Big call

This is in the Monte Carlo qualifier. Possibly the biggest call I've ever made, and a really strange hand because I made a borderline decision on every street.

I'll give my thought process at every decision, since almost every decision looks completely out of whack if you don't know what I'm thinking at the time.
CARDSON
PokerStars Game #952229046: Tournament #3778837, Hold'em No Limit - Level II
(15/30) - 2004/12/12 - 19:03:10 (ET)
Table '3778837 3' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: armanicoll (3315 in chips)
Seat 2: Lagerborg (1045 in chips)
Seat 3: **JML*** (5290 in chips)
Seat 4: barnsey (4820 in chips)
Seat 5: Gamesmaster (2530 in chips)
Seat 7: KILLER ACE (710 in chips)
Seat 8: QuodEratVici (2015 in chips)
Seat 9: michael1123 (1955 in chips)
QuodEratVici: posts small blind 15
michael1123: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to michael1123 [Jd 6c]
armanicoll: folds
Lagerborg: folds
**JML***: folds
barnsey: raises 60 to 90
Gamesmaster: folds
KILLER ACE: calls 90
QuodEratVici: calls 75

- This is not a hand I'd call with normally at all, but this was the most players that had called preflop in a while and I was getting a discount in the big blind. Figured I could have good implied odds if I hit the flop big.

michael1123: calls 60


*** FLOP *** [5s 4c As]
QuodEratVici: checks
michael1123: checks
barnsey: bets 90
KILLER ACE: folds
QuodEratVici: folds

This was a big pot at this time, of about 320, and the action on the flop really surprised me. Barnsey bets it weak and the other two fold with an ace on the flop. Reading Barnsey's bet I didn't think he had an ace, and probably had a pocket pair, which I thought I could bet him off of with a big enough raise.

michael1123: raises 230 to 320

barnsey: calls 230
*** TURN *** [5s 4c As] [Jc]

Shit, he called ... but now I've hit my jack. Is his pocket pair higher than jacks? Did he have a jack? If he does I'm surely outkicked. Well ... gotta try again after hitting. If I missed here I would've check folded, but I can't stop representing the ace now.

michael1123: bets 400
barnsey: calls 400
*** RIVER *** [5s 4c As Jc] [Th]

Shit, he called again ... I'm dead. Well, there's no reason to bet the river. He'd only call if he has me beat. I'll check to hopefully get a cheap showdown here.

michael1123: checks

michael1123 said, "bluff it" - This was a little psychological warfare that I was trying to throw in since he was taking a long time to act and I figured he was weak. Trying to disuade a bluff, but it didn't have any affect at all since his bet came immediately after I typed it. He didn't have time to read it before he typed his bet, so I didn't factor in any reaction of his to what I said.

barnsey: bets 1170

Puts me all in? This overbet smelled extremely fishy, and this bet actually made me feel more confident that he was weak. A bet of 400 probably would've scared me more. Looking at the board I figured what made the most sense with his play in this hand (bet flop and called raise, called on turn (usually means a draw), and then shoved all in on the river which looked like a bluff) was a missed flush draw.

After a little bit of thought I decided I'd live and die with my read here.

michael1123: calls 1145 and is all-in

*** SHOW DOWN ***
barnsey: shows [3c 3h] (a pair of Threes)
michael1123: shows [Jd 6c] (a pair of Jacks)
michael1123 collected 4090 from pot
michael1123 said, "thought it was a missed flush draw"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4090 | Rake 0
Board [5s 4c As Jc Th]
Seat 1: armanicoll folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Lagerborg folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: **JML*** folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: barnsey showed [3c 3h] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 5: Gamesmaster folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: KILLER ACE (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: QuodEratVici (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 9: michael1123 (big blind) showed [Jd 6c] and won (4090) with a pair of
Jacks

nice call dude, I think this is one of those situations where you are either miles ahead or miles behind. I like to buy the pot on the river when my FD misses if a weak player has been betting small and I miss :P

BTW I'm not calling you a weak player, I'm agreeing with the read of the missed flush bluff.

Good Catch
Damn good readin Michael!
way to play that blind!
He chased those outs and got Pot committed.

That CHECK on the RIVER,,,,,
That check was the play of the Hand IMO.
I figure if you would have bet, he would have folded.
Great call on the River needless to say, but I think the CHECK did it.
From his vantage point, it musta looked as though you knew what the hell you were doing when it was all said and done.
“Christ he is good”
“How da HELL did he read me like that?”
lol

I appreciated the commentary BTW
You would have chit if that was a two on that River tho!
Well so would he too.

Michael1123.........

Out of all of the people here on FTR your the one that I fear/respect the most on a NL table.


Nothing against the others because there are alot of damn great players here, but micahel can read through every damn play I ever make. Its kind of un-nerving for him to tell me what I'm playing while I'm playing it.

Good hand michael.

Originally Posted by mike4066

but micahel can read through every damn play I ever make.

This aint a fluke huh?
He routinely plays like this does he?
Great skill to own then.

Originally Posted by TDM100

Originally Posted by mike4066

but micahel can read through every damn play I ever make.

This aint a fluke huh?
He routinely plays like this does he?
Great skill to own then.

A fluke it is not....

Originally Posted by TDM100

This aint a fluke huh?
He routinely plays like this does he?
Great skill to own then.

Haha, well obviously I don't call with hands like this very often. Considering the buyin for this tourney ($650), the amount of chips I had compared to the blinds, the fact that its on the river so I'm not drawing to anything, and the weak holding I had compared to the board, I think this is probably the best call I've ever made of this type. But its not a fluke in the sense that I typically call on this kind of crap and happened to win one, as its probably the weakest hand I've ever called a bet like this on, win or lose.

But its certainly not something I can do every hand either. If this guy raised me on the flop or turn I would've been gone very quickly. He gave away his weak holding from the way he played it, and I was able to smell out the bluff.

I also agree that the check was the reason he bluffed. Just like I knew that if I bet on the river and he called or raised he'd have me beat, he knew that if I bet not only did I have him beat but I'd probably call a bluff raise, and I'm sure he would've just folded there. I gave off a big sign of weakness and then smelled out that he was even weaker than I was because he overbet so much. Also, you'd have to figure that if he had a J or weak ace he'd probably take the free showdown, as I had been representing a strong ace all the way up until the river. He's only going to bet the monsters and the shitholdings on the river, and I think he'd be more likely to value bet in a case like this with a monster, since I've shown a ton of weakness on the river. He can't be expecting me to call an all in, so he must want a fold very badly.

Thanks for the complements, though, Mike.