Playing Poker at the Opposite Ends of the Spectrum

I went down to the Belle of Baton Rouge Casino on Saturday night to drink beer, watch the Saints preseason game and play a little $4/$8 Limit Hold'Em. Just like every other casino that spreads limit holdem, these games are unbelievably good with anywhere from 4-7 players seeing the flop on average. Simply starting with better cards will give you enough of an edge to beat this game. I ended up with a modest 5 bet win ($42), but there are two hands that stand out in the session highlighting my ability to adjust my plan for a hand on the fly and also my striking IN-ability to do the same just a little while later.

For a little background, this is your typical low-limit casino hold'em game with a couple of young people, a couple of old people and then random stereotypes inbetween. The two main opponents here are the tight, old lady (TOL) and the crazy asian gambler (CAG).

The tight old lady plays as predictably as anyone in the world. She raises with her big pairs and big cards and limps with small pairs and small cards. She also may not raise before the flop with a hand like AQ when she is in one of the blinds because she does not want to lose money with it if she doesn't pair one of her cards. She just waits to see what the flop brings. When she does have top pair or something good on the flop, she plays very straightforward and bets. She does not slowplay.

The crazy asian gambler is the exact opposite. He plays nearly 90% of his hands and usually plays them to the river. If you check to him on any street, he will bet with any hand. He will generally release his hand only when it is painfully clear that he is beaten.

So, first for the good play. I'm in the $4 big blind with T T. 6 players limp in, including tight old lady on the button and crazy asian gambler one seat to her right. With $28 (7 small bets) in the pot, the flop comes K 9 5 and the small blind checks.

With a flush draw and two gutshot straight draws, I realize that betting here will accomplish absolutely nothing since nobody in this game is going to fold a King a flush draw or one of the gutshots for one bet. Even more importantly, they wouldn't really be incorrect to call since they would be getting 8:1 at the very least and could anticipate making up their odds shortfall on the turn and river if they made their hand. So, I decide to check and see what happens, mindful that there is a very significant chance that I have the best hand but may not be able to protect it. If it is bet in early position, then I fully intend to fold since it will simply be too easy for me to playing with only two outs.

However, it ends up being checked all the way around to CAG, who predictably puts out a $4 bet. TOL and the small blind both fold and the situation has changed considerably. I'm an overwhelming favorite to have a hand better than CAG, whose bet simply means that he got dealt two cards and still has them. Whereas people could most likely call one bet profitably, only flush draws and kings (to which i'm already losing) are correct to call my check-raise. The great thing about this game, though is that most of the players would not slowplay a pair of kings with the flush draw out there, so the likelihood of me having the best hand has gone up considerably since the point where I first checked. On top of that, I'm very likely to get reliable information about where I stand in the hand since these are players who will "play it straight" once i put in the check-raise. They will re-raise with any hand that beats me and just call with hands that I'm ahead of.

So, I put in the check-raise to $8 and only two players (a young kid and an old man, both of whom were very loose) call the $8 cold and CAG calls the $4 extra, confirming the fact that he still has two cards. I was not sure at this point exactly what i would do on the turn, but I was pretty sure that if I caught a blank at this point I would be a solid favorite to win, even against 3 opponents.

The pot was $60 and the turn card was the wonderful 2. Having caught probably the best card I could, I bet $8. The kid folded and the old man and CAG both called. At this point I was very confident I had the best hand b/c I had not been raised. If either the old man or CAG had me beaten, I would have heard about it by now. There is always the chance that one of them was being stubborn with a King, but I felt that was unlikely. I'm fully prepared to bet a non-club, non-ace river card.

The pot was $84 and the river card was the K. I'm not sure there could have been a better card in the deck. There is no way that this card could have beaten me. So, I led with another $8 bet. The old man called and CAG folded. I showed my Tens and he mucked his hand without showing, presumably a pair of nines or something.

I put in $28 and dragged a pot with $100 in it less the rake, so I ended up with about $67 in profit from that hand. Here is how I gave it back, or at least some of it.

In a very similar situation, I'm in the big blind once again and get dealt the A 9. This time 7 limpers come in for $4 and I check. That's right, only one player folded his hand before the flop. It was the middle-aged guy to my right and I immediately started making fun of him that he was playing too tight.

Anyway, here we are with $32 in the pot and the flop comes A 5 4. So, once again I've flopped a marginal hand, top pair weak kicker, out of position against a lot of players with many draws out. I decide that I'll do the same thing as last time and try to check-raise CAG when he bets in late position. Once again, it checks to CAG, who predictably bets. This is where the similarities end.

Tight, old lady, sitting directly to his left, then raises to $8 and the small blind folds. What would you do in my position? If you're smart, you said that you tossed your hand away without a second thought. However, if you're like me, you made it $12 right behind her.

I hadn't even taken my hand off of the chips yet and I knew I had made a HUGE error. TOL never raises without a super-strong hand. Even though she was smart enough to know that CAG was full of it most of the time when he bet, she is still the type of player who is going to wait until she has Aces so she can punish him. She is simply not making a play based on her position and who made the bet. Clearly, she has a big hand, or at the very least a hand that has A9 offsuit in loads of trouble.

I immediately started muttering to myself while the action went back around the table and one person called the three bets cold, CAG called the two bets and TOL re-raised, making it $16. Well, in what i could have easily done the last time the action was on me, I just went ahead and folded my hand with the certainty that she had either 55 or 44.

Seeing as how someone three-bets and then folds to a fourth bet approximately once per year in limit holdem, it was now the middle-aged man's turn to make fun of me. All I could say was, "I have no idea what I was thinking by three-betting her with only one pair and no kicker." And it was true. When she raises that flop bet, there is absolutely a 0% chance I have the best hand. In the best case scenario, I'm drawing to a 9 (3 outs) to make two pair......and that is best I could hope for.

Anyway, the hand played out with the 9 coming on the turn. I normally would have winced knowing that I might have sucked out on her, but I knew that this card would only cost me $8 more since I would still have to hit an A or 9 on the river to win. TOL bet and got called by the two remaining players.

The 3 came on the river. This time, CAG bet, indicating that whatever two cards he held had just sucked out on TOL. TOL called and showed 55 while CAG showed 6 2. He put in $16 on the flop and $8 more on the turn to draw at a likely three outs since the other player almost had to have a flush draw, making the 3 no good.

I think just about everyone would tell you that his play was absolutely atrocious, but just for some perspective on how bad my play was, he at least had an almost 10% chance of winning the hand. My equity in the pot, on the other hand, was about 2%, with my only chance being some running combination of A9. Not exactly the situation where you're eager to invest $12 and only receive about 4:1 for your trouble.

I'm just glad that the money went to CAG since it would be far more likely to find its way into some pot in the near future.

So, i took enough money out of the game to buy my drinks at the bar that night, but as soon as I stop three-betting tight, old ladies, I might have enough to buy dinner too.