Klein vs Kim
Hustler Casino Live, 2022 · A Live-Stream Cash Game
A six-hour stream night
The Hand
Bill Klein and Brian Kim.
Before the Flop
- Blinds are posted. Another player has the button.
- Kim raises to 1K.
- Three other players fold.
- Klein calls.
The Flop
- Klein checks.
- Kim bets 1.6K.
- Klein calls.
The Turn
- Klein checks.
- Kim bets 4K.
- Klein calls.
The River
Klein bets 13K. Why
Klein. Ace-high almost never wins a showdown against a player who raised and bet twice. With three fives on the board, a five (four of a kind) is easy to represent, and a pot-sized lead tells that story.
Kim raises to 50K. Why
Kim. Only a five (four of a kind) or aces (fives full of aces) beat fives full of kings. A smaller pocket pair or a ten makes a smaller full house, and those can call a raise, so the raise is for value.
- Klein raises to 127K. The famous decision
Kim folds. Why
Kim. A river re-raise on a board of three fives is four fives or aces full nearly every time. Fives full of kings beats only bluffs and smaller full houses, and those do not re-raise.
Kim folded the best hand, and Klein showed the bluff. Kim had feared a five, from a player who rarely re-raises a river without one.
Play Klein vs Kim, decision by decision
Play This Hand
The river
The Famous Decision
Klein. Ace-high cannot call, and folding gives up the pot. A re-raise says four fives or aces full, the only hands that beat a raise there. It only works because almost nobody makes that move without them.
The Result
Klein wins the pot.
Why It Is Famous
With ace-high on a board of three fives, Bill Klein led the river, got raised, and re-raised to $127,000. Brian Kim, holding fives full of kings, thought for a couple of minutes and folded the best hand.
What to Take from It
Big raise wars on a paired river mean the nuts. That is exactly why the rare bluff gets through. Know the rule before you break it.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The blinds, Klein’s exact stack and the pot are not documented; Klein is only known to have Kim covered. Klein was in the straddle, which fits him acting first after the flop. After raising to $50,000, Kim had about $77,000 behind, so Klein’s re-raise left Kim all in to call.
Make all four decisions, then see what really happened
Play This HandTry Quads freeFree. No real money. 18+.
Quads is for adults, 18 and over. It teaches with play chips only: there is no real money, ever.