The look on Phil Ivey's face says it all at the end of this clip. Astonishment doesn't even begin to describe the baffling way Tilly plays this hand against Patrick Antonius. Watch the clip and then continue reading below.
OK, so Tilly has JJ on the button and makes a standard raise. So far, so good. She hits top set on a somewhat scary 10 J 7 board with straight draws out there. Patrick checks, and she bets 2000 into a pot of 2800. OK, this is fine although in my opinion she should have bet a little more, say around 2500.
Now here is where the hand gets weird. A King comes off on the turn, which really should not scare her. AQ is very unlikely, and Q9 and 89 are fairly unlikely as well.
So Tilly checks behind him on the turn, and she doesn't do it for deceptive reasons. Normally I'd be OK with a deceptive check on the turn with top set, but there are just too many draws on this board and she really can't be giving a free card in this situation.
Why would she think he had Kings? No preflop reraise, and he has checked it to her twice! On a board with straight draws no less.
The river brings another King, giving Tilly the full house. Patrick's third check should scream weakness to her, yet she quickly raps the table and exposes her Jacks full. How she cannot make a bet here is beyond explanation. Is she really worried about quad Kings?
Here's the lesson in this hand: Tilly made a very bad read, perhaps due to nervousness or other factors, and acted rashly in checking quickly on the end. If she had thought it through and taken the time to reconstruct how the hand played out, it would have been an easy puzzle to put together. We all have hands we wish we could take back, and this one is no doubt at the top of her list.
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"Wow"
Posted April 26, 2007 by Matt
"Nice hand!"
Posted May 25, 2007 by Mike
"hahahaha"
Posted May 25, 2007 by jasony
"'Meta-game'"
Posted June 06, 2007 by SRob59