Playing the Player

Poker is not always about the hand you hold or the hand your opponent might hold. Sometimes, you just have to get inside a player's mind and try to figure out what they are thinking. Once you have done that, the cards are pretty much meaningless. I was in one of my regular $1/$2 no limit hold 'em sessions when I picked up A-A in middle position. I raised to $10 and got two callers. One of my callers was a young aggressive player on the button. This player liked to see a lot of flops and was known for playing almost any suited connector that came his way. The flop came 2-3-9, all hearts. I didn't have the ace of hearts, but I still liked my hand. I led out with a pot sized bet of $30. I didn't want anyone with a bare heart to catch up. The first caller folded and the aggressive player raised me to $100. There were a lot of hands that I could be up against with this player. I could have been up against a pair and the nut flush draw. My opponent could have flopped a set. I might be drawing real slim if I was already up against a flush. I decided to just wait for a better spot to play a big pot.

I folded my two aces face up. This is something I rarely do, but I wanted to send a message to the young kid that he shouldn't mess with me when I'm in a hand. As the dealer was pushing him the pot, he turned over 10-4 off suit with no hearts. I got bluffed and he wanted to rub it in. Maybe he was trying to get me on tilt, but he really shouldn't have shown me the bluff. I had already not given him a lot of credit when he came into a pot and this just confirmed my suspicions. We ended up playing about 3 more pots together during that session. Every time he bet, I came over the top of him. If he called the initial reraise, I was betting very strong on the next street. After all, I'm the player that can fold aces, so I must always have the nuts, right? Wrong. I was just playing the kid. Here's an example. The kid raises to $12 and I'm on the button with A-K. I reraise to $35 and get called. The flop comes 10-8-3 rainbow. The kid leads out and bets $50. I raise him all in for about $200 total. He flashes A-10 and folds. He asked if I had pocket jacks. I told him he made a good lay down (its always a good lay down for me when I win the pot with the worst hand). I made a few similar plays against him one time I actually held the nuts but by folding the aces face up, I was able to establish an image that I exploited against him later.