Major adjustment for a major fish

md261 on 24th July 2010

PokerStars Game $23+$2 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20)

Seat 1: Player1 (780 in chips)
Seat 2: Villain (2420 in chips)
Seat 3: Player3(1350 in chips)
Seat 4: Hero (1470 in chips)
Seat 5: Player5(1560 in chips)
Seat 6: Player6(1420 in chips)
Player1: posts small blind 10
Villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to md261 [As Kh]
Player3: raises 40 to 60
Hero: raises 130 to 190
Player5: folds
Player6: folds
Player1: folds
Villain: calls 170
Player3: folds
*** FLOP *** [3h Jd Jh]
Villain: bets 220
Hero: calls 220
*** TURN *** [3h Jd Jh] [6h]
Villain: bets 460
Hero: raises 600 to 1060 and is all-in
Villain: calls 600
*** RIVER *** [3h Jd Jh 6h] [5h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [Qh Kc] (a flush, Queen high)
Hero: shows [As Kh] (a flush, King high)
Hero collected 3010 from pot


The Villain in this hand is an enormous fish, it is hard to convey quite how horrendous he is, his VPIP was 80% and his Pre-flop raise was 65%. When he calls on the flop I know this will be a tough hand to play post-flop, but at least I have position.

The flop is about as good as it can be when you don’t hit with AK. The Villain bets out nice and strong, I have already decided that on this flop, against this opponent I am going nowhere, but in that case, why not try and extract as much value as possible. Since I’m not going to fold, I might as well try and get him to commit as many chips as possible to maximise the number of chips I win when I am ahead. With this in mind I just call the flop bet, there is no need to raise all in here as many of the hands he may 2-barrel bluff with could fold if I stack it all in on the flop. My plan is to call his turn all in, or raise him all in if he bets. If he checks, I will probably shove it all in, unless an A comes out (in which case I will check or put in a small bet), or another J or 3, in which case i will also check.

The decision on how to play the turn on this hand was made before calling the flop bet, I knew this was how I was going to play it at that moment. This looks like very unusual play, but the Villain is such a huge fish, that the Hero is correct to make the huge adjustment.

md261 on 24th July 2010