Hold'em with Holloway, Vol. 107: The Magic of Quads with Andrew Neeme
The Run It Up Reno VIII wrapped up at the Peppermill on Monday. It was an 11-day fun-filled festival featuring several wild hands, many of which played out on the RunItUp.TV Twitch stream.
Perhaps the most entertaining hand of the festival — and without a doubt the one most talked about on social media — took place during the $235 Black Chip Bounty, a tournament that placed a $100 bounty on each player.
It was there that a three-way hand developed between Vlogger Andrew Neeme, John Snyder, and Jan Shaw.
"There was an early-position raise, and I was in the hijack and look down at pocket nines. I think we're about 40 BB effective," Neeme would later tell me. Specifically, Neeme was sitting with 34.6K and 9♠9♣ while Snyder had 26.7K and 5♥5♣.
"I think jamming makes a lot of sense, but as a cash game player not knowing what the hell to do in so many tournament spots, I just call."
Neeme continued, describing his decision just to call the raise from EP.
"Pretty standard flat, I think, definitely in cash games and I think in tournaments," he explained. "I don't want to get four-bet shoved on and have a tough spot. But it is a bounty tournament so maybe it's not too bad against an opponent that I cover. I took the conservative route and flat. Small blind jams the short stack in for less than 8 BB."
Indeed, Shaw had looked down at A♣Q♣ in the small blind and moved all in for 6,200.
"The initial raiser flats," Neeme continued, referring to Snyder calling the shove. "I think I made a mistake and flatted again," he then admitted.
"I think once the original raiser flats, it's pretty rare he's going to have that big of a hand or trap. I think I should just isolate. Nines are a little bit vulnerable, obviously, to a lot of overcards. I think jamming makes a lot of sense, but as a cash game player not knowing what the hell to do in so many tournament spots, I just call."
The 9♥5♠9♦ flop then provided a powder keg waiting to explode.
"We flop the magic of quads," said Neeme. "He checks it over to me. Since we have all the cards locked up I just check it back, which I think is pretty standard," he added.
"I think you could also bet really small. He'd probably peel with a pretty big range, but it's a dry side pot so pretty standard to check it back. The turn double-paired the board with another five."
Indeed, by the turn both players had made quads.
"He leads out, I call, and the rest of the hand was pretty straightforward. The river brought a third diamond on board, but it didn't really matter because he just jams his stack in. I call again with quads."
Interestingly, it was the second time Neeme had been on the good end of a quads-over-quads hand.
"When he turned it over I immediately said, 'Oh my god.' I still remember the other time I've had quads over quads in my poker career. I still think about how crazy it is," he said before explaining his first encounter.
"It was a friendly game of $3/$6 limit when I had a cousin in town. We were having drinks at the MGM Grand, so no bad beat jackpot. It was a limit game so there wasn't really that much blood spilled. Again, here in the tournament there was no bad beat jackpot. It's always a shock to see such a strong hand like that. I've never had like quads versus a straight flush or anything like that."
It was a hand for the ages and one that netted Neeme a pair of bounties totaling $200.
Take a look below at the hand as it was captured on the Twitch stream. (Note that the board graphics are incorrect.)
