Did you ever have one of those nights?!!!

[AAAAdam]

Just got home from the most horrendous night of poker that I can remember. A $15/$30 game with some very sound players and one absolutely incredible … player(?). This guy literally played in EVERY hand for six hours. I was primarily playing Group 1-3 hands in EP and MP with normal aggression from LP/Button. Seven times tonight, I had a straight or a flush by the turn only to see it outdrawn on the river to boats. Each of these pots was good sized/painful. What I found interesting and disturbing was that I could get no read on this guy. It was clear from his analysis, which he made a point of sharing, as well as how he bet that he was at very knowledgeable. He was badgering everyone verbally, playing and hitting some of the silliest cards I've ever seen from EVERY position. People raised into him trying to isolate and trap him. Time after time, this guy sucked it out, typically on the river. He won thousands!

If this were a $2/$4 game, I might expect something like this. At $15/$30, this surprised me. While I have to chalk his streak up to a statistical anomaly, his aggressive belligerent style played havoc with everyone. Everyone tightened up a bit after losing repeatedly to this guy, which played into his aggression. Everyone wanted a piece of this guy, but it wasn't to be.

At one time or another, I would think that everyone here has had a similar experience. I thought about moving seats, but the seat I had wasn't too bad against players who react normally to bets and raises. Other than only playing Group 1 or 2 hands or walking away, does anyone have advice on how they use the situation created by such a player to their advantage?

Thx ... Adam

[BarronVangorToth]

I don't know how much you play live, but in the last year or so everything has gotten completely out of whack, and, depending on where you are, the higher-low limits ARE playing like the low-low limits used to play a year or two ago.

Reread Small Stakes Hold 'em a bunch of times and apply what you learn and variance will take care of itself.

Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com

[antifish225]

I play exclusively offline and have had this exact same experience quite often lately - and I play at the highest limit they spread in the area (20-40).....keep in mind that what you are seeing is a statistical anomaly, yes it tends to stick out in your mind when you see someone with a pyramid of chips in front of them, however over the long term this guy will be paying you off – you want people like that in the game (OK you really only want 1-2 people like that in your game, a table full of them is just too high variance)…..play solid poker and you will be fine in the long run (BTW – I was playing Tuesday and there was a guy at the table with $8,800 in chips in front of him from a $1000 buy-in – he was playing ‘any two’ and raising blind allot of the time…..sure he had a great night, but over the next month that money will be spread around to the solid players….patience)

[bvaughn]

I think it happens every so often at the casino that someone either clueless, or semi-clueless who thinks they are outplaying everyone, goes on an incredible streak like this and just can't be stopped. I watched a guy play 90%+ of his hands in a 3/6 live game once go up $800 in about an hour and a half...he just couldn't lose no matter what two cards he played. It's just a statistical anomaly that happens time to time with players like this.

[AAAAdam]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. I will certainly revisit SSH. Patience is.

Cheers ... Adam [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]