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)

Yea when people say they'll show it usually indicates that they want you to fold.

[raptor517]

[ QUOTE ]
Yea when people say they'll show it usually indicates that they want you to fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

i find quite the opposite to be true. most ppl are all the way up to that lvl 2 thinking. holla

[DeadMoneyOC]

Good call - Sure
"Masterful" - Not even close

[PuertoKid]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yea when people say they'll show it usually indicates that they want you to fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

i find quite the opposite to be true. most ppl are all the way up to that lvl 2 thinking. holla

[/ QUOTE ]

The key here is the context of the statement. Sirio didn't ask if he'd show. He asked him a different question and the guy responded saying he'd show. If Sirio directly asked if he'd show, I'd be more suspcious of the response.

The fact that the statement was made as a response to a question that wasn't asking that + the fact that this player was making suspicious calls, would lead one to think that it was a good tell.

He eeked out that little bit of extra information that made his decision easier.

[burningyen]

A similar call by Estfandiari vs. Negreanu in a cash game, from Negreanu's blog:

[ QUOTE ]
As for the poker, that went extremely well today too. I had my best day at the table, but I still feel like I played my best poker when I lost on the first day. I played "ok" today, but I let Jennifer bluff me out of one pot and then made a "play" against Antonio that went like this:

Phil raised to $3200 and I called from the cut off seat with K-10 of diamonds. Antonio made it $12,000 on the button and Phil folded. I didn't think Antonio had to be all that strong before the flop, so I decided to take a flop with him and called.

The flop came Qs 10c 6s. I checked to Antonio who considered betting. I started yapping at him, 'You are betting $15,000 right? I know that's what you are betting. I don't know what I'm doing yet, I've got a little of this and a little of that."

Antonio replied, "So what are you gonna do if I bet?"

"I dunno, first thing I'll do is ask you how much you have left. Then I'll think for a minute, hum and haw, and maybe call, fold, or who knows I might even stick the whole shebang in there!" I said.

Finally, Antonio said, "All right," and threw $15,000 in cash into the pot.

I sensed fear in his bet. I didn't think he could beat a Q. He might have A-K, JJ, or even a hand like 88 or 99. I counted him down and he had close to $60,000 left.

After some hesitation, I threw out two bundles of $50,000 bricks to the center and heard Antonio gasp. Well, that was a good sign.

I pumped my fist a little bit and wiped my brow with a "phew." Then Antonio started talking, "Whaddya got there kid, A-10? Either that or K-Q, it would be sick if you have that K-Q."

From his dialogue it became obvious that he must have had JJ, "Jacks kiddo? I get it, you must have JJ right?" I said.

Antonio thought, and thought, and finally looked like he was about to fold. Then I blew it, I blew it big time. For some silly reason I said, "When you fold I'll show you a card," or some nonsense like that.

Antonio looked right at me and knew right away, "I call it," he said.

"Doh! I gave that one away. I had you folding too, man that was dumb," I said.

It was a great call. I felt like since Antonio lost the first big pot and was feeling the heat that I could push him around a little bit. It might have worked if I didn't stick my foot in my mouth!

That's not the end of the tale, however. The turn came a 2 and I said to Antonio, "You wanna run the river twice?"

"No man, just once, let's do it." he replied.

The river, was a... King! Yikes, I actually felt bad for him. He played the hand so well and really didn't deserve that at all. He played two monster pots perfectly and was stuck pretty good after both went down. I empathized with him, because that's a lot like how my first day went.

[/ QUOTE ]

No flop bet?