Hero: $250. A10. Having a lot of fun at the table with all the players. Very talkative. But at same time, probably perceived as some variation of a TAG, although the players were more perceptive of where the waitress was at for drinks vs. other players

V: $350. Bluffing, non-thinking LAG. Stated usually just plays BJ, but decided to play poker tonight. Best way I would describe him is a bad Aggro.

Preflop: V limps from MP. Hero pops it to $15 on button, V calls.
Flop (Pot: ~$30): Q79. Check, check.
Turn (Pot: $30): 6. V bets $20. Hero calls.
River (Pot: $70): 2. V fumbles some chips and bets $50. Hero?

More info: 1) He was very talkative at the table, but here he goes into deer in the headlights mode. I hardly every put much into tells, but he looks really uncomfortable. 2) He's bet me off a few rivers b4. Not sure what he had, once he did show good hand, but it was earlier in our play together so gave him benefit of the doubt. Essentially all I am saying here is he knows I fold rivers.

My personal opinion is that most people who make hero calls with A high are losing money in the long run. When I see guys make a tough call and win at showdown with A high, I watch them and see them make tons of river calls and then muck so I assume they are making plenty of A high calls and losing. Of course I dont know how often they are correct compared to the pot odds they are getting. It just seems like they make lots of river calls and muck.

Ive made 6 of these type calls in the past several months and been right 5 times so maybe Im underestimating the other players I see doing it. Not sure.

In your spot, I would fold this one. Its not a terrible board to try it, but I dont like the fact that he bet twice. If he check/called the flop....turn went check/check...and then he bet the river I would like it better.

Without more information the sudden stare has a chance of being two pair+ in addition to total air. You don't beat all total air and villain can think he is bluffing with a hand like 55 or 86 that beats you anyways. Villain bet enough on river that paying him off just because is bad.

There are enough high draws like JT/KJ that did miss that I could talk myself into calling but I don't think it's good. Villain has to be very pointlessly aggressive and bluffing at any pot checked to him before calling here is good.

Q, 9, 7 and 6 on board, and you're calling with AT?

Cbet the flop. It's not the best board texture, but you are heads up and villain has a very wide range. It's hard to flop a pair. You rate to be ahead of him on this flop -- on any flop if he's playing loose enough.

Without the live read, I'd say put your hero cape away. Heck, I think it's a fold on the turn if you think it hits his range hard enough that you don't want to cbet the flop. Your gutshot isn't enough to continue with.

But on the river, it sounds like a pretty good tell. The fumbling and the visible nerves. You're probably good the ~30% you need. Although some percentage he'll be bluffing with 33 o A2, tell you "good call," and then still rake the pot in.

Very good point.

Dude was so Aggro bad, that he was wide as heck on turn here. Thought A, maybe 10, and certainty 8 were all good on river here, plus thought good change A high was good on turn here too.

I think the best way to exploit described villain is to focus solely on fat value. If he's that bad, we'll be in a much better spot soon. To second Mike Starr, consistently playing this way is likely a leak. Probably more minor than major, but still a leak.

NH op.

^Ty. But like most you said, probably can't make a living making this calls especially in a $1-3 NL game. Felt nice here though

Nice call. Trust me, once you do this once successfully, you will do it again....and then again. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It could be very good if you get good at identifying the correct times to make the call. Keep a note on your phone and track your overall profit on A high calls like this so you know if you are profitable overall. Its very easy to forget the times you were wrong and keep doing it too much.

^Thanks Mike, that’s good advice, I'm actually going to do that. Maybe could even apply that to other low frequency scenario’s like calling large bets in big pots on river or whatever. Will help shine a light on the dark spots of the all too common human trait of selective memory.

I'm cool with preflop.

I'd probably cbet the flop. We're pretty happy with ending the hand here with air and that won't happen if we check. I'd more check back against this guy if I had a showdownable hand (better than A high).

I guess I don't hate the turn call given the way we played the flop and we're against an aggro and we could have a decent amount of outs. I think a fold is ok too.

Dude is bluffing with the best hand here so often on the river I wouldn't call. Which means either fold or bluff raise. Bluff raise might be sexy, but it also makes zero sense hand reading wise.

GcluelessNLnoobG

grunch:

Fold river. You beat JT, and that's about it.
All sorts of better hands that he is turning into a bluff that we still lose to.

Raising here is kinda sexy though.
Maybe $135.

Wow. I'm not sure we've ever had close to the same level of though process in a hand.

Who's corrupted who?

GcluelessNLnoobG