We took a break from out usual Wednesday home game to play a $1/$2 game with a $500 buy in at the home of another Harvard Law student named Josh. Only Logan, Darren, and I elected to play, so it was a very deep, very loose and aggressive four-handed game all night. Josh was a super nice guy and a very good host. He bought some badass sea salt and red pepper corn chips that were absolutely amazing.
Although he played higher stakes than the rest of us did, sometimes as high as 10/25 NL at Foxwoods, he was pretty clearly the least experienced player. He wasn’t bad by any means, but he was definitely too loose and passive pre-flop and on the flop, and he mishandled a few big river decisions. Because river bets are so large, though, even a few of those mistakes add up quickly.
I started off playing a few orbits very tight and straight-forward, without getting much in the way of even marginally playable hands. The first time I tangled with Josh, he called my button raise from the SB, checked and called an A34 flop, and checked and folded AT face-up on the turn. I showed him 53s for bottom pair and a gut shot, since I didn’t intend to bluff him very much. I figured he had a marginal Ace given the pre-flop and flop action, and this is just a great board to double barrel, since it’s so hard for an out of position caller to have anything more than a weak top pair.
Unfortunately my shown bluff didn’t pay off immediately, as about 15 minutes later I opened for $8 with KK in the SB, Josh re-raised to $24, I made it $75, he called with $250 behind and folded TT face-up to a $75 bet on a 662 flop. I mucked, but he told me he was sure I had a big pair and was just looking to hit his set, which he wasn’t nearly deep enough to do.
I actually ended up running a much larger bluff on him before I did any value betting. I don’t recall the preflop action exactly, but three or four of us saw a 9c 8c 6c flop with me holding Qc Td out of position. Josh was in there right behind me, and I figured he was going to call a very wide range if I led out, so I checked my overcards, gutshot, and 3rd nut flush draw. Josh put out a large bet, which really looked like he was trying to protect some kind of hand. Although fast playing a flush draw here would often be correct, he seemed like he would be a slowplayer, or at least not the sort to pot it with a huge hand. Everyone elsed folded, and I called.
The turn was a harmless 3d, I checked, and he once again put out a big bet (relative to the pot) of $55. I was hoping my call would scare him enough to play for pot control on the turn, and I didn’t want to risk getting blown off my draws on the flop, but now that there was only one card to come and I was staring at another big bet, they had lost a lot of value. I raised to $200, essentially turning my hand into a bluff since I didn’t intend to call his shove for $300+ more.
“Now you’re going to raise me with your draw,” he said as I contemplated my bet size. He hemmed and hawed for a bit. “Can I take back $35 and fold?” he asked.
I thought about it. “I think I’m giving up too much. You can take about $25.” He frowned as Logan and Darren laughed at our haggling.
“Fine,” he finally agreed, taking his $25. I mucked and scooped the pot.
By this time I was falling into my usual rhythm for our games, which involves a lot of open raising. With these deep stacks, my standard preflop open was $8, though I sometimes mixed it up from $6-$10. Anyway, I opened for $8 UTG with 54o (ie the CO, since we were 4-handed) and Josh very blatantly considered folding and then decided to call on his button.
Then Logan raised to $40 out of the SB. I call bullshit. Logan’s very capable of squeezing with anything, especially when Josh has already made clear that he doesn’t have much. He knows I’m opening a very wide range, so it’s a good opportunity for him. Except when re-re-raise him to $120. He clearly didn’t believe me either, but elected not to put me to the test for $600 and threw away his hand.
I was the next to attempt a squeeze play, with Js 8s, after Logan opened for $6 and Darren called on the button. Unfortunately Josh in the BB cold called my re-raise to $30, and one of the others came along as well, which was not at all the result I was hoping for. Josh was loose enough pre-flop that I didn’t put him on a monster hand with what would usually be the very strong play of calling a re-raise cold.
The flop was Ks Kd 5s, giving me a flush draw. Figuring that of the three of them I was the most likely to have a King, I kept pushing with what was now a semibluff. Josh called my flop bet, but there should be so few K’s in his pre-flop range that I felt compelled to fire again. Again, he called, and I missed the river. I still didn’t believe he had the K and was ready to bluff my last the $250 at him, but I wanted to see if he would give up any free info first. “How much will give me not to bet?”
He looked flustered. “Look I, I mean I’m priced in, right? There’s no way I could fold this. Just don’t bet, alright? Here, I’ll- I’ll tell you that I have trips and I’m not folding, OK.”
“Is that binding?”
“Yeah, it’s binding. Here, I’ll show you.” He turned over a King. I mucked. We broke to go get some dinner after this hand, and on the way to The Kebab Factory, Logan tried to explain to Josh why exposing his hand and telling me what he was going to do wasn’t the best way to handle a tough river decision, but Josh continued to argue with him. I tuned out.
