Hand #2 - Isolating the LAG

[JrJordan]

I was actually very proud of the way I played this. Little background on the hand. SB in this case is very LAG, borderline maniac. VPIP lies around 38%, PFR about 17%. Aggression on the flop and turn are 6.3 and 4.4 respectively. Earlier hand he made a 7xBB raise PF with 66. That being said, to the hand.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (8 handed)

MP2 ($18.85)
CO ($95.20)
Button ($88.15)
SB ($50.90)
BB ($50)
UTG ($73.90)
UTG+1 ($53.05)
Hero ($49)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG calls $1, UTG+1 folds, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $4</font>, MP2 calls $4, CO folds, Button folds, <font color="CC3333">SB raises to $8</font>, BB folds, UTG folds, Hero calls $4, MP2 calls $4.

<font color="blue"> I raise AQo from EP/MP, get one caller and a minraise from the LAG. The minraise means... he has a pulse. Still, AQo isn't very strong considering MP2 is still in. I decide to simply call and see the flop. </font>

Flop: ($26) 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">SB bets $8</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $20</font>, MP2 folds, SB calls $12.

<font color="blue"> Q falls with an underpair. I'm confident that I'm ahead of the LAG, but not so sure about MP2. Two cold calls of raises leaves several possibilities. LAG comes out as usual for a bet, and a weak one at that. My goal here is to get MP to fold, yet keep LAG in the hand. The reraise to $20 seems reasonable; too much for MP but just enough for LAG to call with second best. </font>

Turn: ($66) 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="CC3333">Hero bets $21 (All-In)</font>, SB folds.

<font color="blue"> I push my remaining stack and LAG lays it down. Seems pretty standard. </font>

Final Pot: $87


My goal of isolating the LAG was successful, but I'd like some debate to keeping MP2 in the hand. Would it be more profitable to smooth call to keep MP2 in the hand, and hit it harder on the turn?

[JrJordan]

Anyone?

[SpiderMnkE]

I think you played it just right. Let mp2 get out and take sb's money

[vulturesrow]

MY guess is that MP2 may have had a middle pair. In any case, I think you did the right thing. You dont have much of a read on MP2, you are on to SB style of play, reduce the variables by getting rid of the SB. I think it was played fine.

Chris

[1800GAMBLER]

I think i'd push on the flop, let him think up a reason to call you, people always try to find reasons to call and not fold give him one by doing the massive over bet.

[dtbog]

Maybe I'm thinking too cautiously but at $50 NL, I'd hestitate to push on the flop because of the probability in my mind that he could have something that he played bizzarely preflop. You said that he raised 7xBB with 66 - thought you didn't mention the scenario, I assume that it stood out to you because it was an unpredictably odd play. With that in mind, I wouldn't put it past him making a small raise preflop with AK spades, for example, or even AA if he thinks he's cute, and then flat calling a min-raise back at him. When he bets out 1/3 pot on that flop, it screams to me one of two things -- "you raise and I'll call with a weak hand", or "you raise and I'll push with a hand that is ahead of yours.". Given that you identified it as the former by your bet, I like it here as opposed to a push. Push on the turn, as you did, once you have a little more information about his position in the hand.

However, the downsides that I do see to playing it as you did are that it gives him the opportunity to bluff at an ace, and it gives him one card to turn his possible pocket pair into a boat.


If instead of calling the raise to $20 on the flop, he'd pushed all-in, would you have called?

[JrJordan]

If he pushes all in, this is an easy call. The pot is huge and I stand of very good chance of being ahead. I should elaborate more on that 66 hand. He was in LP and 3-4 limpers to him. He raises to $7, and gets one caller. Flop comes something along the line of 3 T A, 3 and T are hearts. The cold caller in EP checks, LAG bets half pot, cold call reraises all in and LAG calls with 3rd pair. EP cold caller has AKs in hearts and takes it down. As you can see, hard for him to get away from any sort of hand.

It is certainly possible that I am losing in this hand. With his previous track record though, combined with a failure to release bad hands, I have to think it's +EV to isolate the LAG amd commit the stack. 1800GAMBLER makes a good point as well. As mentioned in the 66 example earlier, the LAG did call the EP all in on the flop with 3rd pair. At that point though, it appeared to be closer to a pot sized raise than the massive overbet. I fully expected the LAG to call my all in on the turn because the pot was so large. I think the best combination would have been to raise to $25 on the flop, leaving him pot committed on the turn for another $15. This probably has a better chance for success than the flop all in.