Hysterical

JenTack and I had been going at each other a bit before this happened. I didn't raise pre-flop because he liked to re-raise whenever I raised his blind. This worked out a lot better than stealing his blind, anyhow.

***** Hand History for Game 2367594721 *****
$100 NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, July 15, 12:14:32 EDT 2005
Table Table 54873 (6 max) (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 3: stressball10 ( $110.55 )
Seat 2: Farinaccio ( $161.60 )
Seat 4: Japsai ( $195.47 )
Seat 6: Rooney_ ( $101.10 )
Seat 5: JenTackOFF ( $100.10 )
Japsai posts small blind [$0.50].
JenTackOFF posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ 8s Kd ]
Rooney_ folds.
Farinaccio folds.
stressball10 calls [$1].
Japsai calls [$0.50].
JenTackOFF checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qh, As, Kc ]
Japsai checks.
JenTackOFF bets [$4].
stressball10 calls [$4].
Japsai folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2s ]
JenTackOFF bets [$12].
stressball10 calls [$12].
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
JenTackOFF is all-In [$83.10]
stressball10 calls [$83.10].
JenTackOFF shows [ 6h, 9s ] a pair of queens.
stressball10 shows [ 8s, Kd ] two pairs, kings and queens.
stressball10 wins $199.20 from the main pot with two pairs, kings and queens.

Farinaccio: wow
Farinaccio: how the hell did u know
stressball10: he overbet the pot on the flop, turn and river...
stressball10: pretty obvious bluff
Farinaccio: but k9 beats u
stressball10: I doubt he bets like that with K9
Farinaccio: k9 was just one of abotu 30 hands that beat u
stressball10: oh I know
Farinaccio: lol

even if I have a read on him I don't think I'm calling any of those bets. If anything I would raise.

I don't mind letting people like that string themselves up. A lot of times if I have second pair and someone throws out what smells like a steal, I'll flat call and see how they react on the turn. A check usually means I caught them and it's safe to value bet my hand; a moderate bet means they probably have me beat and I can fold now; another overbet like this indicates an almost certain bluff. Since this guy went ahead and overbet the turn as well, I gave him another call to get more information on the river. His ridiculous all-in was all the information I needed; he very badly didn't want me to call. So I called.

To come at it from another angle, there's almost no good hand that would play this way on all three streets, unless the player holding it was extremely devious and had a great read on me. A weak ace, KQ, or KJ might play this way on the flop and turn, but not on the river. If I had raised him earlier and he comes back over the top of me, I can't know for sure what he has; this way I actually learn more by stringing him along and letting him lead the betting on all three streets.

I could certainly raise him at any point and probably get into a dick-swinging contest, and/or make him fold whatever garbage he caught in the big blind, but it was much easier and more profitable to play it this way. I'm happy with spotting him a 10% chance at some ridiculous suckout, if it gets me his whole stack the other 90% of the time.

Here's a similar hand I posted before in Tales of Poker, with another super-aggressive idiot. This one's a little different and the opponent is a little smarter, but it was still pretty easy to sniff out.

***** Hand History for Game 2255531643 *****
$100 NL Hold'em - Friday, June 24, 10:30:02 EDT 2005
Table Table 36825 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 5: pabboy1 ( $46.85 )
Seat 6: annep_08 ( $83.67 )
Seat 3: stressball10 ( $194.15 )
Seat 1: Garganasaur ( $174.3 )
Seat 4: idomif ( $61.3 )
Seat 2: ange26 ( $25 )
idomif posts small blind [$0.5].
pabboy1 posts big blind [$1].
ange26 posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Th Qh ]
annep_08 raises [$4].
Garganasaur folds.
ange26 folds.
stressball10 calls [$4].
idomif folds.
pabboy1 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 9h, Ts ]
annep_08 checks.
stressball10 bets [$6].
annep_08 raises [$15].
stressball10 calls [$9].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4c ]
annep_08 checks.
stressball10 bets [$8].
annep_08 raises [$25].
stressball10 calls [$17].
** Dealing River ** [ 8h ]
annep_08 is all-In [$39.67]
stressball10 calls [$39.67].
annep_08 shows [ 2s, As ] high card ace.
stressball10 shows [ Th, Qh ] a pair of tens.
stressball10 wins $167.84 from the main pot with a pair of tens.
annep_08 has left the table.

Wow Dale, I wish I had that kind of confidence. I appreciate you sharing these. First hand, I like your analysis. Second hand: only thing I'm afraid of here is that my opp flopped a set. How did you know to call that flop raise?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Theeggman

Wow Dale, I wish I had that kind of confidence. I appreciate you sharing these. First hand, I like your analysis. Second hand: only thing I'm afraid of here is that my opp flopped a set. How did you know to call that flop raise?

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annep had raised 3-5xBB on eight or ten consecutive hands. Odds alone would dictate that she was raising some sub-par hands in that stretch. A few players had called her and she always came out firing, but had to fold a couple times when someone showed resistance. I had a feeling she wanted to keep her aggro table image, so I pretty much swore to myself that the next hand i got top pair or better, I wasn't going quietly.

Her check-raise took me by surprise but I thought it was still worth a call with top pair. The second check-raise on the turn felt like some desperate trickery to try to rep a better hand than she really had - most players take the safeties off after they've already check-raised once. It's possible she was really getting crafty with a monster, but I had to stick to my read. On the river there was no turning back. I was pleased with the results, obviously, and not that surprised - I didn't even think she'd have an ace in her hand.

By the way, I don't recommend calling down big bets all willy-nilly. I run into an opportunity like this once every couple weeks, if that. It's easy to confuse big bettors with big bluffers, and I try not to do that... it can be very, very costly. There are lots of players (and I am one of them) who won't hesitate to bet huge on the turn with a good hand and just hope for a call. The key is sniffing out that particular scent of desperation. An all-in bet on the river usually smells more desperate than one on the turn, because smart players who aren't holding the mortal nuts don't usually bet like that with all the cards out.

VN.

Quote:

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An all-in bet on the river usually smells more desperate than one on the turn, because smart players who aren't holding the mortal nuts don't usually bet like that with all the cards out.

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Appreciate the insight.
Can't wait til my game's up for NL, until my reads are stronger it's still tourneys and limit for me. Thx again.