Josh’s table talk was sometimes amusing, though. There was one hand between him and Logan where the board had come out Kc Qc 4s 7c Qc. On the river, Josh announced, “Ugh, I have trips,” as he loaded up some chips.
“You don’t have any clubs?” Logan asked.
“Nope,” Josh frowned.
“You can’t bet trips,” Logan said kind of frustratedly, as though he felt bad about the foolish bet he was anticipating snapping off.
“Oh yes I can.”
“What could I call with?”
“I don’t know, you might call with 55 or something.”
“What? 55? Why would I do that?”
“Look, I don’t know, whatever, this is what I’m betting.”
“OK I call,” Logan said chidingly, in a ‘I warned you’ type of voice.
Josh turned over Q4 for a full house, smiled, and raked in the pot.
The next interesting hand, I raised with QT, Josh called, and Darren defended from his BB. I bet $18 on a Th 7c 4c flop, Josh folded, and Darren raised to $65. I called.
The Td turn gave me trips, Darren bet $95, and I raised to $250 with like $400 behind. Darren called and checked the Ac river. Obviously I’m value betting a ton of rivers, but this one didn’t feel right. At this point I felt like he had trips also, but JT was about the only thing I beat. I’m not sure why he didn’t shove the turn, especially if he had AT, but he’s obviously not paying me off with a busted draw either. Finally I decided that if his calling range was KT and JT then a bet was EV-neutral, and the risk that he had rivered a flush or full house dictated a check. He showed JT and I won my biggest pot so far.
Raises and re-raises get so little respect in our game that players are always looking for more creative ways of representing big hands. In one hand, Logan raised to 7 UTG, Darren re-raised to $22 from the Button, and I four-bet them both cold with KQo to $66 from the SB. To my dismay, they both called. However, I got the feeling that Logan was only calling because he knew how strong that call would look and he loves to pull fancy stuff like that. At the point Darren was priced in, so I still wasn’t convinced anyone had anything.
The flop came out 689 with two hearts. I checked, and Logan bet $100. I was contemplating a check-raise both because I suspected he was FOS all along and because even if he had a big pair, he knew his line looked like a big pair and he’d have to be worried if I still was interested in the pot. However, Darren shoved all in for like $500, and we both folded. He tabled AKo with no heart, and Logan got angry that his flat call got no respect. “I was raising you if Darren didn’t,” I told him, just to get under his skin.
A little while later I completed 7d 4d in the SB and saw a 4s 9h Th flop. I decided to pot it from the SB and see what happened. Only Logan called. The turn was the 8h, giving me an open-ended draw and a good hand to represent (I’ll often pot the flop with a flush draw). I potted again, for $45, and Logan called. I bet $120 on a blank river, Logan put in a big raise, and I folded quickly. He told me later he had the nuts.
We had already changed seats once, but I still ended up on Josh’s right. His constant pre-flop and flop calls made it tough to play my usual aggressive game, and I had been looking for an opportunity to punish him with a turn check-raise. Logan opened for $6 UTG, I called with 6d 8d in the SB, and Josh called in the BB. The flop was a lovely 7d 9d 4c. I led out, hoping to 3-bet, but Josh just called and Logan folded.
The turn, however, was the even lovelier 5d, giving me a straight flush, an unbeatable hand. I checked, Josh bet $30, and I raised to $102. He re-raised to $250, and I announced “all in” as he had less than 250 behind. He started talking, asking what I had, etc. I ignored him and stared stone-faced at the felt. This went on for several minutes before he finally asked me something like, “What are you going to do? You have to fold or go all in, right?”
I stared at him for a second to see if he was just looking for a tell. “I went all in like 5 minutes ago.”
“Really? Oh I call.” He quickly turned over Kd 6s for a gut shot and a draw to a King-high flush. “Wanna do business?” he offered.
“Sorry, there’s no business to do,” I informed him, flipping over the stone cold nuts. The tabled ooh’ed and aah’ed at my first live straight flush as I scooped my largest pot of the night.
Towards the end of the night, I opened T9 from the button and Josh called in the SB. Ah, much nicer to play in position against this guy. He led into me on a 6d 8d 6s flop, and I called with my overcards and gut shot. Leads on dry boards like this tend to be pretty weak.
A Qd turn gave me a double gutter and a flush to represent. Josh checked and called, then led out $95 on a blank river. “I put you on a flush draw on the flop, but then it was too good of a card to bluff when you checked the turn. Well played,” I told him as I mucked. He showed me 97o for a busted open-ender. Dammit, I should have called!
There were a few other interesting hands, but I’m having trouble remembering/reading my notes, so I’ll leave it here. I had a good time, played some interesting hands, and won $554. Can’t complain about that.