A masterful play by Sirio11

[PuertoKid]

This was from a couple of weeks ago in the FullTilt 60K guaranteed. I don't know if this rises to the standard of "Masterful" by many of you, but I was quite tickled by it.

Sirio raises pf w/AJs and is called by villan. Villan covers Sirio and also has position on Sirio. Except for the initial-aggressor vigorish, Sirio is at a disadvantage in this hand.

Flop and turn are low cards and it is checked through. The river is a 2 and Sirio checks. Villan bets over 1/2 the pot. Sirio is a short stack and the approx 1100 in the pot would be a significant boost to his stack. The 2.4 pot odds look good. The bet on the river by villan certainly looks like an opportunistic steal. But calling and losing really hurts his stack given the blind level. It pushes him down into the red zone.

Should he call or not? Sirio waited a long time (internet time)...then he typed into the chat window: "A5?" Now, i don't believe for an instant Sirio was really worried about the guy having A5 given the action. I believe Sirio thought there was a good chance that his A high was good, but he wanted to give his opponent (who had been calling a little too much) an opportunity to screw up and confirm or deny it.

Villan, instead of keeping mum, typed..."i'll show i guess".

With that response, Sirio insta-called and his A high won.

Sirio may very well have made the call anyway, but the response by his opponent confirmed Sirio's suspicion and made the call a much easier decision.

It was a masterful ploy and a great lesson about getting reads (and not giving them) in online play.



FullTiltPoker Game #311110060: $60,000 Guarantee (1835842), Table 21 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:07:19 ET - 2005/11/27
Seat 1: BamaEd (5,190)
Seat 2: tb14568 (5,645)
Seat 3: sirio11 (2,420)
Seat 4: BJCAS (3,925)
Seat 5: TheRealFastRay (1,940)
Seat 6: nickyms (1,579)
Seat 7: rsigley (7,290)
Seat 8: JackBoston (4,350)
Seat 9: PuertoKid (9,610)
BamaEd posts the small blind of 60
tb14568 posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PuertoKid [9c Qc]
sirio11 raises to 300
BJCAS folds
TheRealFastRay folds
nickyms folds
rsigley calls 300
JackBoston folds
PuertoKid folds
BamaEd folds
tb14568 folds
*** FLOP *** [4c 7d 3h]
sirio11 checks
rsigley checks
*** TURN *** [4c 7d 3h] [8d]
sirio11 checks
rsigley checks
*** RIVER *** [4c 7d 3h 8d] [2s]
sirio11 checks
rsigley bets 450
sirio11: A5?
sirio11 has 15 seconds left to act
rsigley: i'll show i guess
sirio11 calls 450
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rsigley shows [Ks Qs] (King Queen high)
sirio11 shows [As Js] (Ace Jack high)
sirio11 wins the pot (1,680) with Ace Jack high
rsigley: whoops
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,680 | Rake 0
Board: [4c 7d 3h 8d 2s]
Seat 1: BamaEd (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: tb14568 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: sirio11 showed [As Js] and won (1,680) with Ace Jack high
Seat 4: BJCAS didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: TheRealFastRay didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: nickyms didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: rsigley showed [Ks Qs] and lost with King Queen high
Seat 8: JackBoston didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: PuertoKid (button) didn't bet (folded)