PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

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the screwplay, evidence of a sick twisted mentality or just shrewd poker? 2009-12-08 - 1:07 p.m. Last night I got involved in a wild and crazy game where it was common for one guy to straddle, another to raise blind, and even for a couple of maniacs to call these multiple bets blind. So you're going to win a lot or lose a lot, right? You'd think but, despite the wild swings, I ended up only down a little. The game broke when it got short and the calling station busted out. The maniacs can do OK short, so I don't need to play them four or five-handed, but I was going to stick around as long as my favorite station was in the game. I haven't had a chance to write up any hands from last night, but I've jotted down three from previous sessions. How about a couple of examples of the good old-fashioned screwplay? I think there's all kind of good things that can happen when you use the technique early in a session. All hands described are 30/60 LHE. Here's one that I played against a new opponent, possibly a tourist. He has just sat down in the cut-off but since he came from the "must move" table, he doesn't have to post. The floor has helped him carry over a big glass of wine. He makes a comment about how good wine is the key to a long life, then looks down at his hand and adds, "good wine and good cards." He open raises, and it could be a steal, but the set-up is too elaborate for a steal. I think he's genuinely pleased with what he sees. I'm in the small blind with my first pocket Aces of the trip, so I'm liking what I see too. Button folds, I three-bet, big blind folds, he calls. Heads up. Flop is 844, 2 spades. I don't have a spade but it isn't a terrible flop for my Aces. I'm going to assume he hasn't improved until I get evidence otherwise. I C-bet. He calls. The turn is a 5 of whatever. I need to think fast. The board is somewhat coordinated, with flush and now a straight draw out there, and I'm out of position, so 90 percent of the time, and maybe more often, I'm playing it fast in this situation. On the other hand, I have a so-so not quite 5 big bet pot in front of me. Why not take a chance and try to build it? I'm thinking the guy has a hand he likes, such as a big pair or AK or AQ. If I donk check this turn, he's almost honor bound to bet it after his joke about "good cards." So I check, he bets, I raise. OK, now he's not very happy with me. But he calls. He's either the actor of all time or he has some hand like a big pocket pair that feels obligated to call down heads up. The river is the 6, which completes the straight, but I have no reason on this earth to believe his pocket pair is 77. I bet, he calls, and of course I'm good. I'm pretty sure I got an extra big bet out of him by playing this way. Here's a second example. I've played this kid before -- he's a tough knowledgeable player who has spent time working on his game. To be honest, though, I'm not sure what he thinks of me. Probably that I'm a little bluffy. He opens in the hijack, fold, fold, I look down in the small blind at K9 of diamonds. Too much hand to fold here, but I'd like to have some overlay from dead money in the pot if I'm dominated or a big underdog to his hand. So I three-bet to fold out the big blind, which works fine. Heads up. The flop comes Q98, two diamonds. I've got to like this flop, because even if I'm still behind, I've got a lot of ways to improve. Plus, if I make the hand, I'm confident that he'll call down light, because it's heads-up, and he knows better than to fold too much heads up. Since I'm ahead, I do the straightforward ABC what anyone would do on this flop. (Um, that might be sarcasm, folks.) I check, he auto-bets, I raise. I don't even care what he does. I don't mind taking the pot now, and I don't mind drawing. I've got all kinds of equity here. Anyway, he calls. The turn is the K of clubs. Think fast, Peachfront! The way I've played so far, he can certainly put me on a Q and assume that I'm scared of the K. So I donk check, he bets, and I raise again. I don't think the kid likes me anymore. :-( The turn is the 6 of hearts, so I don't improve to the diamond flush, but I have no reason to think my two pair hand isn't already best. I bet and he calls, which is even more encouraging -- if he had the straight, he isn't going to pass up a raise out of the goodness of his soul. And, indeed, I take down the pot, again winning an extra big bet. I like this second hand better, because it didn't rely so much on hoping I had a good read on a tourist I'd never seen before. I feel like a turn A or K is actually a card where I could believably represent weakness to induce a bet from my opponent. The 5 in the first example? That might be a little questionable. OK, that's two hands where I played well or at least thoughtfully. Here's a hand I screwed up and missed a bet on the river. At least I think I played the other streets well. The game was loose, with a mix of bad players, a deceptive "contrary man" and the good kid from the last example. I have AA with the A of spades UTG plus 1. I limp, another dude limps, "contrary man" raises in hijack, good kid 3 bets, a pretty hopeless woman regular cold calls 3 on the button, blinds fold, I 4 bet. Next dude folds, the rest call. 18-2/3 small bets in the pot. Alrighty then! The flop is Q9 of spades, some rag. I cannot protect my overpair because of the size of the pot. Offering folks 19-2/3 on their call is just plain not good gambling. [IMOM points out that, while I can't protect my overpair, I'm ahead often enough in this huge pot that I can and probably should just bet for value, especially since multiple opponents will almost certainly have to call.] So I check. "Contrary man" doesn't mind offering those odds however. He throws out a bet, and what the hell does he think is gonna happen? All call. At least I know where the betting is coming from. If I want to eliminate players, I'll need to donk bet into him and hope he raises me to get rid of the others. If I want everybody to come along, I'll check raise the field. A bit under 12 big bets are now in the pot. The turn is the 2 of spades. I have picked up the nut spade draw to go with my aces. I go with plan B. Contrary man bets out "just like a trained goldfish," as the man used to say in Tunica. The kid calls, the hopeless woman has finally figured out that she ain't gonna win and she folds. I raise. Contrary man calls. Kid folds. A T on the river completes some of the possible straight draws and gives TT a set of tens. QQ, 99, and 88 already have a set. However, even without my spade flush, I'm going to get called down by soooooo many worse hands here that I just have to bet, because the size of the pot is so huge that even JJ won't let it go without a showdown. Still, I manage to screw it up and fail to bet. Maybe I hope to induce a final bluff from contrary man, I dunno. As if. Anyway, the minute it goes check, check, I don't even have to see the cards to know I've won. I scooped a huge pot but I'm still kicking myself for letting that last $60 get away. That's the day I was making poor decisions. After a couple of bloopers like that, I had to cut things short. Some days, the brain just ain't in gear. For more wacky poker plays, you can visit my poker page. back - next All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2002-2017 by Elaine Radford