First Hand History...

[Hal I. But]

This is my first submission. I'm looking forward to hearing from you all!

HH 1: This was my first hand to be played at this table although I’d been watching the table for about a half an hour with the aid of Poker Tracker. It rated Opponent as Loose Aggressive/Passive (LAP).

$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: ( $39.25 )
Seat 2: ( $45.85 )
Seat 3: ( $33.60 )
Seat 4: Hal I. But ( $25.25 )
Seat 5: ( $25 )
Seat 6: ( $39.57 )
Seat 7: ( $13.95 )
Seat 8: ( $25.35 )
Seat 10: Opponent ( $21.54 )
Opponent posts small blind [$0.10].
Seat 1 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hal I. But [ Ac Jd ]
Seat 2 folds.
Seat 3 folds.
Hal I. But raises [$0.75]. AJo is pretty good but I was mainly raising to see what would happen to the table with a 3xBB.
Seat 5 folds.
Seat 6 folds.
Seat 7 folds.
Seat 8 folds.
Opponent calls [$0.65].
Seat 1 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Qh, 8c ]
Opponent checks.
Hal I. But bets [$1.50]. This table had been playing fairly passively post flop, lots of checking through to river with poor cards at showdown; Opponent made similar plays.
Opponent calls [$1.50].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4s ]
Opponent checks.
Hal I. But bets [$3]. I made 2/3 pot bet thinking it would be enough to scare him away.
Opponent calls [$3].
** Dealing River ** [ Kh ]
Opponent checks. Now what?

HH 2:

$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Table Table 66315 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: ( $45.75 )
Seat 2: ( $41.50 )
Seat 3: ( $25.35 )
Seat 4: Hal I. But ( $29.55 )
Seat 6: ( $45.74 )
Seat 7: ( $19.15 )
Seat 8: ( $15.55 )
Seat 9: ( $23.70 )
Seat 10: Opponent ( $16.92 ) (same Opponent as HH 1)
Seat 6 posts small blind [$0.10].
Seat 7 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hal I. But [ Jd Ts ]
Seat 8 folds.
Seat 9 calls [$0.25].
Opponent raises [$1].
Seat 1 folds.
Seat 2 folds.
Seat 3 folds.
Hal I. But calls [$1].
Seat 6 calls [$0.90].
Seat 7 folds.
Seat 9 calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6s, 6c, 6h ]
Seat 6 checks.
Seat 9 checks.
Opponent checks. He could have just about anything at this point.
Hal I. But bets [$3]. I put in ¾ pot see if I can win the pot or find out if someone has something they want to play.
Seat 6 folds.
Seat 9 folds.
Opponent calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7h ]
Opponent checks.
Hal I. But checks. I prolly should have bet here.
** Dealing River ** [ 2c ]
Opponent bets [$2].
Hal I. But raises [$10].
Opponent is all-In [$10.92] Now what?

Thanks for your help and opinions!
-Hal

[Rondavu]

First of all I like your aggression. I just think you're playing the right way against the wrong opponent. When playing against a loose player, you need to put money in when you have the best hand. Period. You're misusing fold equity. Don't bluff a calling station. They're willing to slowly give you their stack when you have the best of it. Against a tighter player, you can slowly take their stack by being selectively loose aggressive without the best hand.

A lot of people get frustrated by calling stations. How would you play against a table of calling stations? You would simply never bluff and let them pay off your hands. It would be the easiest money you ever made. What they deny you in fold equity is given back in value. They don't allow you to bluff, so they must be paying you off when you're not bluffing. The trick is to NOT make this kind of player fold. The trick is to keep them around (through value betting) on uncoordinated boards and show down the best hand against them. You'll hear people call this type of player an ATM.

Here's another angle that maybe you're not used to. If a person is classified as aggressive, and they uncharacteristically check postflop, then watch out. Sometimes they're loaded. It looks like what happened the second hand.

Welcome to the boards.

[outphase]

hand 1: well played if against a tight player, but against a known calling station, you gotta check it down as you're not gonna push him off his pair

hand 2: you're better off folding this against the raise preflop as the best you're gonna get is your straight or top 2 pair. bet the turn and fold to a big raise, raising the river... well you can't call off $10 more with just a bluff