Patrik Antonius - Trapping for $363,000

If you overplay your hand, or play too agressively, as professionals and amateurs alike are prone to do, certain players will sit back and set you up with a huge trap. Patrik Antonius is such a player. He will flop the nuts, smooth call you to the river, check it over, and let you tie a rope around your neck and hang yourself with a pot comitting bet.

Brian Townsend made two fatal errors in this hand. First, he should have never bet $40,000 on the river with second pair, and more importantly he should have never called the reraise, because he wasnt actually pot comitted, and he could only beat a bluff. Calling a $110,000 reraise with second pair in the face of incredible strength is the ultimate donkey play. In the rare event that Antonius was bluffing and didnt have a straight or a set - let him take the pot, and give him credit for an incredible move, and try not to make the same mistake again. Its not worth another $110K to find out. The reality is that unless Townsend put Antonius on a stone cold bluff from start to finish, there was no way a pair of Queens was good on that hand - calling there is throwing good money after bad.

Playing correctly means showing down winning hands, often by checking. If a huge reraise would make you puke, dont even think about betting the river in no limit holdem - check/calling the river with marginal strength hands is almost always correct in this game. Knowing the other players hand range - in this case Townsend's most likely holding is AK, AQ, KQ, KJ or QJ - is essential for setting up a trap. If you check too much, miss bets and give too many free cards, or if you dont read the other players hand ranges correctly, and you dont have the nuts yourself when you trap, you will find that the hunter can quickly become the hunted.

Playing correctly also means making big laydowns when its either obvious you are beat, or its simply too expensive to find out when your hand doesnt demand a call. Making a "hero call" with a weak hand based on a strong read is one thing, calling a huge reraise out of frustration when you have no idea what your opponent holds is simply bad poker, and thats what you see in the above video: a top internet player with agressive betting patterns, small hand ranges, and physical tells going up against one of the best high stakes cash game players in the world, and paying $150,000 for 2 very avoidable mistakes.