By: The Monster Stack (Guest Blogger)
Hello,
A few nights ago I was playing at a local card room in a $5-$10 No Limit Hold 'Em (NLHE) game. The game was full of action right from the start and the stacks at the table quickly became very big. At one point there was a double straddle on making the game $5-$10-$20-$40 (even going to $80 on one hand!), so you can only imagine how loose this game was. Just the way a tight-aggressive player like me likes it.
I bought in for $1,000 and by the time the following hand came up I had about $2,700 in front of me. To get to that point I hit a two outer on the river with jacks against aces, but that's a story for another time. I held 7-7 in middle position and there was one limper in front of me. He was a very loose-aggressive player (LAG) with a stack that covered mine so I limped right behind him so as to avoid being re-raised out of the pot. I hoped to flop big and win a nice pot from him. The small and big blinds folded and the two straddles saw the flop.
The flop came down 9s-6d-7s giving me a set. It was checked over to the $40 straddle who led out with a bet of $100. The LAG called and I called as well. I didn't raise here for two reasons. One, if the LAG held anything worth while, even a draw, he would have raised. I felt he was weak and didn't want to bet him out of the pot. I figured if the pot got big enough he would bluff at it and I could come over the top and take down a nice pot. The original bettor was a very straight-forward (weak) player who would not have led out without a big hand. I had seen him play two draws earlier and he classically check-called and folded when he missed. I put him on either a made straight or two pair, as I felt he certainly would have raised with an overpair pre-flop. The $20 straddle folded and three of us took the turn.
The turn was the 2c and the the straddle, who now had about $500 behind, checked. This was an odd move and inconsistent with his earlier play. Perhaps he was hoping to check-raise the turn with a made straight or had actually tried to bluff at the pot on the flop and was now slowing down. When the LAG checked I had a strong feeling that I had the best hand. I checked as well, which would normally be a terrible play but if the right card fell on the river I knew that the LAG would have no choice but to bluff at the pot. In almost any other situation I would have bet out here but I risked letting him catch something on me to win a bigger pot. If the river was a scare card, for example a spade or card making a four card straight on the board, I could get away from it. Risk to reward, I decided checking to exude weakness was the better option.
The river was the beautiful 6s giving me sevens-full and putting the flush on the board. The straddler instantly declared himself all-in and counted for about $500. The LAG thought for about 5 seconds and proceeded to declare himself all-in, which, in reality, put me all-in for more than $2,500. Normally this would be an instacall as this is one of the cards I was looking for since the flop. I paused and studied the board to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I was not worried about the straddle because if he had me beat and I had the LAG beat, I would profit anyway.
What beats me? The board reads 9s-6d-7s-2c-6s. 10s-8s, pocket sixes and pocket nines. I ruled out the latter two because there is no way he would not have raised pre-flop with either of those hands. If he had the straight flush he would have probably raised on the flop with a big draw like that. Why else does one play 10s-8s? After deciding that I had the best hand (and if I'm beat by either of those hands then so be it) I called and rolled over my sevens. The straddle showed 9-6 for sixes full of nines and the LAG showed me only a six and mucked.
The table then spent the next half and hour wondering why I took so long (30 seconds) to think about the call. But let them wonder. No matter how much of a lock a hand may seem to be I always take the extra second or two to run through my opponents' possible holdings. As soon as the six fell on the river I had thought to myself that there is no way I am going to lay this one down. All I could think about was how much I was going to get paid. But when I was faced with such a large bet I had to stop and think. His huge overbet took me out of the driver's seat and caused me to call him down. I had expected to be the one raising here but suddenly, things changed. So after taking the time to quickly study the situation I realized that I certainly had the best hand and made the correct decision.
When playing a hand I like to think a few moves ahead. This way, when a opponent does something differently from the way that I had planned on playing the hand I can see his move more clearly. Now I have a train of thought which allows me to counter his move by asking myself why he decided to do that instead of what I had thought he was going to do. I adjust accordingly and allow myself to see the hand from multiple perspectives thereby making better decisions. Those who instacall what is technically the fourth nuts need to rethink their playing strategy. You can call the fourth or fifth or tenth nut hand, as long as it is thought out and you have come to the conclusion that your hand is indeed the first nuts, even if it's queen high.
See you on the felt,
The Monster Stack
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