Light Relief

Enough bad beat whining for now!

Not played this week due to various work and family commitments, so here's a jolly hand from last weekend.

Over the last few weeks I've mentioned a hand where I totally overplayed AQ pre-flop against a nutter who finally found a hand against me, and opined on a PLO hand that shipping it all-in as a 60/40 favourite pre-flop was good, but not necessarily reflective of the edge I do have over *some* players.

I have an ongoing internal dialogue on this subject. Clearly in cash it's always good to get your money in ahead, but over time, I do sometimes veer towards the thought that passing up some marginal +EV situations in favour of maximising the edge elsewhere is a good idea.

This is one of those areas where results have a distorting effect on decisions, as after losing four on five 60/40s on the bounce - or running into a 20/80 where you are actually 60/40 against the opponents range - it's easy to start getting gun-shy.

Recent results have obviously pushed me down the gun-shy route for now, but as the magic hand shows, this isn't always a bad thing.

We are six handed at a recently opened table which has yet to fill. The Maniac is running 88%/29% on a small sample size. Effective stacks are $100, though he has already run up to $160+ with hands ranging from 72o to A8s.

UTG, and with The Maniac on the button, I find

and decide to limp. Folded to The Maniac who, as expected, makes it $6 to play. Folded back to me, and in gun-shy mode, I decide to call.

Against his range I'm way ahead, I'm also OOP, so there's a strong case for a limp-reraise, but I'll freely admit I'm not bursting with confidence, and I know he aint folding any pair here, so I rationalise it as not wanting to pay off a loon only to see the cash quickly sent elsewhere.

All of which seems a lot more valid when the flop comes

If I liked my hand anymore here, I'd be putting a poster of it on the bedroom wall!

44, 22, and even 42 do all go through my head as not impossible holdings for this guy, but that's taking fear of monsters to an extreme.

Given his constant aggression, check raising to $32 after his $8 c-bet is standard stuff.

What isn't standard is him three-betting all-in, meaning I have to call another $63 into a $140 pot.

At this point I'm thinking he either has a legitimate made hand, or perhaps even a lesser flush draw. Either way, I'm definitely calling.

Which I do, and am rewarded with the site of his

hole cards!!

9/1 when the chips went in. That's the sort of odds I like.

No more drama and a $200 pot slides my way.

I suppose you could attempt to offer some credit to the other fella, and say he may have put me on a lesser drawing hand that King-high was actually beating, but really whacking all your chips in the middle on that flop has to be a long term losing play, and one which certainly brightened up my day.

Long may it continue!