how to play luckbox fishes?

[GeeBeeQED]

I agree generally with what I've seen written here. However with just one pair I lean towards 70-80% bets (pot ok) on flop and I like to overbet the pot against the fish to get rid of him on the turn. Many of these players won't call with only 1 card to come. You said you "know" he would but I doubt that you really do. If you had an error free crystal ball you'd not have been on this bad run lately.

It's important to clairify, I'd mostly play AA against better quality players differently and that's not what we are talking about here.

Pigs get slaugtered. Take a nice bite out of him then make a big bet on the turn. If he calls or raises you've got a new decision to make.

I think the one argument against pot betting the whole way that nobody has mentioned is this. If your habit is to build monster pots with calling stations then your giving his portion of the variance the best opportunity to make the maximum $$. Even if he's only 30% he's still going to get you, even twice in a row from time to time. Realize this isn't the last hand your going to play with this fish. He's probably in the game until he's busted and that's probably many hands. You'll get another shot. Also, they are more likely to reload when they get mini swings up and down and peter out of money. I want him to reload a couple of times and keep feeding the table.

There are other considerations and arguments with value besides taking the largest EV move for every short term gain. A poker game is a group of many hands. Bad players lose over the long run. I think there is some value when you've got mediocre but probably best hands (like top pair good kicker for example) in letting the fish blow off his chips over the long run just like he's supposed to do. If instead you think bad players are suppossed to lose all thier money in 4 to 6 hands then your patience for the game is probably not in line with the reality of poker.

Going broke after the flop with Aces or Kings is something I try to avoid. In general it's a sucker who does this, I don't care how good you think you are, you are one of the donaters if you think it's ok to go broke after the flop with top pair/overpair type hands in live action cash games. I've done this from time to time and every time I've been stupid for doing it. If I read the original poster correctly, he agrees with my sentiments here. Cash games are about bleading your opponents over many hands and slaughering one from time to time with big hands. Top pair is not a big hand. Play it too big and it may your head that's rolling into the basket.

It's often said about a fish that his biggest mistake is that he calls too much. However I'd narrow that down. It often seems to me the most common error is calling to see the turn card too much. They hit the flop with a gutter or a middle pair, you bet, they call knowing in thier heart they are probably behind but they want to see that turn card and see if they can catch up or get help. If they hit another pair, get open ended str8 or a flush draw, and etc.. they stay. Very often they will dump the gutters and middle pair hands on the turn if they've not improved as long as you bet the right amount to trigger that players "get out of Dodge" muscle.

Sure, with a better hand you play to get him all in or build the maximum pot. That is of course a different question out of the scope of the initial question.

Dave