Patrik Antonius continues to turn back the clock with a series of incredible performances and amazing hands.
The Finnish legend took a step back from playing as much poker over the last decade, even admitting that he can no longer compete with the best players online.
The proliferation of tools and GTO solvers changed the game beyond recognition. But recently he looks to be as good as he ever was.
Only three weeks ago, Antonius took down the €100,000 Super High Roller event at the EPT Monte Carlo stop. His home city, now.
But this week, he’s in Montenegro at the latest Triton Super High Roller Series and still showing the youngsters who the boss is.
In this week’s hand the Finn pulls off a brilliant soul read in a tricky river spot against Spanish high-stakes reg Adrian Mateos.
He does it AGAIN! @Patrik_Antonius can't stop making these plays in Triton Poker Super High Roller Series! pic.twitter.com/AT2BTo5nne
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 13, 2024
Hand of the Week Action
The tournament is Event #1 $25,000 NL Hold’em GGMILLION$. Blinds are 10k/15k/15k.
Preflop: The action kicks off with everyone folding around to Adrian Mateos on the button. The Spaniard raises to 32,000 with QdTs.
Ben Heath folds in the small blind and Patrik Antonius makes the call in the big blind with Jd5h. The pot is now 89,000.
Flop: The flop comes down Js 8h 7s. Antonius checks and Mateos bets big with 62,000. Antonius ponders quickly and calls with his top pair. The pot is 213,000.
Turn: The turn is the 4h and Antonius checks once again. Mateos doesn’t fancy betting again with his airball bluff and checks.
River: The river is the 7h. A card that doesn’t favour either player. So who will have the stones to take down this pot that is up for grabs?
Antonius now leads out, but for only 30,000 chips. Less than one seventh of the pot.
It looks like a weak bet and a weak jack on this board texture is indeed a weak hand. What are his intentions?
Mateos doesn’t believe that he has anything good. Neither a hand that can call a big bet. And so he puts in a huge raise of 260,000.
Antonius has 469,000 behind and making the call will leave him with only 16 big blinds. This is a dangerous call to make even if he thinks Mateos is bluffing at a high frequency.
On the other hand, there is now 503,000 in the pot and that will give him a stack that allows him to bully his way to a second title in three weeks.
After only two minutes of thought, the Finn throws in a single chip to indicate a call and Mateos immediately pitches his bluff into the muck.
Key Points
Preflop and the flop are totally standard with little to comment on. The turn holds some interest because if Mateos is determined to take the pot then he could have barrelled again.
The fact that he didn’t indicates that Antonius’s small bet on the river might have been a perfect inducement.
Did Antonius make the small bet to get his opponent to bluff off a big chunk of his stack? We’ll never know, of course, but for such an important call we suspect there is a chance Antonius always intended to snap it off and was merely being respectful and thinking the logic through again.
A great hand played by a great player.
Check out the full hand below starting at 9:01:45.
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