Live 2/5 @ Bellagio

[Altruist 0]

In town one night for work. Sat down w/ max buy-in $500. 10-handed. Dragged first deal with top pair against 4 limpers (mucked). Raised the very next pot with A,Ko and 3 limpers. C-bet the J, 10, 2 flop and was c-raised (pot sized), and mucked. Feeling like I've got a super loose/weak image at this point which is the opposite of who I really am. Hoping to use this image to squash someone....5th or 6th deal of the session, UTG limps. Mucks to me on the button with A A . I pop it to $20. Blinds fold. UTG re-pops to $100 with $340 back. I shove. He tanks for 3 or 4 minutes and makes a cryin' call with Q,Q. I flopped a 3rd Ace and was called everything but a white man as a result of Villian's poor investment.....So much for loose/weak....2 orbits later. The guy I felted re-bought for another $300, is on visible steam and won't take his eyes off of me, the phague. He mucks. MP-1 to his left pops it to $15. $20 has stolen the blinds 4 or 5 times recently so we're putting him on a nice hand in that position. The two rocks to my right muck to Hero in BB with 10 7 . Hero hasn't seen a flop since stacking that guy and elects to call out of position getting 2.2:1 from the pot against what could be a monster. But if we hit the flop hard we're well concealed.Flop: 9 8 6 We'll put that in the "Hit the Flop Hard" catagory for now. My initial read was that Villian was on a big hand so we're going exploring and value betting at the same time. Hero doesn't like the hearts or the 9,8 so $25 goes into a $32 pot for defense just in case. Villian smooth calls.Yep, smells like a big pair.Turn: 4 That's the brick we wanted. Hero checks --> wants Villian to think we missed and are praying for a free river card or just got caught with a poor attempt at larceny on the flop..... Villian bets $100 into a pot of $82 and has +/- $550 back. Yep, smells like a big pair.....Hero??

[DonkSlayer 1]

I think the smooth call could be a miss or 2 heart overs...any competent player would raise the shyt out of you on that flop to protect their hand. The overbet is either to push you off or to protect a marginal hand. I'm shoveling for gravitas sake.

[Acid_Knight 2]

Unless he has a set, an unlikely 2 pair or a flush draw, he's drawing dead.Here is a place where you need to get him attached to the hand. If he does have AA, then you need to figure out how to get his chips into the middle. The pot is too small for you to push.I suggest a raise to $225 or $250. It will be very hard for him to fold for this raise and it'll make the pot big enough for you to push on the river.I wouldn't be worried if a heart falls becuase I really think that by the way the hand has played out, he's drawing dead. The heart on the river will only be bad for you because it might kill your action.Still, I think a raise to $250 is in order and then a river push, regardless of what card comes off.

[Altruist 0]

Unless he has a set, an unlikely 2 pair or a flush draw, he's drawing dead.Here is a place where you need to get him attached to the hand. If he does have AA, then you need to figure out how to get his chips into the middle. The pot is too small for you to push.I suggest a raise to $225 or $250. It will be very hard for him to fold for this raise and it'll make the pot big enough for you to push on the river.I wouldn't be worried if a heart falls becuase I really think that by the way the hand has played out, he's drawing dead. The heart on the river will only be bad for you because it might kill your action.Still, I think a raise to $250 is in order and then a river push, regardless of what card comes off.

I really like that play. One of the leaks in my game is fearing the flush or the bigger str8 when I've got the nuts. I tend to be like a mama bear and get too protective sometimes. Must have suffered one too many suck-outs in online play. I know in my heart it's correct to take the pot odds away and hope Villian makes a mistake in those situations but I'm gun shy and leave a lot of equity in Villian's stack sometimes.....Great input. Keep it coming. Thanx.~M

[David_Nicoson 1]

I think once we start to represent a flush draw, we should stick with that story and flat call. I'm hoping the river bricks so that my big bet on the river looks like a missed draw.

[Naismith 0]

I like the idea of the turn check-raise to 275. It leaves him enough money to push over the top, but not enough to make it look like an overbet on the river when you put him all in. Also, if he's drawing to the heart, you might as well make him spend money on.I agree with Big Slick that he's probably drawing dead, though.

[Sea Wasp 0]

Our only concern here is how to get our stack in the middle and be called at the same time. the problem with flat calling is that there are too many river scare cards which will kill our action so i really like raising the turn here as others have said to an amount that villian must call because he think we are still drawing and then is commited tom the rest of his money on river due to the size of the pot.

[Footballguru 0]

i raise to 250...you cant flat call here in case the river is a scare card he wont be able to pay u off. raise to 250 then push river. hth

[Altruist 0]

i raise to 250...you cant flat call here in case the river is a scare card he wont be able to pay u off. raise to 250 then push river. hth

I like the way you guys played it better. I've learned enough from all the reading and study that we should play with a primary goal of playing well and a secondary goal of receiving good results. In this case I felt that Villain was a weak player and was married to either A,A or K,K by the way he carried himself and re-peaked at his hole cards to see if he had a heart. The second the 4 hit my plan was to CRAI. When I checked I made it look sheepish as though I had failed to steal the pot on the flop and was praying for a free river. Part of selling the CRAI as a bluff was how quickly I shoved after he bet. I wanted to act overly strong hoping he'd read the old "strong=weak/weak=strong" myth. I waited about 5 seconds and looked directly at him and calmly stated my intentions. To the extent that I was correct on both my read of the player and his hand, I got lucky.I shoved and he only tanked for about a minute and called with K,K. No heart....I coasted for another few hours and left tripled up. Lost one nice pot with 2nd nut flush to the nut flush but didn't hurt my stack much. Great night overall and I increased my bank roll while in Vegas. Not bad...Thanx for the input!

[TraptSteve 0]

Considering the table image you've built to that point, I don't mind your play on the turn. I perfer raising his 100$ to about 300$ then pushing the river.

[Altruist 0]

Considering the table image you've built to that point, I don't mind your play on the turn. I perfer raising his 100$ to about 300$ then pushing the river.

That image held up too. I sat for another 4-5 hours and was able to conduct a fair amount of theivery but only on occassion. The only meaninful pot I lost after that was with the 2nd nut flush against the Table Rock but I lost the minimum on that, around $350 the way it played out. Real timid player. He'd fold the nuts to a big enough bet.....