So, played a live tournament this weekend. Buy-in approx. 25$, top 3 out of 15 players gets paid, first prize something like 250$. Starting stack=6k.
We're down to 5 remaining players. I've had a comfortable ride so far since theres lots of fishy players around and is currently second in chips with a stack of 21,5 k. Blinds are now at 500-1000. There's folding around to sb, who is the chipleader with like 35 k or something, and he calls my bb. Now, this guy is kind of fishy...he has obtained his chiplead by some highly questionable calls, like calling when a shortstack went all-in and a third person called holding only Ace 4 suited. He had them both covered, but it was still a very big bet for calling with that crap.
I look down on
and decides to raise, being in position with a decent hand shorthanded, making it 4k total. He calls. Flop comes
. I assume we've both missed since he checks it to me. I Put in 5k more to pick up the pot. He thinks for a few seconds and calls. So, where to put him then? Probobly on a draw. Turn comes
. He checks again. I now don't know what to do with a very dangerous board and i've got completly nothing. Did he complete his flush? Got that K? I check. River
. He bets 5 k.
Now, until the rivercard i really hadn't got a genuine tell of his hand, but my gut really told me he was just as empty as i was. He gave some tells of it aswell, you know, eyeballing me and all. Sure, it were a kind of subtile dangerous stare that he gave me, but eyeballing me none-the-less. So i go in to the tank and try to analyse this hand.
The certain fact is that i'm holding ****, and not much more. I got a tell that he is very weak. I know from previous plays that he can fall in love with aces, especially suited ones. I don't think he hit that flop. If he had a hand that included that 8 most players would have bet or check-raised then and there. I can't really see sombody slowplaying such a weak holding, not even this fishy guy. And since i read him as very weak, holding trip 6, flush or a boat is out of the question. And since he starts to look so uncomfortable, i can't put him on that king either. More and more pieces falls to place, and i'm growing more certain that my hand might be good here. Combining with his earlier plays, i put an ace in his hands. Just didn't see a pp in his hands. So, guess the question is if my 9 kicker is good?
What hands beat me? If i rule out the hands that have hit this flop good or decent, AK and A6 is out of the question. To me, it seemed odd and unlikely that he would have merly called my blind with AQ or AJ. I just didn't think of them as likely hands. A possibility, yes, but not likely. A10 is dangerous, but i don't really consider that to be too likely aswell. I belive he would have raised me with those hands. What i'm really afraid of is A3, which most certanly would make him act as uncomfortable as he is begining to look as time goes by. ( i probobly tought this over for 4 minutes or something, and at a pokertable that can feel like an eternity for everybody sitting there, especially for the guys involved in the pot). If i call another 5 k and have read him wrong i'll be shortstacked with only 8 k left. Not out of the running, but i'll be in a world of pain with only 8bbs left to play with. If i'm right i'll be in a commanding chiplead holding more than a third of all the chips out there.
I ask him if he wants a call. He tries to act cool, but his bodylanguage really cries out that he doesn't, twisting and turning funny as i ask. I go with my gut and call. He shows
and i win the pot.
This is by far my best call. It really was challenging to call with only an ace high when a pair of dueces would have me beat, especially to a danerous 3-suited and paired board. However, in my opinion, if the board had looked much diffrent, i probobly couldn't have called his bet since i'd have a tougher time convincing myself that he had not hit anything. Not saying i played the entire hand correct, i basicly put myself in this spot by losing my aggression at the turn. However, i was so uncertain of his hand then, and i had **** with no draw, so a check seemed like the best play. Ofcourse, since i read him as really really weak at hte river, i could have pushed all-in to scare him off. But then again, i just felt that i couldn't represent anything good after thinking about it for so long, and he might have called if he had hit anything with a pot that huge. So, a call or a fold seemed to me like the only options after i had analyzed the hand. I'm very plaesed with that call.
Disregarding the result, anybody think it was correct to call with my weak hand going merly on tells and previous plays? Also, is there any way to justify a call with this hand and my read considering the pot and such? I know i'm getting like 4,5 on my money here, but...other than that, anybody?
I took first place later on.
