Checking A Good Hand To Induce A Bluff, Part II

Here’s another couple of examples. The tables met the usual requirements, having a player who is very loose and willing to take a stab at a pot.

PokerStars Game #947xxxxxx: Hold’em No Limit ($0.01/$0.02) – 2007/04/17 – 20:44:19 (ET)Table ‘xxxxx’ 9-max
Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: calling station ($3.40 in chips)
Seat 3: me ($5.16 in chips)
Seat 4: aggressive/maniac ($2.52 in chips)
Seat 5: weak tight ($2.96 in chips)
Seat 6: unkown ($0.93 in chips)
Seat 7: TAG? ($3.47 in chips)
Seat 8: unknown ($2.73 in chips)
Seat 9: maniac#2 ($1.32 in chips)
calling station: posts small blind $0.01
Labattt50: is sitting out me: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to me [Ah Ac]
Labattt50 leaves the table
aggressive/maniac: raises $0.02 to $0.04 (big surprise)
weak tight: folds
unkown: folds
TAG?: folds
unknown: folds
maniac#2: folds
calling station: calls $0.03 (big surprise)
me: raises $0.06 to $0.10 (I have AA, trying to get value, thin the field)
aggressive/maniac: calls $0.06 (no surprise)
calling station: folds (this is a surprise, but it gives me one less whacky draw to worry about)
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9h 3d]
me: bets $0.24 (Just under a pot sized bet – standard on this board with my AA)aggressive/maniac: calls $0.24 (no surprise, he’s going to try to take it away. If he has a set, I’m doomed, if he has 2 pair, I have outs, but I think I’m ahead. I can fold AA to an obvious flush or straight against a solid player, but I’m paying off a maniac.)
*** TURN *** [Ts 9h 3d] [Ad]
me: checks (Yay, my card came, I’m going to let this guy think I’m afraid of the A. Maybe I had 88, JJ, QQ, or KQ or something, but surely I don’t like this A.)
aggressive/maniac: bets $2.18 and is all-in (Of course he thinks he can steal it. Allin is representative of a steal, not of strength. He’s not trying to get more money in. Doesn’t matter, I have the nuts at this point. Technically, there are gutshot straight draws, or backdoor flushes that could beat me, or 1 out draws to 4 of a kind, but this is exactly what I wanted, him to push against my great hand.)
me: calls $2.18 (I have the nuts at this point in the hand. )
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9h 3d Ad] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
me: shows [Ah Ac] (three of a kind, Aces)
aggressive/maniac: mucks hand
me collected $4.83 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $5.08 Rake $0.25
Board [Ts 9h 3d Ad Qs]
Seat 1: calling station (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: me (big blind) showed [Ah Ac] and won ($4.83) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 4: aggressive/maniac mucked [Kd Qd] (He had a gutshot and overcards on the flop, and backed into a flush draw on the turn, he’s about a 3-1 dog on the turn. That’s a good tournament move depending on stacks, but I don’t like it as a cash game move with deep stacks, you give up too much. Pot sized bet to take it down is fine, especially after I check that A. If you get called, you have a lot of outs, and you still have your chance to get paid off on the river. It wasn’t the worst play, but it’s not something I would recommend doing.)
Seat 5: weak tight folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: unkown folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: TAG? folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: unknown folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: maniac#2 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Another example:
PokerStars Game #xxxxxxxx: Hold’em No Limit ($0.01/$0.02) – 2007/04/17 – 20:43:33 (ET)Table ‘xxxxxxx’ 9-max
Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: unknown ($4.36 in chips)
Seat 2: ringaling ($1.51 in chips)
Seat 3: me ($4.84 in chips)
Seat 4: unknown ($3.90 in chips)
Seat 5: weak loose ($2.46 in chips)
Seat 6: tight ($3.42 in chips)
Seat 7: LAG? ($2.52 in chips)
Seat 8: maniac ($4.76 in chips)
unknown: posts small blind $0.01
ringaling: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to me [9c 8c]
me: raises $0.02 to $0.04 (Switching up my play with a minraise from UTG with decent suited connectors. Hoping to flop a draw. Most people would play AK or a medium pocket pair this way. What’s nice about this is your hand is usually well concealed.)
unknown: folds
weak loose: folds
tight: folds
LAG?: calls $0.04 (expected)
maniac: calls $0.04 (expected, kinda expected a raise, but this is perfect)
unknown: folds
ringaling: calls $0.02 (calling station)
*** FLOP ***
[Kc 9d 2c]
ringaling: checks
me: bets $0.12 (representing AK, but really I have a great draw with a flush draw and a pair. I can expect to make 2 pair or better over 50% of the time. That’s not saying I’m 50% to win the hand, but this is exactly what I was looking for. A well disguised draw. They should think I have AK or KQ. If I take it down now, that’s fine.)

