$220 HU SNG: Case study vs Tough, aggro opponent

[BobAllinSki]

You play good [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

My instinct was to check raise hand 38, I can see your point about not giving a free card, but why not give him some space to bluff, a bet of say 400, any hand that he pushes over the top of that beats you would call your all in anway but you pick some extra up from bluffs, this is a classic cbetting flop so a bluff raise is fairly likely, plus if the turn bricks then you can check and he will push a good % of the time.

Edit: missed villain only had 900 on the flop so no bluff is likely, good push. What do you think of the above line if villain had 1200 on the flop?

[Gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
I noticed you folded Ace rag OOP to a 3x raise, and then later called with K rag OOP to a 3x raise. What lead you to make that decision?

Also, hand 21 seems like a standard fold as I dont see him having much that you beat, and you only had 60 invested in the pot.


Also thanks for posting this, it is nice to get a feel for the opponents at that level without actually having to put up $230.

[/ QUOTE ]

I never called with K-rag; I pushed K-rag If you are talking about K7o, that's not really K-rag...k-7 and a-7 are the bottom of the range I'm willing to play OOP.

Also, hand 21 seems like a standard fold as I dont see him having much that you beat, and you only had 60 invested in the pot.

Hand 21 is a standard fold against a standard opponent, but he has a pretty wide pushing range here and I think KQo is marginal here but OK against his range (when he gets semi-short stacked he goes a little nutso). I could have waited for a better spot but I wanted to catch him with his pants down with K9

[Gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
You play good [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

My instinct was to check raise hand 38, I can see your point about not giving a free card, but why not give him some space to bluff, a bet of say 400, any hand that he pushes over the top of that beats you would call your all in anway but you pick some extra up from bluffs, this is a classic cbetting flop so a bluff raise is fairly likely, plus if the turn bricks then you can check and he will push a good % of the time.

Edit: missed villain only had 900 on the flop so no bluff is likely, good push. What do you think of the above line if villain had 1200 on the flop?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think if we are deeper the checkraise is fine here, but as I said earlier he is almost never bluffing here, so when he pushes it puts me in a tight spot. I'd rather be the aggressor in this situation and force him to make the bad calls or just take this huge pot down now.

[MilkyMan]

Ah I missed he only had 900 left as well actually on hand 38. Good points you make, however I don't think you're making him face any hard decision at all. The ONLY bad call he can make here is with 66 or AK. This is a very easy situation for him to play.

Checking with the intention of check-raising will be risky if you think there's a good chance that he will take a free card. However against most opponents you will open up a situation where you let your opponent make a mistake more often. I just don't see pushing here will ever make him make a mistake.

But I mean it's a risk you have to take and against this opponent it was probably correct not to give him a free card. But I don't think you're putting any hard decision at all on your villain in the hand.

[MilkyMan]

As a followup question Gild, say you revers your rolls. Same action and everything, but this time you are the villain. You are in position and the pot is 600 on the flop.

a) Which hands do you call a push with?

b) Do you ever try to steal the huge pot when it's checked to you? What range of hands do you require to take a stab?

c) Does a timing tell make any difference? Would you be more likely to take a stab at the pot if your villain (who is now oop) checks very quickly or takes a moment to think and then checks?

d) What would you interpret a check by your villain as?

Remember, you are the villain so forget the actual hand you held, just work with hand ranges.

[cwar]

Im curious gildwulf, is this average skill level for the 200s?

[Gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
Im curious gildwulf, is this average skill level for the 200s?

[/ QUOTE ]

no, most players are much worse

[Gildwulf]

the average player is Tag with major exploitable leaks; there are only like 4-6 players I actively avoid, and this guy is one of them.

[cwar]

He seems pretty exploitable too IMO.

Especially hand 5 where I think your hand is pretty transparent and he doesnt pick up on it, its seems like hes taking random stabs at the pot and giving up. He also seems to have some leaks in preflop game, this encouraging to know.

[Fight Club]

18 - I'd probably re-raise but stack sizes make it tough if he pushes.

21 - Marginal, but ok with the history.

34 - are you calling preflop with the sole intention of making a move like this on most flops? If so I like it.

46 - I dont get why you would rr all-in with Kx that deep.