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View Full Version : Tough hand against a possible LAG


DavidC
05-11-2005, 06:51 AM
I was playing a session of 5/10 LHE at a local club; The structure of the game was standard, except that players are allowed to make "stradles": raising the blind without looking at your cards (before the deal). Since the cap is "3 raises", this essentially means that one player can straddle, another re-straddle, and the cap becomes 30 rather than 20. I didn't ask on the max number of allowable straddles, but I'd assume one complete orbit of the table and that's it. Pretty crazy.

It featured the following line-up:

Button: LPA (P on river too)

CO: SLPA (bluffs people with busted draws sometimes, bet oesfd on turn after no action in lp)

MP2: folded pf and I can't remember who it was
MP1: Hero (I think I'm up 25bb or something like that at the time, but I'm in for 34bb, so it looks like a larger win than it is...)
UTG+1: LPP (plays many many hands)
UTG: details to follow: "villain"

BB: folded the hand.. can't remember
SB: foleded the hand.. can't remember

Button, CO, and UTG+1 will call two cold with any hand they would limp with (quite a few hands)... apparently they'll call three bets cold too. /images/graemlins/smile.gif AFAIK, UTG+1 is insensitive to position, but Button and CO are aware of it post-flop. I haven't seen either CO or Button raise a draw on the flop, though they may have betted them. The CO and Button will play any cards for 2 cold that they would play for one, will perhaps call with a hand that they otherwise would have raised, and are oblivious and seemingly uncaring to the fact that they may be re-raised pf by the UTG player. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

UTG: This player often plays 20/40 LHE at a local B&M. I've never seen him play there, but he claims to play differently. However, I've seen him play very crazy. Ridiculously poor hand selection like J4s and 82o, capping pf with these hands and then chasing to the river (or capping to the river). I've played with this guy twice (button once, and the rest twice). In one session, he capped the flop, turn and river with a gutshot. He was beating me in a lot of pots that night, and won about 150bb while I watched him play for about 8 hours. However, I think he was close to even for the session, a little up or down...

For this particular session, he whittled his stack down from maybe 20bb down to the felt and rebought, he was playing fairly tough for the first half of the session, though. Rationally as far as I could tell. But probably about an hour before this hand was played, he appeared to go on tilt... he was winning a little and inclined to gamble, I believe. An example hand: He straddled pf, and then capped vs 6 players with 22, he capped the flop with an underpair backdoor straight draw, and then hit his set on the turn and capped it (vs. my wheel). He played off and on like that for the next 2-3 hours, switching between LAG and SLAA. Before this hand, he folded to me once HU, but he also chased me to the river with one garbage hand...

On the PF, he's likely to cap with any hand at all. In the last session he bluffed me out of a few pots.

I'll recreate this as best I can.

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Hero is in mp with KTo. 5-10 LHE, 8 handed. No significant (short) stacks.

UTG looks at cards and raises, There's a call from an LPP and I raise. A SLPA calls and a SLAP calls. LAG re-raises and I cap.

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5 players, 21.5 small bets.

Flop: jh9s2s

Lag bets, LPP calls, I pause and raise. Two cold callers call. Lag raises, LPP folds, I cap, and the callers call.

Turn: 7c (37.5 sb = 18.75bb), 4 players

Lag bets. I think again, and I raise. They call, Lag raises, I call, they call.

River: 2c, 4 players, 30.75bb

Lag bets, I seriously think... I raise, CO calls, button folds, and lag raises and I fold.

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Any comments? This is probably the craziest hand that I've played in a long time, and I'm unsure of how well I played the turn and river. I want it to be emphasized that the lag isn't an idiot. He would need an overcard, a gutshot, bottom pair, or any other legitimate poker hand to play the way he did.

He might slow down a bit with bad hands that he wants to show down, though... depending on what he thinks I have, I think... so I may have overplayed the river.

I should also have acted more quickly, but I'm not used to being in this large of a pot with such a marginal hand against such and aggressive opponent and a bunch of callers.

Thanks for any comments.

P.S.

GAMBOOL! /images/graemlins/cool.gif

TripleH68
05-11-2005, 07:57 AM
Sounds like a fun game. When I am in a game with straddles they seem to take over the game and everybody gets looser. This makes me a little tighter actually unless I have position or a realistic chance to isolate.

Preflop if you want to push with the straddling it seems okay, but I would like your play much more if you held KQo...especially on the flop and turn.

Once 4 players make it to the river the LAG bluffing a busted draw at three players seems too unlikely. Someone with a piece of this is going to call in this huge pot.

tiltaholic
05-11-2005, 10:16 AM
imho -

i think pf is marginal but ok given decription of the lag.
i think that bloating the pot on the flop is bad - do you have any spades in your KTo - but not as horrendous as bloating the pot on the turn when you have king high (forget the lag, you also have to beat all the others).
did you think they would fold to 2 bets but not one?

DavidC
05-11-2005, 02:30 PM
[ QUOTE ]
i think pf is marginal but ok given decription of the lag.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. Thanks guys. It may have even been marginally unprofitable. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Is the pot too big to try to get rid of single pair chasers here? Is it a wise investment to do this?

No spades in the KTo, either. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

I figured they may fold the turn to two bets cold. They didn't though, and I will adjust future play to that read, for sure.

Do I need to discount my outs in this hand to consider that there's guys chasing a flush and possibly straights in this hand? How would I go about doing that?