How Does Derb Play?

[David Sklansky]

A billion replies to my other thread but no one actually explained in any detail how he plays. With some examples please. But not with hand histories. I'm not use to reading them.

[Robb]

[ QUOTE ]
A billion replies to my other thread but no one actually explained in any detail how he plays. With some examples please. But not with hand histories. I'm not use to reading them.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm sure others will have more detailed comments but one thing that stood out: unlike typical LAG's, he adjusted his play against me once he realized I wasn't laying down any decent hands against him.

[astroglide]

you're going to get a billion responses with isolated hands that look insane. i don't think anything short of a contiguous set of 50+ hands could be taken very seriously because of selection bias (from both supporters and detractors).

the general 'how does he play' is loose aggressive. plays many more hands than usual (liberal cold-calling with hands in late position that might be dominated), raises many more hands than usual, and makes regular plays for the pot like heads up threebets on the turn with far from stellar holdings. such tactics are not popular online, even in moderation, because the 'anonymous' and hyper-aggressive nature of the games promotes liberal calldowns.

[shemp]

[ QUOTE ]
A billion replies to my other thread but no one actually explained in any detail how he plays. With some examples please. But not with hand histories. I'm not use to reading them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Basically, he's a mindreader. For example, if you posted something like, "Can someone bring me up to speed?" he would know that you want a detailed analysis of how he plays (which is basically LAG,btw).

[tonysoldier]

First, DERB will play extremely aggressively postflop, with a definite consideration of position. He defend his blinds with a very wide range and also cold calls a lot in position with easily dominated hands like QJo and A9s. He continues to play with this aggression on the later streets, jamming frequently with draws even when they are not that strong. He throws in a mix of calling rivers with seemingly hopeless hand and folding to river bets a lot. He seems to me to have quite good hand reading skills, he certainly isn't afraid to fold for one bet in a big pot, but that being said, he is certainly not a prime candidate to bluff, because he will throw in call downs with A high, and is so aggressive on all streets. I think the two sticking points that really get to people are his very loose aggressive preflop play, and his capping of the flop and turn with marginal hands.

I remember one hand at 30/60, I raised UTG with 98s (I was playing very tight up until then) he called next with 97s (clubs) and another player called, the button three bet and everyone called. The flop was 765 with two clubs. He and I capped the flop with 2 others players still in. The turn was an offsuit J, and we capped the turn as well, one of the other players was all-in, and the other one folded. The river with a non-pairing club and I checked and he bet and I called. I was surprised because it seemed as though there was a good chance he was drawing dead to a chop. He makes plays like this all the time, capping with top pair no kicker, or a mid flush draw.

[Paluka]

He will makes lots of crazy plays for pots, like 3 betting the turn with Ace high. The thing that makes him seem so awful at times is that he will frequently not give up after his crazy play. He will 3 bet the turn with almost nothing, and when the other guy caps it he calls down anyway. This works to his advantage sometimes- his opponents will cap the turn with middle pair sometimes when he actually has the nuts.

[Victor]

im not sure anyone has explained to ds what all the numbers mean: when we say 28/17 it means that derb is voluntarily putting money in the pot before the flop 28% of the time. this does not include checking in the bb. also he is raising preflop 17% of the time.

i think most good players are around 17/10 to 20/15 in full ring games.

[teddyFBI]

I don't know why I'm bothering to get involved in the DERB ego-strokefest again, but this guy just isn't all that good, and the people making him out to be the leader of a new LAGgy strategy that works wonders against 2p2'ers have no idea what they're talking about.
The extent to which I own that guy when I have him to my right is embarassing. He basically has what might be considered solid shorthanded stats, but at a full table: around 32/17. And he loves to pump his draws post-flop. There you have it. Incredible strategy. What a pioneer.
For the record, he's not even a winner in my DB (over a paltry 5,000 hands though) -- but there are plenty of other 30 players who have similar stats who are big winners in my modest DB. i_dont_chop comes to mind. Aggravating to play against does not equal good. This mass hysteria is nothing more than an accentuated example of the availability heuristic: 2p2'ers look for any and all evidence they can find that might mesh with the hysterical threads they've read on 2p2 about this guy's paranormal abilities -- sit with him long enough and one of his overplayed draws will come in and leave you scratching your head about how he could have known it was coming.

DERB is Izmet Fekali, correct? Or am I missing another LAG player who is beating up the 30/60 and above?

If it's Izmet, then he has outlined his strategy on other sites and even used to post on 2+2.

Brizgnac at 100/200.