When an Aggressive Player Calls
I’m an aggressive poker player. I raise often and I don’t often and I don’t often slow play.
You don’t have to play with me for very long to realize that I’m an aggressive player, but having that information doesn’t help you much if you don’t use it.
I recently played a hand that illustrates the importance of using information when you have it. I had K 
J on the big blind.
Two players limped in from middle position, the small blind called. I thought about raising, but decided not to.
The reason I didn’t was that one of the players who had limped in was an aggressive-tricky player who frequently limped and reraised with very good hands.
The flop was A 4 10 
. This was a very good flop for me – nut flush draw and a gutshot draw to a nut straight.
The small blind was first and bet. When I saw the flop I decided that I was going to play this hand aggressively, but there were two players behind me who hadn’t acted yet and there was a good chance one of them would raise if I just called.
So I just called, hoping for a raise so I could reraise. My plan failed when both players folded. The turn card was 9 
. Now, to my surprise, the small blind checked.
He must be on a draw, but when the small blind checked, I knew he had missed his, too. So I bet. He folded. I got the money.
There is a lesson in the play of this hand not from my play, I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, and I probably didn’t steal that pot. With my King for high, there is a good chance that I had the best poker hand.
The lesson comes from the mistake made by the small blind-he could have easily won that pot. I have no idea what his hand was, but I hadn’t shown any aggression at all.
He knew I was a very aggressive player, and all I did was call before the flop and on the flop. There was no reason for him to think I had much of a hand at all.
In fact my play should have suggested that my hand was very weak. Why did he check the turn after taking the lead on the flop? I don’t know, but I do know it was a mistake.
If he had just continued betting I would have just quietly folded on the river when I missed my draw.
The money would have gone to him. This was a very loose table, and few pots were won by a single bet on the flop. It was unusual for the two players behind me to fold.
So his bet on the flop only makes sense if he followed through and continued to bet on the next round.
If he had used the information he had about my normal playing tricks and combined that with the way I was playing that hand, then the natural thing for him to do was just keep casino betting.
He didn’t think it through. He didn’t really have any kind of plan for the hand, and he didn’t really pay much attention to what I was or was not doing. It cost him a pot.
Pick the Right Table / Picking a Seat / Theories of Poker / Betting Theory: The Odds
A Theory of Starting Hand Value
A Theory of Flop Play: Counting Outs and Evaluating Draws
The Dynamics of Game Conditions / Table Image / Player Stereotypes
Women and Poker / Spread-Limit Games / Double Bet on the End Games / Kill Games
Short-handed Games / Tournaments / No-limit and Pot-Limit Poker
