An absolutly WORLD CLASS play in my opinion......your thoughts please

[skin city]

ok heres the deal, i live in vegas and the other night i was playing the 2am tourney at binions, and there is a guy at my table who has been making some pretty good reads, some nice plays, etc. and then about 2 hours into the tourney, the fallowing took place:
we'll start with the players and their chip stacks so you can really get a feel of what went down.
The first player is in seat 3, his name is Andy Nguyen. he is actually a dealer at the horseshoe and he also won a wsop braclet in event #1 (i think) in 2005 (look it up)
andy has around 4500 chips.
the second player, i dont know his name and have never seen him before, so ill call him solid player or (SP)
SP has around the same chip stack, maybe 5000 in chips, and he is in seat 7
OK, heres the hand and how it played out:
the button is in seat 1, blinds are 75-150. all players fold around to SP in seat 7, he calls the 150, one more caller in seat seat 9, then it folds around to andy on the BB, andy raises to 400, then back around to SP, and SP makes the call, seat 9 folds.
we get heads-up to a flop of Ac 8h 4d......andy, acting first, fires out 600....SP calls
the turn card brings the Ks....andy then fires out a bigger bet of 1600 chips. (at this point im putting andy on a big ace, probably AQ) now here is where the hand gets interesting....SP starts talking to himself and goes into the tank for 40-50 seconds and peeks back down at his cards and says to andy, "man andy i feel like you got it, i got a nice hand, but i feel like you got it" he then says to andy,"if i fold will you show me?" and andy being a generally nice guys says "yeah sure ill show"
SP then turns his cards face up to reveal pocket 4's for bottom set, and then says "you got it andy, nice hand"
andy stands up! and says "What!!?? your folding??!!" "your really gonna fold a set!!??" he does fold and andy says ok ill show...and turns over pocket 8's for middle set!!!!

Now ive been playing poker now for about 6-7 years in vegas and i watch it all the time on t.v. and i dont think ive ever seen a laydown like that, especially when you consider that there wasnt a HUGE amount action pre-flop, there was no draws on the board, and the fact that 9 out of every 10 players would have played an AQ or maybe AJ the exact same way, (raise from the button in a limped pot, make a continuation bet on the flop when you hit top pair, and then raise the price when the "scare" card being the Ks hits the turn)
another thing that makes that play so amazing was the fact that andy's bet on the turn wasnt like it was putting SP all-in and his tourney was in jeopardy!
i sat and went over this hand again and again in the past 30 hours or so and i cant figure out how the hell this guy made that read, again andy is a VERY solid player, hell he won a wsop bracelet for christ sake! and this guy totally out-played andy the whole way....im kind of still in awe and am hoping some day to get to the level, to be able to make HUGE (and by HUGE, i mean WORLD CLASS) plays like that.
am i crazy to be thinking about this hand so much? have i lost my mind? or was that one SICK ASS FOLD?????
i would love to hear your input on this and also if you have any questions before you comment, ask and ill try and remember any other details i can.....
thanks guys for your input
"Skin City"

[qpw]

How do you know that he outplayed 'Andy' and wasn't just someone who occasionally plays hunches and got lucky?

[skin city]

dont think he just played his hunch and got lucky! he had been calling peoples hands almost perfectly the whole tournament....also how mant times do you fold a set on a board like that, regardless if its bottom set or not?

[qpw]

The fact he spent 45 seconds making his decision and started talking to himself made me wonder if he was just playing a hunch.

Or maybe he spotted some tells that made him feel he shouldn't continue?

[Gonso]

First off, try describing the action by position, not seat number. Andy's on the BB, SP is in the middle, 3rd caller is the CO or whatever.

Anyway, this solid player open limps a pair from around MP, which tells me he's probably not all that solid. Coupled with the god awful laydown, I'd say he has no idea what he's doing.

[Flip-Flop]

The fold is a -EV play, so the only possible explanation for the laydown is that the guy picked up an extremely accurate physical tell on Andy.
You not gonna see anything like this online.

[skin city]

did anyone see the episode of "poker after dark" on or around july 1st? if you didnt here's what happend: it was a very similar situation with gabe kaplan flopping a set of tens and ali nejad flopping a set of fours i think the flop was something like Ac Th 4d....anyway after a little action post flop gabe puts ali all in, and ali takes about 4-5 minutes before making the call, and of course losing. but afterward howard lederer and kristy gazes and annie duke are all talking about what a great "almost fold" it was and how they were so impressed by the fact he didnt call right away. in fact most of them said they would have beat gabe in the pot!
i know its not exact but it was pretty dam close to the situation im refering to, and these are pro's who having been doing this for years and years......just thought i'd add that

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I'm reminded of the point in HoH (II, I think), where Harrington says whenever he hears somebody explain about why he made a great laydown by folding a set, his immediate thought is "idiot."

Old poker adage. If you flop a set and lose the hand, and you don't lose a lot of money (or go broke in a tourney), you played it wrong.

And you know, even if you think caslling him an idiot for making the laydown is wrong - he's definitely an idiot for showing it.

[The_Dealor]

i think this was an awesome fold. in the long run its going to be the wrong decision more than not. but if a top pro folded a set on espn or high stakes poker people would say its amazing! i think i wouldve called with my 44 there and busted, i am most likely wrong about this, but in a hand if im considering making a big lay down, i dont think, in the long run if i fold this hand over n over i will be wrong most times, i think whether or not i am wrong THIS hand.

and yea the guy was definately wrong to show it, but then again if he didnt show it maybe th other guy wouldnt have shown his 88?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

if a top pro folded a set on espn or high stakes poker people would say its amazing!

Those people would be wrong.