Extracting Value With Bruno “Foster” Politano – A Lesson in Finding the Right Bet Sizing
Just before dinner break in the High Roller, we caught Bruno "Foster" Politano playing a monster pot, one that would eventually give him the chip lead in the tournament with just 36 of the 116 players remaining.
The hand played out as follows:
A player opened under the gun with a raise to 12,000. Politano called from the cutoff before the big blind squeezed, making it 42,000 to play. The player under the gun called and after thinking about it for some time, Politano called as well.
The flop came 
and the player in the big blind led out, making it 58,000 to go. The player under the gun folded but Politano called after thinking about it for a little bit.
On the 
turn the player in the big blind checked, and Politano checked behind rather quickly.
The river brought the 
and the big blind player checked again after thinking about it for just a few seconds. Politano thought for a while then cut out a big bet of 134,000, roughly 40% of the pot, and just about half of his opponent’s remaining stack. After a dip in the tank, the other player called. Politano showed 
for a flopped full house. Someone at the table asked to see the losing hand, so his opponent was forced to turn up his 
, for two pair.
Politano broke down the hand for us and walked us through his thought process, as well as how he chose his bet sizing for the hand.
“First of all, I know who is the big blind, I know this player, and I know the under the gun too,” Politano explained. “Both have a good stack. A large stack, more than 50 blinds. The under the gun thinks and decides to call. When he decides to call I have a situation. Four-bet or call. The four-bet is not good because I have a value hand, and I need to put 30,000 in the pot, and the pot has, after I call, the pot has 150,000. I had 1 – 5 to pay, and I paid. I had odds to pay, so I paid. I have position.”
Politano flopped the world, and now he just needed to figure out how he could extract the most value out of his opponents.
“The flop comes the dream, ,” he said laughing. “The aggressor c-bets 58,000. The under the gun folds. And I think, and think, and call. When he bet this flop I put him on three hands. Queens, kings, or aces. That’s it. Because if he has ace-king he doesn’t c-bet that flop with that size with two guys, a big stack is after him.”
The turn isn’t the best card for Politano, but he finds a way to make it work.
“It’s not a good card, but I’m not scared,” He explained. “I have a full house. If he has kings, congratulations. But he checks, and I instacheck. I instacheck because if he has kings I lose mínimos, if he doesn’t have kings he saves me on the river with a value bet or a check.”
Once the blank falls on the river it becomes a matter of value and how much value Politano can extract.
“The river comes a . Nothing. A blank card,” he said. “He instantly checks. I am 100% sure he doesn’t have kings because he always bets if he has kings to extract value from me. And I put in my mind, he has two hands queens or aces. I had to think of what size I will use because if I put the correct size, I get a call from both hands. If I put too much just aces will call me, maybe aces fold. Queens instafold. And I bet 40% of the pot. It’s a big pot, 40% is too much chips. And he thinks for about one minute and he calls with queens. I got this call with queens.”
Politano doesn’t think his opponents call is a good call though, and he explained why.
“In my opinion, it’s not a good call because I don’t have any bluffs in my hand,” he said. “I always have jacks or aces, maybe kings, but probably jacks or aces. He knows that after the hand. He cried, ‘I never call this for you, but I call, ok.’ But this is my reason for this hand.”
When it comes to how much, Politano said he had to find the amount that could get both hands to call. The maximum amount that he can get paid.
“I tried to get exactly the value that he pays me, you know?” Politano explained. “The maximum value he pays me. I think 40% of the pot is perfect, because 60% of the pot maybe he folds queens because the stack back for him it’s not good for the rest of the tournament if he pays 60% or 70%. But he pays 40% and he has a stack to continue playing. And I thought about that.”
Politano is currently the chip leader with just around 30 players remaining in the High Roller, but he’s still keeping an eye on others in the field, specifically Felipe Ramos. Despite that, he still sees himself making it to the final table.
“I play a lot with Felipe,” he explained. “Felipe is a good player. I play a lot with him because we travel around the world playing poker. And I think that his stack is a good stack for continued pressure, and making some pressure at the table. But I really believe in me on the final table.”
We’ll be keeping an eye on Politano’s continued progress through the High Roller event here in São Paulo as the tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner today.