4 Comments

1. ffcowboy76 says:

   January 30, 2009 at 4:09 pm

   Wow. I made a really unusual play here. Every book you read tells you that you should raise with AK in any position. By limping I allowed others to enter the pot, which can be dangerous. The idea behind the play is to allow a weaker hand to catch second best and take down a huge pot. The thoughts behind my play. When the flop comes it checks to me, I make a “continuation” bet that usually would come after a raise. When the Hero in this hand calls, I know he has the K with less than an A kicker (somewhere around KQ to KT). The Hero always raised with an A and for certain with AK. When it came to the turn and it was just me and the Hero I ruled out QJ because he wouldn’t call that bet with that long of a draw. The turn made my hand the winner. Now it’s a matter of getting as much as possible from the Hero. I made the small bet to reassure my read. When he re-raised I was happy. I decided to min re-raise to extract as much as possible. The turn was a blessing in disguise. I knew he didn’t have QJ so it was possible he caught second best two pair. I figured if I bet big and he caught two pair he would re-raise because he certainly didn’t have me on AK. I insta-called his re-raise. After the hand was over I got called the “dumbest player ever.” Told I made “the s****ist play ever”. The player then stated the he was sick of “FTP rewarding s***ty plays”. I informed the player that I was sorry I didn’t follow the “book” play. Then I told him he was behind on the flop, turn, and river.

   Now, why make this play. I had 50+ hands on the table (unsure of the actual amount because of multi-tabling) so I knew the players. I knew how the players played, not because of PokerTracker, but because I watch all my tables all the time. If their is a raise, it gets my full attention. By making the play I made I disguised my hand perfectly. I tried to inform the Hero that I knew I was ahead on the turn. He didn’t want to listen. Instead of folding when I offered him the chance, he decided to chase a dead draw. I don’t recommend this play for people who are not comfortable reading players and who don’t play complete attention to their table. This can be a profitable play, but you have to be willing to release a hand when you know you are behind.
2. Pipedream says:

   January 30, 2009 at 4:18 pm

   Great play, limping AK is a good way to mix it up sometimes for this reason. As you can tell from the original responses, the hand was disguised very well.

   I may have got the showdown hand wrong but I had a feeling the turn was strictly for value.

   Well played by villain, horrible play by hero.
3. ffcowboy76 says:

   January 30, 2009 at 9:04 pm

   Yes, my min raise on the turn was for value. I knew at that point I was so far ahead I didn’t want to drive him out with a super big raise. I’ve done that a few times to many. I’ve had a huge hand and over raised, instead of raising for value.
4. fleapid says:

   January 30, 2009 at 11:41 pm

   This was a very bad play by Hero on the turn. The bet on the Ace should’ve been a giveaway that Villian was strong. An ace on the board puts K-10 on middle pair, and he’s behind any K-J, K-Q, and Ace or a flopped set of 8’s or 2’s. Hero is also behind a made two pair (K-8, K-2, or 8-2 eesh). But the raise here is a bad move. Why raise $2 when you have so many hands that could have you beat? It got worse when he was re-raised, and then the call had to be out of shear frustration.

   Then, the raise on the river becomes another bad play. He was just fortunate that Villian didn’t have a larger stack.

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