Big Pots, Same Villain

Act One: They Meet

One of the first hands I saw when I sat down at the 5/10 game was this guy (“Villain”, hereafter) 4-bet-jamming 54 (no draw) on a 9h 7h 4s flop. He actually won a “flip” against 8h 5h, and his opponent was pissed. Other than that he was active pre-flop but wasn’t swinging his stack wildly post-flop, so there was probably something specific to the other player in that hand that led to that action.

Anyway, about two hours later I was dealt AA in a straddled pot. Villain opened for $75 in early position, I re-raised to $275 from the big blind, and he made it $675 with about $2500 behind. As I said, other than that 54 hand, he hadn’t done anything too wild, so if I were to shove here it would probably be only with AA and AKs. I decided to flat instead, as most of the value I potentially miss is from hands that will stack off on a lot of flops anyway given the low SPR.

The flop came Jd 9c 4d. I checked, and Villain tanked for a long time, fiddling with his chips and seemingly like he had a real decision. This was surprising to me because I thought with KK or QQ he’d be pretty eager just to bet big. Not that I was going to fold, but I started to worry that I might be up against JJ. Finally he just shoved for 2x pot, which put me more at ease. I called and rolled my hand immediately.  The turn and river came out 2h 9h, and my opponent looked for a minute, then perked up and declared “Straight!” turning over Qd 8d. I double-checked the board, and he shook his head. “Never mind, I thought that was a T on the river. I figured you must have had KK or AA. I was going to just give up, but then I flopped so well….”

Act Two: The Chase

Our next confrontation came after we’d both made it to the main game. I opened to $30 with AA in late position, he raised to $130 from the SB, I made it $330, and he called. The flop came Q22r, and he checked and called $400. We both checked a 9 river, because at that point I was mostly looking to get value from TT or JJ and even if he had AQ or KK I wasn’t at all sure that he would call three streets with it. Also with only about $1900 in the effective stacks I could just shove a lot of rivers to go for max value anyway.

A J was not my ideal river. He checked, and I was tempted to check behind, but then I remembered the Q8s hand and figured he could have enough random Qx to make up for the times that he was trying to check-raise a boat. I didn’t want to shove now that the board was scarier for my target hands, so I bet $900. He quickly shoved for another $1000, and I folded just as quickly.

Act Three: The Worst Feeling in Poker

(I just couldn’t find a way to stretch this to make “Junior” a relevant subtitle)

Our final confrontation was the most interesting. The under-the-gun player opened to $35, got called, this Villain raised to $75, someone else called, and I started thinking this would be a pretty good spot for a light 4-bet. Only the original raiser was of much concern to me, as no one else’s play was really consistent with a monster. I looked down at As 3s, which is a pretty damn good hand for making this play, and popped it to $375.

Only the Villain called, so with about $900 in the pot, we saw a Kd Kh Qc flop. With only about $1000 remaining in Villain’s stack, this was a very awkward spot for me. I wouldn’t really bet any hands for value in this spot, so I was reluctant to bluff, but checking might open the door for him to bluff me with a hand that would have folded to a bet. But what could he fold, really? And if I am checking all of my strongest hands, then it shouldn’t be that easy for him to just randomly fire with 98s or something. I checked, and he checked behind.

The turn was the 2d. I bet $375, mostly just trying to get Villain off of his air and keep nutted hands in my range. The leverage effect should make it tough for him to call even with a pocket pair, but I was resigned to not getting him off of those. He called.

The river was the very interesting Qs, making the final board Kd Kh Qc 2d Qs. The only thing betting could accomplish was getting him off of a chop, and I didn’t think there was much Ax in his range anyway, so I checked. He quickly shoved for $675 into a pot of $1650, representing a full house and offering me some pretty enticing odds.

A Q is a reasonable value shove, but would he do it so quickly? Wouldn’t he at least consider whether I’d check a K and what I’d call with?

A K would be a reasonable slowplay even on the turn, but many people get rightfully concerned about draws when the pot is already very large. Of course KQ or quads were hands that made a lot of sense, but there were only 6 combos of those. He didn’t look too comfortable while I was tanking. After a lot of agonizing, I called him. He sheepishly turned over Ad Td. “Ugh, are you serious?” I groaned, exposing my own Ace.

He shook his head. “Boy, you’ve really got my number.”

“Not really. I wasn’t expecting to chop it.” Frankly, I think shoving an A there is a pretty bad idea. It was some showdown value, though not a lot as I’d probably shove a lot of my air on the river. But he’ll also have a lot of air to shove on the river, and the best he can hope for is getting me off of a chop. I would definitely check a Q on the river, so it’s not like he’s freerolling on the shove.

Man, hero calling in a big pot, being right, and then getting half the pot is one of the worst feelings in poker.