PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

back-to-back winners or, where's that kill button when you need it?

2009-10-08 - 5:46 p.m.

Not many interesting hands on the last trip to Vegas. What's cool and new to say about I had pocket AAs and he had pocket KKs, so naturally he caught his two outer on the river blah de blah de blah. However, I did take notes on a couple of hands that I played (and won) back to back when I was way down at the table. I think I handled them well, but who knows...30/60 LHE.

On the first hand I was UTG 8 handed or so with AQ of diamonds. I raised and got a cold call from a good young kid who was running hot and cold-calling maybe a bit too much to take advantage of his rush. Blinds fold, and we're heads up. The flop is J, 7, 3 rainbow.

I C-bet, he auto-raises, I call. No one's range has been narrowed. He is probably a little more inclined to take potshots at me because I've been on a big losing streak.

Turn is another 3, which changes nothing. I'd like to fold out any AK or any other AQs, as well as small pocket pairs, and I'd like to send the message that fucking with me can get expensive. I also don't mind denying odds to any gutshots he might hold, like 89 or T9 -- the sooted versions of these hands aren't beyond his cold calling range. If he comes back with a 3-bet, oh well, I'm out of here. You can argue with my play since AQ has showdown value so maybe not the ideal hand to turn into a pure bluff but it is what it is.

He thinks a l-o-n-g time and then folds. Small pocket pair? Hollywooding even though he has nothing, to give me the wrong idea about what I've achieved? We'll never know.

On the very next hand, of course I'm in the big blind. I have K9 of offsuit. Oh, I hate this hand, but a different tough player on the hijack raises. I don't think a fold here is bad, even getting 3-2/3 to one, because I have a dominated hand, and I'll be acting out of position on all subsequent rounds, but I don't think seeing a flop is bad either if I can get away from it. Plus I'm tired of being forced off my blind every time. So I call.

The flop is A99.

Nothing wrong with the check-raise here, but I think he'll mis-read a donk as me trying to make a play, and I'll be able to screw with him a little bit later.

So I bet, he raises, I call. My little trap is set, tee hee.

The turn is some random card. I donk again. Now he's really peeved. He of course raises. I three-bet. At this point, he figures out that he might just be beat. There's the long, drawn-out Big Think but finally he folds. Too bad. I was actually hoping he'd call down because my play was so screwy.

Do I actually make more money than if I played it more traditionally?

Let's see. Check-raise the flop, he calls. Lead the turn, he calls. Bet the river, he calls. No, I make the same amount of money but, this way, I have the occasional chance that he does scratch his head (or does have an A) and he puts in a little more money than he intended. I certainly wouldn't play it this way very often though. In fact, most times, unless the steal raise is coming from the cut-off or the button or from a rather laggy player, I wouldn't even bother to call with the K9 of way too easy to be dominated...

For more completely absurd poker plays, click right here to the index to my silly poker pages.

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