Daniel Negreanu, arguably the best and most popular poker player in the world, made perhaps the greatest fold of 2018 during December’s $300,000-buy-in Super High Roller Bowl tournament in Las Vegas.

It happened on Day 1 of the tournament, with blinds at 1,000-2,000 plus an ante of 2,000. Negreanu raised to 5,000 under the gun with Jh 10h. Mikita Badziakouski, who was next to act, called with 9h 9c.

The rest of the players folded, and it was heads-up to the flop, which came down 8d 6s 7h.

Negreanu bet 5,000 with his gutshot straight draw and called when his opponent raised to 16,000. After the dealer burned and turned the 9s, which gave Negreanu the nut straight and Badziakouski top set, both players checked.

The 8h on the river paired the board to give Badziakouski a full house, and he overbet the pot to 60,000 after Negreanu had checked.

“What value hands could he have here? All the full houses,” Negreanu later said in an interview. “What bluffs does he raise the flop with and then barrel the river? The only one I could think of was like 6-7, so I just felt overall there’s a lot more value hands than bluffs. I don’t think he ever has a 10, if I think he has a 10 sometimes, I have to call because I have the 10-J. In the end I just went with my gut.”

Amazingly, Negreanu ended up folding after thinking about it for a couple of minutes. It was called a “next-level fold” by lauded online poker pro Phil Galfond, and the accomplished Negreanu admitted that it was one of the biggest folds he’s ever made.

“It’s one of my best folds ever, like lifetime,” he said. “That hand is way high up in the range that I could have. It’s almost like having the worst full house, so how could I fold a full house there? Overall, I can’t think of a laydown where I was more committed to it and said, ‘You know what? It feels right, let’s do it.’”

What made the fold so impressive was that Negreanu actually made it, especially after action went check-check on the turn. To most players there seemed to be little indication that Badziakouski had a big hand, but things appeared otherwise to Negreanu, who was suspicious of his opponent’s raise-check-bet sequence.

A lot of times in situations like this, players will sense that they are beat but won’t lay down their hands. Instead, they’ll pay it off while adding a comment like, “I’m probably beat, but this hand it too strong to fold.”

No one would have blamed Negreanu for making the call, but he deserves credit for not only deducing the situation but also having the confidence and conviction to follow his gut. By doing so, he saved precious chips that helped him make a deep run in the tournament, finishing ninth out of 36 entrants.