$55 - Talk to me about this villain's call.

[octaveshift]

I know I should know this already, but I'm not too embarassed to admit I don't.

I have played with the caller several times, and he seems to be good. Is his call solely a function of pot odds, and if so, should I be making calls like this as a matter of course?

***** Hand History for Game 2552324912 *****
TourneyTexasHTGameTable $50 Buy-in + $5 Entry Fee Trny:14927588 Level:5 Blinds(75/150) - Wednesday, August 17, 19:37:22 EDT 2005
Table Table 18967 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: bigj0e03 ( $1455 )
Seat 2: lingula ( $760 )
Seat 6: miAmihAns ( $685 )
Seat 7: caller ( $2160 )
Seat 5: n2thek ( $2630 )
Seat 10: xyrophobic ( $2310 )
Trny:14927588 Level:5
Blinds(75/150)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to xyrophobic [ 2d 7s ]
xyrophobic folds.
bigj0e03 folds.
lingula folds.
n2thek folds.
miAmihAns is all-In [610]
caller calls [535].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9d, 2s, Kh ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8d ]
** Dealing River ** [ Tc ]
miAmihAns shows [ As, Qs ] high card ace.
caller shows [ Ts, 8s ] two pairs, tens and eights.
caller wins 1370 chips from the main pot with two pairs, tens and eights.

[HighestCard]

I believe caller knows the pusher is going to be pushing two face cards here, or a low to mid pocket taking the risk theres no monster. He's at a coin flip to 77 or less, or a 60/40 to the two overs and getting around the odds he needs for this.

Im probably completely wrong and its something simple like "but....its sooooted" /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Myst]

Think like gigabet

[gumpzilla]

On the flip side, if the opponent is pushing a range tighter than any two, I can't see how this is much better than marginally + chip EV, if that. Maybe the goal is to send out the message "Don't push on my BB," which might have some value. Whether people perceive such "fishiness" to also mean they should call you more when you push, though, I'm not sure, so the metagame angle is unclear to me. I'm not wild about the call.

[ilya]

It's not unreasonable for the caller to read pusher for something like top 80%.

Would you have posted this hand had he lost instead of drawing out two pair? Not a spectacular play but not awful either.

[fisherman112]

i dont think this is a call with as many chips as the sb has left.

[octaveshift]

[ QUOTE ]
Would you have posted this hand had he lost instead of drawing out two pair? Not a spectacular play but not awful either.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, actually, because I have played this villain quite a bit in the 55s, and I am trying to figure him out. I have seen hands like this where I dismissed it as donkishness, where, in reality, it was actually a clear call.

When I see a "better" player make a play I don't understand, I make note, and post it if I can't figure it out.

[jon462]

i would call here a lot if i was villain with his stack. winning puts you in chip lead with bubble just around the corner, losing doesnt hurt you too much. Either way people avoid pushing your BB for a few rounds.

[Pete H]

[ QUOTE ]
Either way people avoid pushing your BB for a few rounds.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is the key issue here.

[Newt_Buggs]

I believe that the key is that this is a +EV call against an aggressive opponent.

its a combination of the pot odds, your wide pushing range, and the caller's stack size (a call that is +chip EV is almost always going to be +$ EV)

[bennies]

And then maybe a combination of one more thing also...

It is crap to have between 10 and 20 BBs. You have no room for nothing and often fold hands like AJ and 66. So, in order to get to another level (or drop to a lower one) you embrace the chance of a race here.


I'm out on a limb here of course...

[Newt_Buggs]

IMHO this gigabet nonsense has so little relevance here that it shouldn't really be considered. Winning those chips gives OP a strategic advantage on the players to his left, but people seem to forget that losing those chips hurts him strategically. If the BB folds, he can still steal his way to chip lead but losing a showdown does not make this possible the immediate future.

The BB probably made this call because of the games he had played with OP and recognized that the OP will sometimes push any two in the SB. He probably figured that this was one of those times and correctly made a call that is very much +$EV according to ICM alone.