Forcing mistakes from your opponents
May 15, 2008By: PokerPeaker THE SITUATION -
I'm playing $25 NL on Full Tilt .
I'm dealt A-A. OK, very cool.
I raise to $1.50. I always try to raise big when I've got a big pair. I suppose an observant player might pick up on this, but it's worth it to me to try to weed out all those annoying hands that cut down on the percentage that my hand is good.
In this case, it works. I get two callers. That works great.
WHY?
A-A is a great hand, but only if you're heads-up. Even with just one additional player in the hand, your Aces will hold up only 60 percent of the time.
I've seen so many players try to raise the minimum to encourage action with their Aces, and then they can't fold them when there's six players and there's a dangerous flop. You can lose a lot of money that way, and you're supposed to make money with A-A, not lose it.
The flop comes 7♣ - 4♠ - 2♥.
I shove all my chips in.
WHY?
The pot is $5. That's an OK amount to win with one pair. So if everyone folds, that's fine with me.
But I also did it for another reason. It's something called an Over Bet For Value. A huge bet like this one always looks suspicious because most players think you'd be checking a big hand like A-A on a flop like this one. So you'll get called occasionally with a much inferior hand.
It is a dangerous bet, I agree, but it's unlikely I'm beat here, unless someone got lucky and flopped a set, and if that's the case, they'd most likely get my chips anyway.
Sure enough, I get one call, and the guy turns over...8♣ - 8♠. Thanks man!
I made this play during a late-night session on a Saturday night. That's exactly when many players will make a call like this one.
I used to think that making this play was bad because I'd only get called by hands that beat me. I don't think that anymore.
WHAT DID I LEARN HERE?
Making this play like a huge over bet forces others to make bad calls. That's how you force a mistake from your opponents, and we make money from the mistakes of our opponents.
P.S. I have made a lot of money flopping sets against over pairs and pushing with them. The difference here is I was the aggressor. If you're holding A-A and a guy shoves on you after you raise him on the flop, for example, you might consider folding.
