When in Doubt, Pull the Trigger
note: cross posted from Andrew's blog at http://www.thinkingpoker.net/Blog/
Here's a fun hand against a smart and very aggressive player who was playing pretty strangely tonight:
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
SB: $1,643
BB: $1,399
UTG: $2,084.75
Hero (MP): $2,363
CO: $2,040
BTN: $1,000
Pre-Flop: 7d Ad dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG raises to $20, Hero raises to $75, CO folds, BTN calls $75, SB folds, BB calls $65, UTG raises to $255, Hero raises to $2,363 and is All-In, 3 folds
Results: $665 Pot
Hero mucked 7d Ad and WON $665 (+$410 NET)
He was minraising a ton pre-flop and making a lot of small flop bets. I'd been playing back at him quite a bit, and he'd been playing back at my play backs, etc. So there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here:
1. His UTG range is way wider than your average UTG raising range.
2. This means I can profitably 3-bet a wider range for value and make more bluff 3-bets.
3. But, I've been 3-betting him a lot and I know he knows that and he knows I know he knows so there is the whole leveling thing going on.
4. BTN is kind of a LAGtard and is probaby calling more hands than he should here but also is probably not cold calling with KK or AA.
5. BB is getting a decent price and also probably not playing KK or AA like this.
6. There's a lot of money in the pot now, and UTG can be pretty sure that two of his three opponents are going to fold to a 4-bet. I'm the only x-factor, but given the price he's getting and the fact that there is at least some reason to think I am going to go away, it's a great spot for him to squeeze.
7. Naturally he is playing JJ+ and AK like this for value. Nothing I can do about that. But recognizing (7), and that there's a lot of money in the pot and that I have 30% equity against his calling range, I'm sticking it in.
I also tend towards a maxim of "when in doubt, pull the trigger". Not only does this encourage you to experiment and grow as a player, but it also gives you a good image. When my opponents are contemplating a 4-bet, they have to fear not only that I will actually have a hand but also that I will re-bluff them. Even if a play turns out to be -EV in a vacuum, it can make future hands easier to play by forcing opponents to play more straight-forwardly against you. And that's worth a lot.
The Third Barrel
note: cross posted from Andrew's blog at http://www.thinkingpoker.net/Blog/
I played a one hour heads up session at 5/10 NL today and had occasion to execute two triple barrel bluffs (against different opponents). I'm not on my main computer, so I don't have the hand histories, but I'll recreate them as best I can. The first one was against a pretty loose and aggressive Swede:
He raised to $30 on the button, and I called with 22 on my BB. The flop came K85r, he bet $60 (he pretty much always potted the flop as the pre-flop raiser), I raised to $166, and he called. I was going to be done with the hand, but when an A came on the turn, I decided to fire again. I bet $285, and he called. There was now a little under $1000 in the pot and a little over $1000 left in our effective stacks. The river was something innocuous, and I shoved.
I didn't think he would call the river with less than Aces up, and he was loose enough to call any pair on the flop and maybe even on the turn. Based on that description, it should be clear that bluffing the turn and giving up on the river is not going to be good. He very rarely folds the turn after calling the flop. But if I am planning to shove most rivers, then the second barrel becomes part of a profitable strategy. My read was that there would be a big gap between his turn and river and calling ranges which a triple barrel would exploit profitably.
The second hand was against a better opponent. He opened the button to $30, and I made it $111 with A5s in the BB. He called. The flop came QJTr. I bet$175, and he called. The turn was a four and put a second diamond on the board. I bet $400, and he called. The river was an offsuit 3, and I shoved for about $850 into a $1300 pot. He folded.
Again, this player can have a fairly wide turn calling range. He may be calling with a pair thinking that I will give up on the river, or he may have a pair and a draw hoping I will either give up or that he will get there. But I think he is almost always shoving if he has two pair or better. That means that unless he slowplayed something (and only AK could really be comfortable slowplaying on the turn), he can pretty much never have a strong hand on the river.
Note how difficult it is for him to combat this. If he wants to prevent me from triple barreling, he must either slowplay some sets in a pretty yucky spot or occasionally call the river with stuff like J8. Shoving his pair and draw combos on the turn is a partial solution. It doesn't actually make his range much stronger when he gets to the river, but it does cause him to find himself in this bad river spot less often.