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SakiSaki

Sweden. Mar 12 2008 08:23. Posts 9687

I skipped school today to play some HU. I played two tables with the same guy I took about 4 buyins off yesterday. It was a pretty sickening match. He is the biggest station I have played so far and definitely the weakest of the players that play full stacked, rebuys and plays long sessions.

Let me give you guys a quick rundown on how he plays.

Hes basicly a station. Hes playing 44/29/1 calling alot oop but decently agressive preflop 3-betting somewhat frequently. He never ever ever folds to 3-bets. I think he folded like 1 out of 50 this session, which obviously makes my 3-betting range for value alot wider. Im basicly 3-betting any A any good Kx and Qx. He calls with 96s, Q4s etcetc. He rarely folds when getting a piece on the flop but he isnt completely retarded.

Heres and example from quite early in the match when I still was 3-betting speculative hands and not strictly for value:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/403228

I was planning on firing most brick rivers but pairing the board, bleh now I know he calls with any A so I dont think its good.

Now, after this and a couple of other hands I had his style pinned down quite well. Its just that he completely owned me. Like, he always called the flop, ALWAYS! The times we got to showdown (which was pretty often) he had a piece. Be it mid pair or top set. And playing a station whos constantly hitting flops is really really anoying. I dont know how many of my 2-barrel bluffs got snapcalled/snapshoved. The times I made a hand I got paid handsomely:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/403232

But I just failed to make hands and he just blead me to death with calling flop and checking it down showing the best hand. I also managed to lose alot when I made the second best hand:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/403218

I did play a couple of hands pretty iffy, like this one I really dont know if i like:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/403224

He was calling all flops and not giving my second barrels all that much credit so I decided I needed to 3-barrel him in good spots just because the gap between the amount of soso hands and hands he wants to stack off with is soo huge. Well, that didnt work out all that well:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/403222

I like my play in that hand. I think he peels the turn with sooo many mid pairs/Qx that will fold the river so I think its goodie.

I ended up down 3k to him before he had to leave. He said we could play later though which is really sweet, I feel I have a huge edge on the fellow and I will be happy to play alot with him.

I think the misstakes I made in this match was playing to loose and too agressive. I was pounding on him alot in position and raising over 50% of my hands. Basicly, I think I was too eager to make a hand and value town him and that made me play too fast and too many hands.

I dont think its a terrible leak to play alot of hands against a station in position just because he will play his hand kinda face up to me, but never the less, I will on average have a worse hand than him postflop and playing worse hands against a guy who never ever folds is pretty bad.

So a lesson for me and for all you guys, when playing a bad station HU, this is what you should do:

1. Tighten up your raising requierments a bit. You will not need to to rely on picking up alot of blinds to profit of a guy who will pay you off always.

2. Dont c-bet too much. This goes without saying but you should definitely not c-bet too less either. Basicly, you need to pick good spots to c-bet. Not only just dry K72r type flops but also flop where your hand should have good equity. Against a guy who will flat with his entire playable range you need to asess how your hand is doing against his range, not just a couple of likely holdings.

Lets say I raise preflop and villian calls. Flop is 4s5s10d Im holding AsQx.When I bet the flop a stations calling range is going to be huge here. He will call with all sorts of 4x, 5x, 10x obv, flushdraws 66-99 and so on.

I still dont mind betting here. Simply because my hand still has great equity. I have two overs that will almost always make me the best hand.
I also have a bd flushdraws and a K or J gives me a gutshot. Basicly, there are tons of spots where I can fire a credible second barrel as a semi bluff and I have outs to make the best hand.

Now If Im sitting on like 33 here I will never c-bet. when called I have to shut down, my hand has two outs to improve and his calling range fucks me big time.

This is probably pretty obv to most ppl but I figured id write it up anyways. The key is, always try to estimate your hands equity against a possible calling range, dont just bet thinking "well, he only hits the flop 30% of the time"

3. Value town like a madman. Again, try and estimate a calling range and compare your hands equity against that hand. Sometimes you need to be betting second pair top kicker for 3 streets of value. Dont do this mindlessly though, thiiiiink! If you want to bet close to pot for value on the river, try to estimate if you beat 50% of his calling range. If you can think of enough random hands to make his calling range consist of 50% or more of hands you beat. BET FFS! Showdown is for pussys, also theres nothing as gratifying as getting thin value from a retard.

Now obviously Im not sitting calculating exactly what his calling range consists of, it kinda is a feel thing that comes automaticly with experience. It can really help to play around a little with maths though. If you are unsure if you should value bet in a certain spot, save the handhistory for after the session. Then do some math with ranges, calculate how much garbage he needs to call with to make a v-bet profitable, play around in pokerstove etc.

