I am not a professional poker player, i only played in a Poker house, Casino or if there are invitations in the neighborhood some time, and my game of choice was Texas Hold'em. Mostly because this is the most popular game around, and there is no shortage of opponents.
Weeks ago, I played in a cash game in Davao City. Most of the players at the table were regulars or appeared to be so to me. They all seemed to know each other and were, on the whole, a fairly tight bunch of players. The gentleman on my right was on his late 40's, and was doing fairly well. Masaya sya at palakwento, he was having a good time.
This was a P50/P100, no limit game, with a P3000 maximum buy in. He had built his stack of poker chips up to around P12,000 and was showing his pleasure. I had built my stack up to around the same size when an opportunity came along. He was a good, solid player and I had only seen him play premium hands. He raised to P500 pre-flop. I was next to act, on the button and called his raise with a pair of Eights (8-8). The rest of the table folded, so there was just the two of us.
The flop came, 9,J,10 variously suited. He bet P1000 on the flop, and I raised him to P2000, to see where he was. After a long think, he re-raised to P5000 and I sensed an opportunity. He was scared, the smile was gone from his face and his hands were shaking. He also counted out all his money to himself before re-raising, so I thought I could make a move. As soon as he re-raised, I moved all-in for P12,500. He thought for some time, and then folded his hand. He later confided to me that what he folded was trip 9s. I didn’t see them, but I believed him. He also said he didn’t want to risk the rest of his stack on the chance I had him beat with a set of Jack, or a straight. He then left the table with his remaining P6000 plus.
This would not have worked against another, looser player or a player who was playing for a sum that was not important to him. But the P6000+ was important to this man, and he made that very clear to me. He was prepared to lose the P5000+ he had already put in the pot, rather than risk the extra P6000+. The P5000 was important to me as well, but I didn’t let him see that. Playing this way is risky, and it is vital to sum up your opponents before doing so. A different type of player would have called my bluff, and although I had outs, I was glad he folded.
The main thing is to be aggressive with players of this type. If I had called his bet on the flop, and tried to make my straight – I would be the one on the defensive. By being the aggressor, I was giving him the tough decision. I had already made it clear I was prepared to put all my chips in – he had to decide if he wanted to do the same thing. I could have had any number of hands. An over pair, a made straight, another set. Even though he had the best hand, he could still have lost and he wasn’t ready to risk that happening. At that point there were two more cards to come – any of which could have ruined his afternoon. I usually find this is the point to put these sort of decisions to tighter players, if I had waited ‘till the river, we would both have had a lot more money in and he would almost have been forced to call.
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