More better

This feels better though:

PokerStars Game #11229072737: Tournament #56966207, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/07/31 - 00:14:11 (ET)
Table '56966207 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: DrDrayne (2115 in chips)
Seat 3: Brockhunter (2100 in chips)
Seat 6: Zen (1600 in chips)
Seat 7: Taos1350 (1735 in chips)
Seat 8: MikhailTal (3315 in chips)
Seat 9: Rehmbo (2635 in chips)
Brockhunter: posts small blind 25
Zen: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Zen [Jc Jd]
Taos1350: folds
MikhailTal: folds
Rehmbo: folds
DrDrayne: folds
Brockhunter: calls 25
Zen: raises 150 to 200
Brockhunter: calls 150

I thought he might call that. He's played loosely and poorly so far.


*** FLOP *** [6c 2h 8c]

A nice flop for my hand. The club draw is a worry.

Brockhunter: checks
Zen: bets 250

A nice bet. A club draw might call, but it's going to be wrong to.

Brockhunter: calls 250

*** TURN *** [6c 2h 8c] [6s]

Slightly scary, but I'm not crediting him for a 6.

Brockhunter: checks
Zen: checks

I'm taking a risk. I don't think he has a 6, but I don't want to give him the opportunity to c/r bluff me. I don't think he'll pay me here or on the river, so my plan is to check and induce a bluff. I look like I have a big ace and whiffed, so he will likely take a stab on many rivers.


*** RIVER *** [6c 2h 8c 6s] [5h]

That's a slightly scary card, but here's the thing. This player would semibluff with the straight draw on the flop, so I don't credit him for 74 or 97. I doubt either would stand a raise OOP anyway, even for a guy this loose. I already decided he doesn't have the 6. So I'm willing to call if he bets.

Brockhunter: bets 1650 and is all-in

WTF? Okay, so he's repping the straight, or, I suppose, the missed checkraise on the turn.

But what does my hand look like? It looks like a big ace. He surely puts me on AK/AQ, something of that nature. But if I have that kind of hand, I will never call a push.

Most pokerists will tell you that if you want to bluff, you have to sell a credible story. The elements of his story are: I had a straight draw or a 6 on the flop; either you gave me a free card on the turn or I missed a C/R opportunity; I made my straight or I'm betting my trip sixes for value.

But here's the problem: his bet on the river is not credible. It's not always true that an overbet on the river is a bluff, but if you do overbet, it must be conceivable that your opponent will call. Nothing in the action in this hand lets him put me on the hand I have, so he cannot have any expectation that this bet is for value. If he made his straight, he'd be betting less.

Zen: calls 1150 and is all-in

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Brockhunter: shows [Js Kd] (a pair of Sixes)

A plain bluff. He floated the flop with OCs and put me solidly on AK/AQ.

I went on to win. The player I played HU had a very exploitable strategy. He was looking to steal pots left right and centre, which is fine, but he was willing to put in lots of money in raises to do it. I played very patiently, completing the blind and letting him steal it, making small bets and letting him take them away, until I picked up 43 and checked to the flop: 652. I bet out small, he raised, I called. I bet out again on the turn, he called and he called again on the river. That put me far ahead, and chastened him so that he was easy to outplay from then on. It's tough to beat aggressive players HU, but sometimes, sitting back and playing quite passively is the best way. You are aware all through that they don't have values for their play, but if they are playing smallball, you are going to have to make thin calls and bets. But this guy was bloating the pot all the time, trying to push me round. So he got poker judo. In judo, you use the other guy's weight to throw him off balance. That's how it went with this guy. I used his aggression to bin him.