4. Be prepared to let go of hands. Now this is the hardest one, atleast for me. When you know someone is weak and you have no showdown value you just instinctively(if you are a solid player that is) want to bluff. Against thinking players its good off course. Against a guy who will call even though he is weak you will be bleeding money.

Patience is everything against a guy like this. Learn how to check/fold. Its a grind, but its hella profitable. This is what I will have to work on the most, I still find it very difficult not to bluff when my opponent obv has like 3rd pair.

Now I ended up doing a write up on how to beat the easiest opponent in poker but heh, hopefully someone will find this useful.

Im doing a radio show with a couple of friends each wednesday and we usually go out and get hammered afterwards so I doubt I will be able to play this guy again tonight and that sucks. Ahwell, there will be other days and there is plenty of fish in the sea.

Oh, and for any swedes that wanna listen tonight you can do it over webradio here:

http://www.shore.hik.se/

We are called Fredagsmust på onsdag and are on the air 18:00-19:00 tonight.

Take care folks

0 votes

what wackass site is this nigga?

Last edit: 12/03/2008 08:25

ploper France. Mar 12 2008 08:44. Posts 608

nice analysis
I def agree, patience is the key against such opponents

plop

HachiRoku United States. Mar 12 2008 09:25. Posts 315

good read. I'm learning HU atm so I love your blog

HachiRoku United States. Mar 12 2008 09:28. Posts 315

On March 12 2008 07:23 SakiSaki wrote:
If you want to bet close to pot for value on the river, try to estimate if you beat 50% of his calling range. If you can think of enough random hands to make his calling range consist of 50% or more of hands you beat. BET FFS! Showdown is for pussys, also theres nothing as gratifying as getting thin value from a retard.

really sick point Saki. never thought of it like that.

iop Sweden. Mar 12 2008 10:56. Posts 4951

good post, ill check out the radiostation too when im home, its not on during the night or?

I really enjoy listening to lunds stundentradio

Milkman lol i didnt spend half a thousand on a phone so i could play it cool and be all stealth

Ond keso Sweden. Mar 12 2008 11:55. Posts 64

"sitt-kissande är bra, det är avslappnade och man ser till att tomma tasken ordentligt."

Bra jävla debatt

ziggy54t: donkey pushes and holds

ggplz Sweden. Mar 12 2008 12:31. Posts 16784

you hit it on the head saki, these opponents are really tough for a lot of people (including myself at times)

If you want to bet close to pot for value on the river, try to estimate if you beat 50% of his calling range. If you can think of enough random hands to make his calling range consist of 50% or more of hands you beat. BET FFS! Showdown is for pussys, also theres nothing as gratifying as getting thin value from a retard.

i pretty much consistently pot flops and turns vs these players because they often just call flop and give up on the turn with hands like K8 on the 999 board you posted and u are still beating them often on the turn anyway if u are betting a specific flop

if poker is dangerous to them i would rank sports betting as a Kodiak grizzly bear who smells blood after you just threw a javelin into his cub - RaiNKhAN

Bu11ets United Kingdom. Mar 12 2008 16:02. Posts 3

You might have worked out his playing style, and you might feel relaxed playing him, but your natural style is not appropriate for him. I wouldn't rush to play him, but find someone else who folds more.

HachiRoku United States. Mar 12 2008 19:36. Posts 315

met a guy like this today... god he was so annoying, until I picked up this hand..

Submitted by : HachiRoku

Full Tilt Poker Game #5610194570: Table Eyes (heads up) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:02:28 ET - 2008/03/12
Seat 1: Hero ($53.95)
Seat 2: Fly Wright ($81.95)
Hero posts the small blind of $0.25
Fly Wright posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #1

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero
Hero raises to $2
Fly Wright calls $1.50

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $4.00)


Fly Wright checks
Hero bets $4
Fly Wright calls $4

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $12.00)


Fly Wright checks
Hero bets $12
Fly Wright calls $12

River (Pot : $36.00)


Fly Wright has 15 seconds left to act
Fly Wright bets $20
Hero raises to $35.95, and is all in
Fly Wright has 15 seconds left to act
Fly Wright calls $15.95

Showdown
Hero shows a full house, Sixes full of Threes
Fly Wright mucks
Hero wins the pot ($107.40) with a full house, Sixes full of Threes

Summary
Total pot $107.90 | Rake $0.50
Board:
Seat 1: Hero (small blind) showed and won ($107.40) with a full house, Sixes full of Threes
Seat 2: Fly Wright (big blind) mucked - two pair, Sixes and Fours