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Jorge “Baalshin” Limon is a member of Team PokerStars Online, a regular in some of the biggest no-limit games on the site, a rally car driver, and one of the most prominent players on Mexico’s poker scene. In this interview he talks about his unconventional hobby, his unconventional profession, how he stays competitive in some of the toughest games on the internet, and the psychological toll that poker has taken on him.
Note: As a high stakes player, Jorge will surely be directly affected by the recently announced changes at PokerStars. I don’t know how much he’d be able to address them, as a PokerStars representative, but in any event this interview was recorded before they were announced, so unfortunately we didn’t have the opportunity to ask him.
You can follow Jorge on Twitter and watch his Team Online short film here. If you can handle the Spanish, you can watch him on Twitch as well.
Timestamps
0:30 – hello
8:19 – AT in 3b pot
39:16 – talkin with Jorge
Strategy
Very loose agro player on my immediate right raises a straddle 3x to 30 in LoJack, I make it 90 in hijack with A10o. The main villain pretty quickly calls on button. Loose player folds.
Flop (221) Ad 4d Ah. Hero thinks for about 15 seconds and bets 115. This player snap shoves for about a pot sized bet.
In your intro you bemoan raising the 3-bet to 270 and claim that you should and would normally fold AK off to a 3-bet. I don’t understand why you would do that. Is it because the bet to 270 was too big? Why would you put the villain’s range solely on AA or KK? Isn’t even a “weak recreational” player’s range much wider than that? Doesn’t he definitely have QQ in his range? Wouldn’t many players 3-bet with JJ? Or another AK? If you fold every AK off to a 3-bet, that seems very nitty.
The guy is never folding when he bets that big. All the hands you mention are behind AK. There are 2 hands that totally crush Andrew and villain is hugely weighted towards having those hands. Andrew can exploit his opponent’s poor bet-sizing by folding. It’s a hugely profitable folding opportunity, in a situation where Andrew should lose a lot of chips (if villain plays his hand better).
I love the podcast, and I had a couple of thoughts on the hand discussed.
While I was listening to the analysis of this hand, it seemed to me at the time that this was an easy call. Based on the play, Villain either had a diamond draw or a pocket pair. It was unlikely he was going to have a stronger ace. Though my logic also assumes that Villain is an above-average player that is paying attention, but not a poker professional.
This is a fairly lose 2-5 table, and the Hero is 3-betting a lose (for this table) player. Because the Villain only calls on the button instead of raising, it is likely he is either playing a speculative hand in position, or a mid to low range pocket pair. At a table like this, I’m guessing he thought that if he called, the low-jack would also call. So if he has a hand like QQ or better (maybe even JJ or 1010), Villain is likely to raise instead of flat calling. I think AK also raises here to isolate, instead of wanting to play this pot three ways. Though I think a hand like AQ or AJ probably flat calls, especially if suited. It is also possible that Villain thinks Hero’s bet is to exploit the low-jack, instead of strength. So a flat call to me lowers the range to suited connecters (maybe suited one gappers), mid/low pocket pairs, and AQ or AJ here as well.
The second reason why I think this is a call is based on the flop play. Hero is making a standard continuation bet. Now if Hero has AK and is a competent player, he has little incentive to raise all-in here. Realistically, his hand isn’t getting worse unless he puts Hero on a diamond draw, which seems unlikely. Even then, he has a lot of draws with the board paring or hitting a K. Thus, a hand like AK is going to flat call to induce a turn bet by the Hero. Because Hero is making a standard continuation bet, this is also good spot to exploit the Hero by shoving, especially if Villain is smart and thought that the Hero’s pre-flop raise was to exploit a loose player (the low-jack).
I think what AQ/AJ does here is a little more tricky, but I still think those hands flat call here. They probably don’t put Hero on AK, and want to induce a turn bet. And pocket 4s is highly unlikely to raise. I’ve already excluded hands like QQ, KK, and maybe even JJ and 1010 (though Hero is ahead of those hands).
The hands that raise here are pocket pairs or diamond draws. There seems to be little reason for a strong hand like AK to raise all-in.
Third, even if the Villain has AK, the Villain still has a fair amount of outs that weren’t discussed during the podcast. On the river, there are 9 outs to split or win (three 4s, turn/river combinations, and three 10s).
Based on the above, I don’t see a reason to fold. My initial reaction based on the play and before hearing the results was that I thought Villain had KQ of diamonds.
I do have a question about the Hero’s continuation bet. On the podcast, the theory was to check in this spot. One thing I’m curious about is the logic of continuation betting as an investment for future hands. Checking in this spot makes future continuation bets less effective. So while the Hero might think he is behind, a continuation bet here might still be worth it in the long run, even if he loses the additional $100.
Correction: if * Villain * has AK and is a competent player . . .
Nice post, thanks. The one bit of feedback, although I do agree with a lot of what you say, is that I think you’re doing a lot of all-or-nothing thinking. Villain either puts Hero on a flush draw or he doesn’t. He either thinks Hero has a good hand or is just isolating. Some people really do think this way, but the reality is that even though Hero might raise a bit wider than usual here he can’t do it with just anything and will still do it with all of his big hands, so it isn’t a case of “he either has it or he doesn’t”. It’s a continuum.
As for the last point, it’s not obvious to me that “Checking in this spot makes future continuation bets less effective.” I guess you mean it will make Hero’s future bluffs less effective, but I don’t think even that is necessarily true. Regardless, by the same logic, would it not make it easier for Hero to bluff and/or get to showdown after checking in future hands, and would it not make Hero’s future value bets more effective?