How to deal with always all-in

So I'm playing PS .01/.02 NLHE and this user comes to the table, says he is a kid playing with daddy's account until a tournament starts...and proceeds to go ALL-IN for like 30+ minutes straight. This kid had to re-buy $5 a couple of times, and I am not sure who was at the table first -- so I don't know if he was up or down at the end...probably down.

Anyway, I had been having a pretty good night. Before this kid came around I was building myself out of a hole (where I just couldn't catch a single flop), and had build up from -$20 to -$8. Here are the hands I played against this kid:

AA vs. 54o = $4.46
KQx vs. 87s = $5.30
AA vs. 39o = ($5.00)
JJ vs. KQo = ($8.79)
KTo vs. KQo = ($4.99)
KTo vs. 84s = $4.52
JTs vs. K2o = ($5.00)

My Net = ($10.12)

Of course, I *** SHOULD HAVE *** left the table after I won the first two -- because at that point I was out of my hold, so I should have just quit and gone to bed.

But I'm sure you all can guess that I didn't -- and I now find myself back at the bottom of this hole. It's not crippling, but it sucks to lose all of my progress...especially because I know it's going to take me a hell of a lot longer to make back that $ than it took to lose it.

So what are the lessons to be learned? Is it best to avoid this kind of player altogether? Obviously the table was full the entire time, and of particular note is that I was very much OOP -- like 2-3 seats to his left.

Is my problem just a simple lack of discipline? How could I have better played this session? I guess my thoughts are:

* I should have left with the satisfaction that I met my goal for the night (to dig myself out of a hole)
* If I stuck around, I should have left after losing with AA

If any of you have any additional thoughts, please do let me know...because I sure as hell want another shot at this kid if I ever find him again.

Or do I?

Here is the corresponding chart. My first all-in against this kid is hand ~230.

Attached Images

allin01.gif (23.4 KB, 7 views)

I don't see that you were OOP. Although you don't show the entire hand histories, I assume you knew if the kid was all in before you bet most of the time. It seems like you had the best odds with your calls. Variance is a bitch. If you want less deviation, don't play in this situation.

Yep, I agree with pigpen.

In this position u either give it up as a bad job - u always feel u can`t win against a maniac, or u think "I`ll have some of this"

I am normally the latter, then I end up tearing my hair out when I get hit with a few bad beats in a row.

All you can do is look at your starting hand and ignore his. Put him on Q8 everytime. If u can dominate Q8 - say pair 8`s or better, call his push. If u have A10+ suited, call if u have AQ+ unsuited, call.

One word of caution - if others are in the pot then u have a differenct challenge.

Another side issue - u will lose some hands to this guy even when u r a big fav

Whatever way u go, gl

The call w JT was pretty bad...

Thanks guys, I don't feel so bad if I was playing okay.

As far as being OOP, I was talking about having to call his all-ins before the other players. I was all for taking on this guy with ATs -- but not crazy about acting before 5-6 other players. I would much rather have been sitting 1-3 seats to his right. KWIM?

Yeah, I figured that one was a real coin-flip -- but the tourney was about to start, so it was pretty much my last opportunity...

grrrrr 2 alliners all the time, was one in my freeroll yesterday every single hand for atleast a half an hour till he finally lost it all, he wasnt even playing with good cards was anything (most times we never even saw cause every1 was folding) 23os and the idiot hit, 2 hands later 23os again and he was gone lolol, only things you can do leave the table if possible, if not fold alot unless you have a strong enough hand 2 risk calling, people like them ruin the game, and theres no skill in hitting that button you know

J10 and K10 in the muck... only play top 15% of hands and you'll win in the long run. Do you have PokerStove? If not, download it (it's free). If you do, just adjust to see what the top 15% are and then feel free to push those hands.

In the long run, an average/unknown hand vs a top 15% hand will net you a nice profit. Don't sweat short term variance.

Ring game, either you've got the patience this session, or you don't. Figure it out next time before you lose a bundle.

In a small SnG, I have run into this, and had the patience, and the brains (rare day it was) to fold every hand knowing villain was pushing every hand.
Villain was hitting hand after hand of pure garbage.

He ended up winning it, and I took 2nd without ever playing a hand. I believe I remember it was a 36 seat SnG.

On live tables, the game is called = No Limit Holdem

Online it is called = All In Luckem

Variance, best hand, top 15%, odds, percentages, position, pot odds, implicite odds and every other term you can think of, sans one, are used in the descriptions of playing real poker.

The one excluded term, "All In Preflop", is online bingo / lotto disguised as poker.

Pokerstove shows K10o to be the borderline hand for top 15% actually.

Thanks, I'll definitely check out PokerStove.

JT is worse than average in showdowns (which if you call an all-in, it's going to showdown). It's a decent hand to see a flop with, knowing that you could easily flop top pair 2 ways or a straight or straight draw. JTs also has the flush possibility. But all-in JT is worse than an average hand. Your opponent wants to flip weighted coins and give you the advantage. You tell him "no no you take the advantage, I want the 40% side of the weighted coin rather than waiting a hand or two and having the 60% or more side".