Maniacs in Paradise

It was a fun night on Paradise last night. Spent the first hour without seeing any playable hands and watching my villian steal pot after pot with big bets. He was also calling to the river and then pushing and lots of people were folding. When I sat down he had $280 and if you read the post you will see where he ended up *grin*.

Villian vpip/pfr/pfa/hands was 77%/14.6%/1.50/75 but his aggression doesn't show that when he raised or reraised it was always big (3/4 pot at least). He had a 38% W$WSF mostly because of his big raises.

I was playing my usual 19%/6%/6.4/282... so I am either betting or folding! Add to this the information that was given to me by a great post from Doubleas on pressure points. Only way to really learn this stuff is to put it in practice and the first attempt he called my pot sized reraise with a KQ on the flop with pocket 8's. So on to the pressure points....

Paradise Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (9 handed) converter

Button ($73.50)
SB ($87.00)
BB ($147.25)
UTG ($187.00)
UTG+1 ($72.00)
MP1 ($100.00)
MP2 ($39.00)
Guin (Hero) ($86.50)
CO (Villian) ($115.50)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 8h, Th. SB posts a blind of $0.50.

UTG calls $1, 3 folds, Guin (Hero) raises to $4, CO (Villian) calls $4, Button calls $4, 2 folds, UTG calls $3.

I raised here to isolate the Villian who would call most pre-flop raises and then try to steal any low card flop. He did it to me 2x already when my AKs found a low all heart flop.

Flop: ($17.50) Jh, 8d, 2d (4 players)

I figure I should lead out to build the pressure on Villian.

UTG checks, Guin (Hero) bets $10, Villian raises to $35, Button folds, UTG folds, Guin (Hero) raises to $82.5, Villian folds.

He reraises which was a little early in the hand but due to his stack size he must have felt it necessary to put pressure on me. So my choices are fold or raise because calling lets him push on almost any card that comes down. That is why I choose to push in this situation... make him feel the pressure. Doubleas thanks for the push forward in my teenage game.

Final Pot: $135

Results in white below:

No showdown. Guin (Hero) wins $135.

In the next hand I ended up chatting and telling him what I had. The goal was to tilt him and make him think that I would bet into him with nothing. Same orbit with Villian in the big blind (I had stacked someone else in the meantime and then lost $10 to Villian in the hand after that... so a nice little battle has developed).

Paradise Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (8 handed) converter

UTG ($98.00)
UTG+1 ($64.50)
MP1 ($86.50)
MP2 ($145.75)
CO ($181.00)
Button ($74.00)
Guin (Hero) ($165.50)
BB (Villian) ($85.75)

Preflop: Hero is SB with As, Kc. Guin (Hero) posts a blind of $0.50.

6 folds, Guin (Hero) (poster) raises to $4.5, BB (Villian) raises to $11.5, Guin (Hero) raises to $165.5, BB (Villian) calls $73.75.

He seemed a little ticked at me during our chatting so that is why I pushed instead of called as he could have any two cards. And I figure I am ahead often enough to make this +EV. Again he is in the tough spot and he makes the mistake and calls this time. Before you check the results what hand do you put him on?

Flop: ($251.25) Ac, 4c, Qd (2 players)

Turn: ($251.25) Jh (2 players)

River: ($251.25) 2c (2 players)

Final Pot: $251.25

Results in white below:

Guin (Hero) has As Kc (one pair, aces).
Villian has Qh Kd (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Guin (Hero) wins $251.25.

So that is how I made most of my cash last night. I am slowly moving towards my goal to developing as a player, and getting to the 10k goal for the year. Only 600 hands more to go to clear my chipset... then on to more bonuses! I was happy with my play tonight because I picked the opponent and had a strategy to beat them and then executed. I would have been happy with my play even if I got sucked out on because my thinking was right.