Warning, this is long and it's a brag post. You might not want to read it at all and if you do... grab a cup of coffee to help you stay awake for the duration.
It's a live tournament with 19 players. Everyone starts with 3,000 chips and the blinds start at 25/50 but [pretty much] double every 20 minutes and get horrendous quickly.
I am on the BB with about 3,150 late in the first level.
UTG+1 has me covered with about 3,250
UTG folds and UTG+1 makes it 200 to go (4xBB). It folds around to me and I look down at J
J
UTG+1 and I have played together frequently and we both have a lot of respect for the other player's game. He's a solid, observant, and tricky player. Since I have experience playing with him, I know that his UTG+1 opening range is fairly tight. I figure he's doing this with 99+, AJs+, AQ+, and possibly KQs. Against that range, I don't like the option of reraising pre-flop with J-J. I figure I will call and evaluate where I am on the flop.
The flop comes: 8
3
4
(Pot: 425)
This is a great flop for my hand. I check and see what UTG+1 wants to do here. I expect him to make a small bet (150-250) with KK-AA to try and keep me in... and to make a pot-sized or larger bet with most of the other hands in his range to try and get me off the hand.
UTG+1 fires out 500. And suddenly, I have to ask myself, "What does he think I have?"
From my experience and the type of player he is. I know he's probably got my hand range solidly pegged here. He knows I am reraising AK and KK+ and maybe QQ. And he knows I am not going to defend my BB with most hands... so he's probably got me on 77-QQ or AQ (probably suited). And he knows that I can be moved off these pairs with a big enough bet (aside from 88 but that's a given). But he also knows that I know he's going to try and suck me in with a strong hand like KK-AA... and I am going to get off most of these hands to a suspiciously small bet. Since I know he knows I know this... and he knows that I will probably see an overbet as weakness in this spot... he's doing exactly what I would do if I was playing myself with KK+ in his spot.
I don't know if that makes sense. Basically, he knows I will see through a small bet... and assume a big bet is trying to buy the pot... so instead of playing tricky... he is playing straight-forward because I will expect him to be playing tricky. Against any other player, he's making a small bet with a big pair... or a big bet with a weak hand... but against me... he's going to do the obvious and let me hang myself thinking about what his action really means.
So... obviously I am thinking here for a couple minutes. And the more I thought of all our previous play and what he knows about my thought processes and what I know about his thought processes... this 500 chip bet can only mean KK-AA here. After some desire to make a crying call (which would commit my whole stack to the pot by the river) I decided to lay it down. I comment, "This will be the nittiest fold ever made in the history of this tournament."
I toss my cards forward. My step-brother comments, "That had to be Jacks." And one of the other players said, "No way he's folding Jacks there." My step-brother grabs my cards and flips them up while asking, "Can I look?" but before I can respond. Did I mention this is a common problem at this game?
Once he sees the JJ hand, the UTG+1 player says, "Dammit, you were supposed to raise me!" And he flips his AA.
Collective gasp around the table as the rest of the players realize they would have gone broke there. A couple players even voiced the fact that they would have never been able to fold that hand with that flop. And a woman told me that it wasn't fair because I was supposed to go broke there.
LOL... I know it's not super-impressive but I was happy with it.