thejimsheet

It’s been written that, as a poker player, you should know WHY you are putting chips in the pot each time you do. Well, that makes sense. For this post, I’ll just talk about betting and/or raising, not calling, which is a different animal. Players hear Mike Sexton say that poker rewards the aggressor. Yes, it does. But, the guys on the WPT final table are shorthanded and playing a tournament with high blinds. And, yet, they still (usually) have a sound rationale behind their actions. Well, not across Las Vegas. People bet and raise in the weirdest spots. They turn decent hands with showdown value into bluffs. They bet people out of pots when they have the fucking nuts. They “protect” hands???

Ok, two examples, just from tonight:

1. I’m at Excalibur and they open a new table for us. To my left is one of the better players I’ve played with out here. He’s making laydowns, bluffs, thin value bets, and while we’re not talking much, we’re talking enough that it’s clear he knows what he’s doing. Then, a hand comes up where a bunch of us limp to the flop. Honestly, I don’t know how many. I have Kxs. No, I don’t know what x was. Anyways, me and this dude are basically in middle position. The flop comes 995. It checks around. The turn comes a 9. It checks around. The river comes an A. I think about betting my King for value, and just don’t see enough there. If it checks around, then cool. Goodplayerman bets 10. It quickly folds. He tells me he’s glad nobody raised, and shows me 5x. No, I don’t remember what x was. He mentions that if someone had raised, he would have had to muck. He didn’t think anyone had an A, because they would have bet it on the turn, but someone could have had quad nines. Ummmm, ok. I ask him what hands he wanted to be called by, and he says he didn’t want to be called. Well, this just makes no fucking sense, and this is from a thinking player.

2. A little later, I’m at MGM. There’s a loudmouth pretty boy (probably 40, but you know the type - permanent 5o’clock shadow, button down shirt untucked, with the sleeves rolled, probably expensive jeans, whatever). He is the table talker. Where you from? That’s cool. Hey, Frankfurt. Don’t raise me, LA. SHUT UP! Anyways, he gets into a hand when he raises to 12 preflop and gets three callers. Flop comes 357, all clubs. He’s last to act. Girl bets 10, young pro folds, dumby in middle position goes all in for like 38 (yes, somebody smoothcalled 12 preflop with a stack of 50). Prettyman thinks for about 4 seconds and then announces a raise. Girl doesn’t want to fold (the raise put her all-in for the ~70 she had left). She folds. He flips fucking AcKc. Chinaman to his right asks him why he raised. He hems and haws and then mentions he doesn’t want her to call and then get a straight flush. He proceeds to try to explain to the chinaman. Chinaman, he know better, and just tell prettyman that he a smart whitey. I mean, this guy obviously made a ridiculous isolation play (she later said she had 87 with the 8 of clubs, so yes, in fact, she did have a runner-runner straight flush draw). And, he’s incredulous that anyone could question him.

LOL. I get mad just writing about the stupidity. I’m now reminded of when he (prettyman) earlier told the dude to my right that folding a OESD with an over on the flop getting 4-1 on his shortstack was a really good fold, because well, he (prettyman) had turned top pair into a boat on the turn and river. Ok.

Anyways, the fucking point is this: bluff with hands that you think can’t win (and probably the least amount you don’t think will be called), bet for value with hands you think are the best (and probably the most amount you think will be called).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 6:06 am and is filed under Poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.