12-22-2001, 06:33 PM
Loose and not especially aggressive game. Well, not at first anyway. After a bit, this kinda wild-man sorta player comes into the game (referred to as “wolf boy”). He tends towards “raise” when faced with a choice. So he’s raising and he’s raising. And he’s raising. Then again. After a while, it becomes apparent that he’s not exactly getting dealt one premium hand after another. In fact, he’s playing in a way that shadows being a maniac. His aggressive play is somewhat unpredictable, which is probably the most notable advantage his style is giving him. However, the disadvantages of this style will inevitably far outweigh the advantages. You can’t keep it up forever, sooner or later, it will wind up destroying you, leaving you an empty shell of a man, a mere shadow of your former self. Or perhaps you will just go bust and have to buy more chips. At any rate, I’m glad he’s two to my right, and not on my left.
So the game progresses and I get a better feel for wolf boy’s play. It’s erratic, and you can’t really judge his hand by his betting pattern. He has raised when entering the pot about 40-50% of the times he’s played. He has overplayed several hands quite badly, even when it should have been obvious to him that he was beat. I am forced to make adjustments because of his frequent raising. I stop making those “automatic” folds and re-assess what to do when he’s in the pot. Sometimes I’ll call with a hand I might have folded, other times I reraise with a less than premium hand to punish him for his aggressive tendencies, and to thin the field. We battle it out for hours, and he battles with the other players at the table too. He’s been winning, mostly from getting lucky, and has a large stack of chips at this point. We did battle heads-up several times, and it went a little both ways, he won some, I won some. I was slightly ahead, and he was a mile ahead.
The notable thing here is that he continued his aggressive play, even though I was obviously playing my “maniac game” against him. He sucked out a couple good ones on me, just to make it interesting. Once, I had AK and flopped top pair. He had played the hand like he had top pair (or some other strong hand), check-raising a flop of K x x rainbow (which I bet), then reraising, after which I just called. The turn came a ten and he bet, I raised, and he reraised. I knew that he might be in one of two situations: A) he had squat, in which case I was probably way ahead, or B) he had accidentally flopped a monster or turned a monster (or some other possibility which would leave me asking for the preparation-H). When the ace came on the river, he bet and I called, after which he showed me QJo for the nut straight. Ow! My Ass! Oh well… it’s all good. However, I ain’t never never ever gonna believe anything you sez ever again, NO MATTER WHAT. Onward into the fray we went.
So then this hand comes up. It’s the hand that gave me the inspiration to regale ya with this story. I’m in the SB with AQo. Two players limp and wolf-boy raises. I reraise and one of the limpers drops, the other calls. The flop comes K T x rainbow, not exactly a spectacular flop for my hand. It’s checked to wolf-boy, who bets. I considered folding as an option, but I see that the limper is going to fold, and I just can’t give up the pot to a single bet by this insane diabolical madman. I call and the limper folds. The turn comes an ace, giving me top pair. This is it, I’m making a stand RIGHT NOW. I bet out, hoping he just caught an ace (with a worse kicker) and raises me. Right on cue, he raises, falling into the trap I’ve just set for him (he he he…). I pop him good, punishing him for his extra-aggressive tendencies, extracting my bitter vengeance upon him, because after all, I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!!!! But then he reraises me again, making it four stacks o’ six. Hmmmmmmmmm… What up with that? It seems something may be slightly awry. Have my thoughts been so clouded by the desire for revenge that I’ve lost it completely? Am I just playing like a maniac in an attempt to conquer the maniac I am battling against? Have I become my enemy? I’m confused, my head is reeling, and my sanity just went out the window. Giving all the money in the pot, and that at this point I have four outs to the nuts, there’s certainly enough in there to draw for the straight. However, if I’m drawing only to the straight at this point, I think something went wrong somewhere…
Well, the river comes, and the Poker Gods smiled upon me. With the offsuit jack, I have the mortal nuts, the pure cheese, the big kahuna. I bet. My opponent is looking at me with a spiteful look in his eye. He puts his 6$ into the pot along with his pocket kings, face up. I take the pot with my flopped no-pair, gutshot on the river AQ.
Comments and flames welcome.
Dave in Cali
So the game progresses and I get a better feel for wolf boy’s play. It’s erratic, and you can’t really judge his hand by his betting pattern. He has raised when entering the pot about 40-50% of the times he’s played. He has overplayed several hands quite badly, even when it should have been obvious to him that he was beat. I am forced to make adjustments because of his frequent raising. I stop making those “automatic” folds and re-assess what to do when he’s in the pot. Sometimes I’ll call with a hand I might have folded, other times I reraise with a less than premium hand to punish him for his aggressive tendencies, and to thin the field. We battle it out for hours, and he battles with the other players at the table too. He’s been winning, mostly from getting lucky, and has a large stack of chips at this point. We did battle heads-up several times, and it went a little both ways, he won some, I won some. I was slightly ahead, and he was a mile ahead.
The notable thing here is that he continued his aggressive play, even though I was obviously playing my “maniac game” against him. He sucked out a couple good ones on me, just to make it interesting. Once, I had AK and flopped top pair. He had played the hand like he had top pair (or some other strong hand), check-raising a flop of K x x rainbow (which I bet), then reraising, after which I just called. The turn came a ten and he bet, I raised, and he reraised. I knew that he might be in one of two situations: A) he had squat, in which case I was probably way ahead, or B) he had accidentally flopped a monster or turned a monster (or some other possibility which would leave me asking for the preparation-H). When the ace came on the river, he bet and I called, after which he showed me QJo for the nut straight. Ow! My Ass! Oh well… it’s all good. However, I ain’t never never ever gonna believe anything you sez ever again, NO MATTER WHAT. Onward into the fray we went.
So then this hand comes up. It’s the hand that gave me the inspiration to regale ya with this story. I’m in the SB with AQo. Two players limp and wolf-boy raises. I reraise and one of the limpers drops, the other calls. The flop comes K T x rainbow, not exactly a spectacular flop for my hand. It’s checked to wolf-boy, who bets. I considered folding as an option, but I see that the limper is going to fold, and I just can’t give up the pot to a single bet by this insane diabolical madman. I call and the limper folds. The turn comes an ace, giving me top pair. This is it, I’m making a stand RIGHT NOW. I bet out, hoping he just caught an ace (with a worse kicker) and raises me. Right on cue, he raises, falling into the trap I’ve just set for him (he he he…). I pop him good, punishing him for his extra-aggressive tendencies, extracting my bitter vengeance upon him, because after all, I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!!!! But then he reraises me again, making it four stacks o’ six. Hmmmmmmmmm… What up with that? It seems something may be slightly awry. Have my thoughts been so clouded by the desire for revenge that I’ve lost it completely? Am I just playing like a maniac in an attempt to conquer the maniac I am battling against? Have I become my enemy? I’m confused, my head is reeling, and my sanity just went out the window. Giving all the money in the pot, and that at this point I have four outs to the nuts, there’s certainly enough in there to draw for the straight. However, if I’m drawing only to the straight at this point, I think something went wrong somewhere…
Well, the river comes, and the Poker Gods smiled upon me. With the offsuit jack, I have the mortal nuts, the pure cheese, the big kahuna. I bet. My opponent is looking at me with a spiteful look in his eye. He puts his 6$ into the pot along with his pocket kings, face up. I take the pot with my flopped no-pair, gutshot on the river AQ.
Comments and flames welcome.
Dave in Cali