Am I just throwing Chips away?

[kurto]

Note- Villain is a regular fish, plays every night. (I suspect everyone who plays party $25 knows this guy... but I don't if people ever post names so I won't.)

The guy plays pretty much every single hand and only raises with aces (to 3xbb). (I think one time ever I saw him raise with AK23) He is a calling station with any low draw (even if his lowest card is a 3 and there's no A or 2 on the board) and will call any bet with any 2 pair or better. He occasionally lays down but often just calls away so long as the bets don't get too large. He is rarely aggressive postflop unless he has aces, he always follows up his PF raise with a bet no matter what the board. With that said...

I'm doing these two hands from memory but, the villain had better then a full stack from ridiculous calls. I always have a full stack or better so...

Hand 1-

A few limpers, villain raises to .75... I call on button with 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 10 /images/graemlins/club.gif J /images/graemlins/spade.gif Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif

Flop - 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif J /images/graemlins/heart.gif

Villain bets 1/2 pot - I pot raise. Villain calls.

Turn - 7 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif J /images/graemlins/heart.gif

Villain bets $2 (which is less then my last raise) - I pot it (and I'm almost all in).

River - 4 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 7 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif J /images/graemlins/heart.gif

Villain checks... I check. Villain's AA55 (rainbow) scoops.

Hand 2 same villain, different table.
I limp in LP with 8-9-10-10 ss (suits end up not being a factor)
villain raises (to .75) from the sb. 2 callers. I call. Again... we know he has aces.

FLOP 8-9-J
Villain bets 1/2 pot (see pattern?) 1 caller, I re-raise it 2/3 pot or so because I believe I'm ahead and I want to isolate (is this correct?), villain calls, other caller drops.

Turn 4-8-9-J
villain checks. I bet pot. (is this wrong?... again... I know what he has) Villain calls.

River A-4-8-9-J
Villain checks. I check. He shows AAK7.

I hope this doesn't come across as a bad beat. Am I overplaying and overestimating the value of my hands? I essentially lose 2 buys to one of the most predictable players around in a matter of minutes... I have to wonder if I'm missing something.

[Cooker]

I think you played both hands fine. You have him nicely beaten on every street until he sucks out on the river. I would play both hands the same.

[Ironman]

Kurto,

We just had a long thread about the actual value of the "four cards greater than a nine". I wish I had a link to it, but I don't.

Buzz did some very strong work in that thread from a numbers standpoint. You might want to do a search of his posts and check it out.

Good luck,

Dave

[kurto]

Hello.

I don't suppose you know what the initial thread was about, do you? I didn't see anything in the subject lines of his posts that suggested there was a discussion on this.

Also... I am curious not just in general (about the value of these cards), but specifically, if I can put my opponent on AAxx (xx, in general, is almost irrelevent since it doesn't make any difference in opponent's raising), and I call with these kinds of hands and get these kinds of flops (namely 2 pair; with or without redraws), how hard should I be pushing? In this game, I really don't know how much to value 2 pair at any street of the hand.

I'm thinking that I'm calling with the right kinds of hands to break the bad aces player with, and that I'm playing the right kind of flops (really, 2 pair or better)... but am I overplaying them? Pushing them too hard?

[Wintermute]

Assuming the sidedraws (lows/str/flushes) are equal or not there at all, 2 pair will lead AAxx, but by a small margin, somewhere between 3:2 and even money or thereabouts (sometimes better depending on draws, of course). But you know you have some edge, so it's wise to check-raise or otherwise get the maximum amount (all-in if poss.) in on the flop w/ the two pair. However, the AAxx hand probably has correct odds to call, and frequently will do so, and then suck out on you. Still, you were the one with a substantial EV advantage, so if you run the hand many times, you will come out ahead.

Based on that, I like the first hand fine, and on the second one I wouldn't play around with less-than-pot bets: if you think you're ahead w/ the two pair, just crank it. Especially when your str draw is unlikely to be shared.

[Drizztdj]

"Note- Villain is a regular fish, plays every night"

That would be me. I'm more of a smallmouth bass then a regular fish though.