LAG?: folds (smart enough to know he missed and with this board it could get ugly)
maniac: calls $0.12 (of course – he had been playing 80% of his hands, and had been aggressive. I can’t put him on anything, but I think if he had a K he would have raised. A9 maybe?)
ringaling: calls $0.12 (check calls everything, who knows)
*** TURN ***
[Kc 9d 2c] [Jh]
ringaling: checks me:
bets $0.40 (Once again, I only have a pair, but I still have my draw. At this point, I’m really trying to take the hand down. This was not a good card. It makes a straight, so my pair/trip outs are gone, but I think my flush outs may still be good)
maniac: calls $0.40 (Not surprising, but not what I wanted. I wanted that bet to take the hand down. He could have anything. Pair, straight draw, flush draw, made straight. I’m probably going to have to let the hand go on the river.)
ringaling: calls $0.40 (not surprising, but not what I wanted. I wanted that bet to take the hand down. Always check-calling)
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9d 2c Jh] [Qc]
ringaling: checks me: checks (A great card for me. I would have rather seen the Ac to know it’s not out there, but I get my flush. Not sure how I’m gonna play it, but I’m gonna check it. I’m representing that I’m giving up on the hand with AK. Based on the action I may call or raise. I can’t really put anyone on the nut flush draw based on their previous actions, but it is out there. I have a tendency assume that maniacs don’t have the big hand. Whether or not that is good, I don’t know.)
maniac: bets $0.20 (This is a really weird small bet. It gives me like 8-1 to call. My warning lights go on because it’s half the size of my turn bet. There’s a ton in the pot already, A normal bet size would have been at least half pot if he had a real hand. Betting into someone that has shown strength, he’s got to know he can get a call. My check made it look like I gave up with AK, so maybe he’s got a good hand and just wants me to call a small bet, but really, I think it’s just a weak steal.)
ringaling: calls $0.20 (just calling everything still)
me: raises $1.80 to $2 (I decide he has to have something like 2 pair or maybe T9, had a pair, and caught the straight. T9 is unlikely, because I have a 9, but it sure seems like he wants to get some value if he has the best hand, but he doesn’t like the flush on the board. I might be running into the A high flush draw, but I just think he would have raised preflop with an A. I hope he has a straight or a baby flush, even though I think he made a weak steal attempt. I’m going to get value from my hand. Against a solid player, I would just call here.)
maniac: calls $1.80 (No all in? No A high flush. I have the best hand.)
ringaling: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
me: shows [9c 8c] (a flush, King high)
maniac: mucks hand
me collected $5.68 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $5.93 Rake $0.25
Board [Kc 9d 2c Jh Qc]
Seat 1: unknown (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: ringaling (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 3: me showed [9c 8c] and won ($5.68) with a flush, King high
Seat 4: unknown folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: weak loose folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: tight folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: LAG? folded on the Flop
Seat 8: maniac (button) mucked [8d Td] (He had a straight. I don’t understand his flop call, though, unless he thinks he can take it away.)

=================================

I took a bit of a risk on that second hand. There were a lot of hands out there that could beat me – Axs, Jxs or Txs, but I felt based on my read of him as a maniac, I needed to get some value out of the hand. Again, against a solid player, I check call that, or may a small value blocking bet, but against someone that plays 80% of their cards, and plays them very aggressively, I have to assume that my hand is good.

I was fortunate that in both hands, the guys had something worth playing.

Great night for me. Basically I kept getting paid of by bad players and 2nd best hands. I had one hand where there was a big pot and I had to make a laydown, I’ll post that later.

BR-78.16 (up about 13 for the night)