NL $25, 2 pair vs LAG

[Tygran]

pokerstars GAME #14072482291: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/12/24 - 14:08:04 (ET)
Table 'Berenike IV' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: wysster ($5.40 in chips)
Seat 3: nextturn ($36.25 in chips)
Seat 4: kingcw ($8.45 in chips)
Seat 5: Tygran37 ($30.05 in chips)
Seat 7: MaPiec ($28.60 in chips)
Seat 8: Mercpharm ($24.35 in chips)
kingcw: posts small blind $0.10
Tygran37: posts big blind $0.25
pfist3r: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tygran37 [7d Ad]
MaPiec: folds
Mercpharm: folds
wysster: folds
nextturn: raises $0.75 to $1
kingcw: folds
Tygran37: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [3h Ac 2c]
Tygran37: bets $1.50
nextturn: raises $1.75 to $3.25
Tygran37: calls $1.75
*** TURN *** [3h Ac 2c] 7♣
Tygran37: bets $5.25
nextturn: calls $5.25
*** RIVER *** [3h Ac 2c 7c] Q♥
Tygran37: bets $11.50
nextturn: calls $11.50


Won't post results yet. Should i have done anything differently to this point? Against this particular player and being oop I thought about raising preflop. A7s isn't that strong but is way ahead of the range he's been displaying.

Villain is 33/14.3/2.6 and has shown down some very strangely played hands to this point, but has been aggressive with everything he's done so far. Has been caught bluffing once.

 

[ChuckTs]

My biggest issue is pf...although we're way ahead of his range, A7s is going to be a very tough hand to play and we'll be ch-folding most flops, ie giving in to his aggression. I think it goes fold>reraise>call, though I wouldn't argue reraise>fold>call.

But I mean what do you do if the flop comes J63r? AKJ spades? Even this board here would have been very tough to play out had that 7 not have hit on the turn...

As played pf I like it.

 

[zachvac]

Well I would have folded preflop. Then you call a re-raise on the flop. What do you do here if you don't hit the 7? I just don't understand your early play of A7. When you hit the 2 pair, I'm pretty sure you're good. I put opponent on A-x. I think the club scared him, of course that means he could easily have a set as well. I think you put yourself in a horrible position by making mistakes earlier in the hand, but given his image here I think you played it fine after hitting the 7.

 

[Tygran]

thanks chuck, zac and I completely agree with your assessment to this point.

Most of the time I would fold this preflop, but I do agree looking back that if I'm going to play I should have raised instead of called. (I was kicking myself immediately after for just calling anyway).

His reraise also doesn't scare me as much as it might because this guy is re raising every single bet anyone makes into him pf every single time he's in a hand. I would have been more scared with this particular guy if he *hadn't* reraised (the one time he didn't reraise he had quads).

So there's a little more insight into my thinking. Honestly I felt like having top pair was enough against him *most* of the time given how he's played. I still don't like my play here early, I'm just attempting to explain it.

 

[ChuckTs]

His reraise also doesn't scare me as much as it might because this guy is re raising every single bet anyone makes into him pf every single time he's in a hand. I would have been more scared with this particular guy if he *hadn't* reraised (the one time he didn't reraise he had quads).

Well the problem, imo, doesn't lie in the fact that we have to call a flop raise with a weak TP, it's that we potentially have to call a turn and river as well to see the hand through.

 

[Tygran]

Well the problem, imo, doesn't lie in the fact that we have to call a flop raise with a weak TP, it's that we potentially have to call a turn and river as well to see the hand through.

Yeah you are right.


This hand was at the tail end of a really long session, I think I was getting a little impatient too.

 

[Tygran]

Was going to wait longer but got replies pretty quickly and I think I already knew what I got told.

I'd imagine most of you would put him on A-x of some type.. honestly I thought that was possible but I thought it was more likely he was just brute force trying to steal the pot.


I sure didn't expect him to flip

 

[KyleJRM]

Actually, that was the first thing I thought, and two clubs was the second (though the fact that you posted a thread made me assume it was something byfuglien).


For one thing, Ax is not a strong LAG hand. Granted, we don't know for sure this guy is a good LAG, but LAGs don't want hands that only hit when TAGs will hit harder. They want hands they can hit when TAGs miss, or hands they can hit harder when TAGs hit, and Ax fits neither description.

This is such an ugly spot to be in post-flop. He's an aggressive player who has re-raised the flop and cold-called the turn on a scare card. This means one of two things: The scare card hit him or it scared him, but not enough to fold a hand.

What does that mean? It means his range is slow-played flush, set, straight, AQ, weaker 2-pair, AK/AJ, naked bluff. Your hand behind a large chunk of his likely range on the turn, but it's probably too good to fold.

I think there's a strong case to be made for a softer play on the river here. Checking gives the chance for him to check behind on the hands that beat you but don't beat the flush (sets and straights) and if he's got the flush or he's behind you, he likely makes a value bet that you can feel comfortable calling. If he shoves into this board on a bluff, good for him, you have to fold and you'll get him back later when you do have the flush.

 

[Tygran]

Nice post Kyle, and I'm gonna go ahead and start letting this one die but just a couple points in reply.

Namely that this guy wasn't a good lag. He was making all sorts of stone bluffs and weird plays for the last hour and a half. So much so that I was willing to put a very large % of his possible range here on nothing but a stone bluff. His stack at been flying up and down and back up at a scary rate. For example this guy had about 10 minutes early made a similar play with a pair of deuces and called a strong reraise preflop and then proceeded to call down through the river increasingly strong bets and he never improved his hand from the 22. He called a $12 bet on the river with a board of A J T 7 4 with nothing but pocket deuces.

What we have here I think is nothing but a blind steal from a bad player that miraculously flopped the nuts (at the time anyway). This doesn't excuse my poor play, and my play was indeed poor, but I think that's all this is after thinking about it awhile.

So.. I guess the main lesson here was stated early. If you are going to play back at a lag here whatever you do don't cold call him preflop.

 

[KyleJRM]

So.. I guess the main lesson here was stated early. If you are going to play back at a lag here whatever you do don't cold call him preflop.

Totally understood and you may be right. I just know that "Punish the maniac" thoughts usually end up hurting me more than it hurts them