Two Memorable Hands

Whenever I return from a visit to the American side of the pond to play some live poker, there are always a couple of hands that stand out. Usually they include some kind of play, and these two examples are no exception to that rule. But the reason I decided make these two the subject for an article instead of just posting them on the forum, is that I believe that the thought process behind the hands being played out the way they did illustrates some important general principles.

The first lesson is that there is no substitute for paying attention at the table. Attention has never been my strongest asset, but I have become a lot better at it in a live session then I am online (though I have decided to change that, and have completely stopped multi-tabling and multitasking as a result).

When paying attention, you might catch some tells on some of your opponents. But in a fixed limit game you will rarely be able to extract a lot of value from these tells. But if you pay attention you will get to know each of your opponents general tendencies along the lines established in my article on Game Balance. And this is extremely valuable information in a fixed limit game. On top of that you might obtain some information on some more specific tendencies, such as blind defence, semi-bluffing frequency etc. And finally, if you are really alert, you should be able to feel The Rhythm Of The Game, and utilize this to make plays along the lines established in my article by that name: "But the expert also has access to the knowledge of how previous hands played out in the session, and therefore he can time his bluffs at the time where his opponent is most likely to fold, and make the same betting sequence with a made hand when his opponent is likely to call."

The hands I want to discuss below involve a classic "rhythm-play" and also illustrate how great calls come to be.

Hand 1 - The Background:

7-handed $40-80 table. To grasp this hand, I must first describe a hand that went prior to the hand I want to discuss. In the first hand I played I picked up 77 in the cut-off seat. A mid position player had raised, and I decided to play my hand and 3-bet, which got us heads up. The flop came AK8. My opponent checked to me, and I didn't hesitate to bet it, planning to fold if raised and take the free card if called. He flashed 99 and mucked. But before I got to muck my hand, he said "I showed you mine, now show me yours". I usually never show my hands, and I especially don't like to show a bluff, as it will make my opponent look stupid. But specifically asked, I decided that the best way to keep the table friendly was to comply with his request. Obviously this gave me a somewhat reckless table image.

Hand 1 - The Hand:

But on to the hand I want to discuss. It was folded to me in the cut off seat with As9d. I raised it in, and only got called by the big blind who happened to be the same guy I had been heads up against with the 77 vs. 99 hand described above. The flop came KsQs3h. It was checked to me and I bet figuring I had the best hand, but to my dismay he calls. The turn is the 5d, and he checked again. Given that there are a lot of straight or flush draws he could be check-calling with I decided to bet again. I might have the best, and if not I might improve. The river is the Kc, which I figure is a perfect scare card for me. But behold! all of a sudden my opponent comes out firing! Bummer! But wait a minute� When I first saw that king I considered it the perfect scare card, and I might not be the only one who had noticed that. But the king didn't change a thing. If I am beat now I was beat all the way. And if he really had that king wouldn't he have gone for a check raise here? I know I would have if I had been in his place. Add to this the reckless table image that I earned on the previous hand (and that he, of all players, is the most likely to hold of me as he was involved in the hand). Most loose aggressive players bet and raise a lot, but fold easily to aggression. Could that be what he was playing at? And if so, did he have a busted draw or did he have some kind of made hand, like a queen a low pocket pair, or maybe he hit one of the low cards when drawing? Based on these considerations I figured that he was not very likely to hold a king, and probably had a busted draw, though he might have some low pair that I couldn't beat. And given the ease with which he laid down those 9s in the previous hand I decided that the king was still MY scare card, so I raised. However, as it turned out my reckless image and his urge to get even, made him call with an ace and a lower kicker then mine!!!! Incredible! We both laughed a lot after that one. Sometimes no matter how good your thinking is, you still make mistakes, and sometimes when you do, you still come out on top.

Hand 2 - The Background:

This hand happened at an intermediate $20-40 game that had been running all night. I had been playing 4-5 hours and had been playing flawlessly while catching cards, not missing a bet in the process. As a result of this I had a chip stack of a size that made one dealer comment on the amount of chips on the table when sitting down. The table had a real whale in it, who had been losing for days now. He was a really loose passive calling station who nevertheless folded too much on the river.

However, during this session he seemed to have changed style, raising a lot preflop and betting all the way after the flop too. I did notice this change, but didn't get a specific read on him, until I was involved in a hand, which occurred a few hands before the one to be discussed here.

The calling station had raised it in from UTG+1 and had gotten three callers before it was up to me on the button with Q9s. I called figuring this to be a good spot for a suited connector. The flop came Q84 rainbow. The preflop raiser bets, and gets one caller in addition to me. The turn is a perfect 9. Now it is checked to me, I bet and the preflop raiser check-raised! I am seriously considering 3-betting here, but as I still remember him as weak, I just call fearing J10. The river is a blank and I call him down. He shows J9s and had been check raising me with second pair and a gutshot draw. From this hand I knew that desperation had turned my timid little weak passive calling station into a genuine maniac, a bit of knowledge that came into play a few hands later.

Hand 2 - The Hand:

Knowing that my opponent was capable of open-raising with J9 from early position, I decided to call him with A7o from late position, when he raised from early position a round or so later, and everybody had folded to me. The big blind who had been playing for way too long and was stuck and feeling hopeless called too. The flop came 984 rainbow and my maniac bet it. Given the wide range of hands he would play this way, chances were reasonable that I still had the best hand, as none of these cards looked to help him out, so I called him, partially out of curiosity of what he was raising with this time. The turn was a 10, and I decided to put him to the test and raised with my ace and a low open-ended straight draw. That did not come out very well as he 3-bet me. As I knew from the previous hand that his turn raises didn't have to mean strength, and even if it did I figured that I still had outs so I called. The river was a complete blank. He bet again, and given the size of the pot at this point, and his action in the previous hand I decided to make a crying call, partially because of the size of the pot that actually gave me 10 to 1 on my ace high, and partially out of curiosity. I simply wanted to know more of what he was capable of, and figured that 1 BB investment on a call on the river might pay off on later hands. As it turned out he had KJo and 3-bet me on an open-ended straight draw and two overcards, and I took down a sizable pot. Nobody at the table could believe I made that call, but in all honesty this is a classic example where I just couldn't get my opponents actions to make any sense, and particularly out of confusion and curiosity got myself sucked into a pot where I had no business. But it is also a good example why many players fold too much on the river. If you decide to get to the river, you should usually be able to pay off to see a showdown too, if you have any (however remote) chance of winning, as the pot is too big to let go of at this point.

Thanks to Leigh Lightfoot-Martin for proof reading this article.

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