I have played in such games. I don’t straddle on my own, but I always agree if people want to do a round of straddles. I may have a drink or two but I never drink so much that it would be unsafe to drive home if I left immediately.
I never show bluffs. I occasionally show the nuts if I think it makes my bluffs more effective. I might show one card.
I’m not an action guy, but I’m not some wet blanket nit who hates other people having fun. Even if I don’t drink as much, I will buy drinks for other players. I just derive no pleasure from showing a big bluff. It’s not fun for me. It’s not the point of poker for me.
I’m not some poker-playing robot at the table, but I am known for showing absolutely no emotional reaction to winning or getting sucked out on in a big pot. One reason I don’t show bluffs is to maintain that emotional balance.
Limped 3way pot. Hero checks QJo in the BB against main villain in UTG and button.
Flop is J85 with two diamonds. Hero bets 10 into 17. Villain calls. Button folds.
Turn is 7 I bet 20. She calls.
River is an off-suit deuce. I check. She considers betting but decides to check and shows 5 4 for a baby flush. Someone at the table asks why she didn’t bet and her answer was effectively because it was me.
This is setup to another hand I played against her.
Straddled pot. I have 33 in early position. Five-way unraised pot.
Flop is 7 6 3 . Straddler leads for 25. I called. Villain calls. Everyone else folds.
Turn is A . Straddler checks. I bet 75. Villain goes all-in for 245.
I was a bit taken aback by how strongly and confidently villain shoved. She’s often tentative against me, so she often gives off tells that I should value bet thin or bluff against her.
In this spot, she has hands in her range that beat me, but I decided the probability she has aces up was too high to fold. After taking time to go through her range (which does include AA) I called and she showed A 6 .
Tell me if this is a perfectly normal hand that tells you nothing about the table or is it a hand that makes you think this is better or worse than a random table and why. This has nothing to do with how to play AA or KK.
In a vacuum, the 3b flat from BB is fishy and V1s 2x pot jam seems awful on that board (esp if he has Kc). V2’s line seems fine other than the nitroll (also 3b size, didn’t see that).
no shit, but there’s nothing remarkable about how they got it in. A live table where a guy doesn’t fold KK on the flop with 300 pot in from pre? that’s not enlightening at all. could be a terrible game, could be great.
V1 seems pretty normal preflop. Maybe he could size up more on his 4bet due to the cold call and to set up not as big of an overbet shove if called. His flop jam seems pretty bad. His bet should be sized to extract value from AQ, AJ, and flush draws. I would mark this player as someone who bets too large with his made hands when a flush draw is possible. He’s also a player whose raise size of 100 on top is more likely than normal to be a tell that he is strong.
V2’s tiny almost min-sized 3bet is laughable, especially since he’s in the SB playing out of position. I profiled him as a player who lets draws get there and pays off. I later had a hand with me where he let me draw to a flush cheaply then paid off on the river with his flopped set. I would also avoid characterizing his small bets as weak and an invitation to bluff-raise. I think I could bet-fold a river flush to a min-raise from this player, but might have to call at least once in that spot before I feel confident enough in my tell.
BB flatting the 3bet then folding when it’s only 100 more is another fishy play. My initial read is that he’s the sort player who cares about absolute dollar amounts rather than pot odds. My guess is that I shouldn’t bluff him when the pot is under $100, but I can get away with half-pot or smaller bluff sizes when the pot is big. I should also size down my value bets against this player. I payed a hand with him where I bet 1/4 pot with a gutshot from the blinds in a multi-way limped straddle pot. When I hit on the turn, I bet 3/4 pot and he was last to act and folded and showed that he had top pair. I should have bet smaller, keeping my bet under $100.
Just from this one hand, I see three players who I feel comfortable playing against.
I was one out on the river to $50k last night but missed 117k bad beat. I had jj vs qkdd on 910jddd board luckily guy had only $110 so didn’t lose much.
Action is even better than normal with everyone chasing the $117k. I’m up almost $4k this week.
Also set a new personal record buying into a game for 733 bb!
I bet 20. She calls.
6 
3 
luckily guy had only $110 so didn’t lose much.