik’s reaction!
Jonathan Little analyzes live poker hands from TV poker shows such as Poker After Dark, Hustler Casino Live, The Lodge Poker Club & PokerGO. He also analyzes popular poker vloggers such as Rampage Poker, Brad Owen, Jaman Burton, Ashley Sleeth, Wolfgang Poker and others!
You will also find many poker hands on this channel that contain some of the biggest names in the poker world such as; Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Doug Polk, Garrett Adelstein, Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan, Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, Fedor Holz & many more!