In our Poker Hand of the Week we analyze the greatest Hero Call in the history of High Stakes Poker by Patrik Antonius vs. Fahredin Mustafov at Triton Poker Cyprus 2022.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
We are at the final table of the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller in at Triton Poker Cyprus 2022, which featured the best poker tournament players in the world with only four players left.
Fahredin Mustafov has Patrik Antonius easily covered at the start of our Poker Hand of the Week.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
We are 4-handed at the final table with blinds already being 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante.
Fahredin Mustafov open-raise to 800,000 from the button to 800,000 holding 
. Patrik Antonius picks up 
in the big blind and decides to defend. Everybody else folds. Pot Size: 2,200,000
Flop:
The flop of 
is interesting as both Mustafov and Antonius pick up a piece. The latter has flopped bottom pair, while his Bulgarian counterpart has two overcards and a gutshot.
Patrik checks and Fahredin makes a rather small cbet of 32% pot size, which Antonius check-calls. Pot Size: 3,600,000
Turn:
The 
on the turn gives Patrik Antonius a flush draw to go along with his bottom pair. In addition to that, the Queen is a good card for the preflop raiser to represent and fire a second barrel on.
And that’s what Fahredin Mustafov does with a 1,400,000 bet (39% pot). Antonius is not going anywhere and check-calls once again. Pot Size: 6,400,000
River:
The 
on the river is another card that is in the range of the preflop aggressor Mustafov and he pretty quickly puts Patrik All-in!
However, Antonius does not fold immediately and instead goes very deep into the tank for a full four minutes before finally tossing in the chips.
“Good call” is exactly what Patrik was hoping to hear and Antonius wins a huge 13,450,000 pot with just a pair of Deuces!
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
What a sick hand! Let’s take an in-depth look at it.
Preflop is relatively standard as Mustafov is massive chip leader, so he will be raising a very wide range from the button, when folded to. J2s is a clear defend 4-handed on Patrik’s part and is goes raise-call.
Pretty interesting flop as both players pick up some equity. Mustafov flops a gutshot and two overcards, while Antonius has bottom pair and can’t fold to such a small continuation bet.
The Queen of Hearts on the turn is a bad card for Fahredin as he has way more Queens in his range and therefore decides to fire a second barrel. Little does he know that Patrik has added a flush draw to his pair and has an easy call.
The Ace on the river is another card that clearly favours Mustafov’s range and he decides to pull the trigger by quickly setting Patrik Antonius All-in!
Patrik knows that Fahredin is raising a wide-range of hands on the button and that he doesn’t need to have an Ace or a Queen here. He goes with his read and makes a phenomenal call.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Another fantastic read and call by Patrik Antonius! And the remarkable thing is that he does it in a high roller event with a huge buy-in of $25,000.
There are two reasons, why Patrik is making this call here. Firstly, he has amazing hand reading skills and simply doesn’t believe Mustafov. If you call the flop and the turn with bottom pair, then you should also often call down on the river, if no obvious draw comes in.
Secondly, Fahredin almost insta-shoves on the river. More often than not, when players go All-in on the river without really thinking about it, it is a bluff.
Antonius knows all of that and is a poker player that trusts his instincts and goes with his read. That’s why he is able to make this incredible call, which by the way also paved the way for his victory in this tournament and to a huge $825,000 score.
We leave the final words to online poker legend Randy “nanonoko” Lew: “Patrik Antonius, ladies and gentleman. He’s done it!”
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