Loose call
May 28, 2008By: PokerPeaker THE SITUATION -
I'm playing on Poker Stars , $25 NL. A player I'm targeting raises to .50. That's what he's raised to every hand. So I call. I have A♠ - 8♦
WHY DID I DO WHAT I DID HERE?
You need to be careful with minimum raises. That sometimes means Aces because the guy foolishly wants a lot of people in the pot. But in this case Aces are unlikely since I have an Ace in my hand.
When you are targeting players, you need to loosen up your calling range. You can't wait all day for A-A. Why? It's likely that other players are targeting the same player - believe it or not, other people are observant of players at the table too. When you do get a decent hand, you need to take advantage of it, or else someone else will bust that player.
Even though I don't have that great of a hand (it's exactly the kind of hand, in fact, I would pitch if a tighter player raised), I call for the reasons listed above.
Everyone else folds. Even better. An easily dominated Ace is not the kind of hand I want to play against more than one player.
The flop is pretty good - A♦ - 10♣ - 2♠.
When my target bets more than the pot, $2.50, I'm hardly worried. I call right away.
WHY?
Why do you think I was targeting him? He was spewing chips left and right. That doesn't mean I'm going to dump all my chips to him in a hand that could easily be beaten, as even bad players get dealt good cards (and when they do, I've seen them amass huge stacks because no one gives them credit, only to lose it all later).
But of course I'm calling a big flop bet. That could be a lot of things. He could have a weak Ace. I wouldn't put that past him at all. He could simply be continuation betting the flop, as he has several times, usually with nothing. I have no problem with my call here.
The turn brings an 8{h}.
Now I definitely don't have a problem with my call. He shoves the rest of his stack in, and I call right away.
WHY?
Because I'm almost positive I'm ahead. Even bad players like this one know how to slow-play (in fact they do it a little too much), and I think he would have checked if he flopped a set. At the very least, I don't think he'd try to run me off the hand, and that's exactly what that flop bet told me he was trying to do.
Let's look at the flop. There's no flush or straight out there. Yes, it's possible that he has top two pair. And if he does, he has me. I'll pay him off. That's not a call I would easily make in another situation. I still might, even against a tight player, but I would have to think about it. The point is, this is exactly the kind of player who would overvalue top pair, even with a weak kicker. He was also frustrated at this point and was titling off chips. So he could just be bluffing. Besides, if he does have A-10, I'll go blow some stuff up in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
It turns out I got a little lucky. He had A-2, for two pair, and I got my higher two pair on the turn.
WHAT CAN I LEARN FROM THIS HAND?
This is a classic example of adjusting your play to the player. I'd normally never call even an aggressive player's raise with A-8, and I'd certainly pause before I called an all-in shove, but in this case, I knew I was good because of how the player was playing.
This is why targeting certain players at the table is the way to go. You'll make most of your money from players like these.
Poker is all about situations, and fortunately I found the right one to get all my chips in the middle.
