Got off to a good start in a bunch of stuff today but ended up cashing in nothing (well, I got my money back in the WSOP double shoot-out). I don’t even really remember any interesting hands, I guess this one kind of was from the UB $100:
Blinds are 20/40, and because UB starts you with 2500 chips, stacks were still pretty deep. The button min-raises to 80, and I, holding AKs in the SB, hit the bet pot button to make it 260, then min-re-re-raises me to 440. This super fishy line is a big pair so often that I decided I would just call and see the flop. Possibly moving all in is a better play, but I just feel like such a moron shoving into AA when the guy has played his hand EXACTLY like AA.
So I call and the flop is rags, doesn’t give me so much as a flush draw. I check, and the guys makes a really weird underbet, like 100 into a pot of 900. I call, because why not?
Turn is another blank, I check again, and again he grossly underbets. I’m starting to think my hand is good, and if it is, he’s drawing to 3 outs. So, I call again.
An Ace rivers, I check, and this time he makes a larger bet, though still pretty small, but like 1/3 of the pot. It looks like I was right about him holding Ax, and now he’s made top pair. There wasn’t another broadway card on the board, so I’m not too worried about him holding two pair. I move in on him, and he calls with AT.
So many people have such transparent betting patterns that often you really can check for information. Instead of committing a lot of chips out of position in an unclear situation, check and see what he does. This works best against fairly bad players and in multiway pots.