A lot of poker books tell you that a call is your weakest weapon at the table. It shows, well, weakness in a game where many believe that aggressiveness is rewarded by the poker gods.
But sometimes, a smooth-call is the strongest play you can make. Especially after someone just tried that move on you.
Antonio Esfandiari, an actual magician who brings his magic bag to the table, pulled off that trick at the World Poker Tour championship at the Bellagio last April.
Warning: The thinking gets a little complicated. But it starts with Esfandiari’s reputation as a fast, aggressive player. Typically, he raised with a 5-4 of diamonds. Three players called behind him.
Antonio Esfandiari’s hand
5 of diamonds
4 of diamonds
The flop came K-K-7, two spades.
“There’s a lot of money in the pot, and chances are no one has a king, so I’ve got to take a stab at it,” said Esfandiari, winner of a World Series of Poker bracelet this year. “If I can get through the first two guys, I can get by the guy on the button who is probably one of the best players, who plays aggressive and all over the place and you never know what he has.”
The first two players fold. The button calls.
“A lot of not-so-good players, if they’re making a move here, would raise,” Esfandiari said. “Calling is a lot scarier than raising because when it comes king-king-7 and he calls you, you think he has to have something. Maybe he’s trying to trap me with a king.”
The turn came a 7 for a board of K-K-7-7.
The board
King of clubs
King of spades
7 of hearts
7 of spades
“I know I can’t bet,” Esfandiari said. “I can check and try to get tricky. So, I check. He bets a decent amount. Instead of raising and making it look funny, I thought, `What would I do here if I really did have a K? I would smooth-call because there’s not a single card that can come that would be dangerous.’
“So, I called on the turn with absolutely nothing to try to take it away on the river.”
The river came a blank.
“He has to think, `Antonio must have something if he called my bet on the turn. He’s probably trapping me,’ ” Esfandiari said. “So, I fired a huge bet and he folded.
“He was calling me on the flop just to take it away on the turn, and he would’ve against a lot of players. But I took it to the next level because I knew that’s what he was trying to do because that’s what I would do. When I showed it, he was so sick.”
Poker lingo
Trapping: Showing weakness to gain extra bets when you’re actually holding a strong hand.
The river: The fifth common card turned up on the board; also known as fifth street.
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srosenbloom@tribune.com
