Getting Paid

[hokumfool]

Poker is a game of incomplete information. As a player you want to gather as much information as possible to help define were you stand in a hand. As a player you also want to send as much information as possible so your opponents think they know where they stand in a hand. To send information you have to know that the villain is capable of reading and interpreting information.

As players become more advanced in their reading and interpreting skills they begin to communicate in deeper levels of thought processes. The overwhelming majority of players in the micro levels are thinking at a base level, if they are thinking at all. One of the things I have noticed as I have moved up to the low levels is that I have gotten trapped a few times, wow, there are players that are actually thinking. Of course thinking players actually allow me to bluff more, so at the low levels I run into a higher percentage of players that can hand read and therefore can fold to a bluff.

Here is a hand where I am against a competent villain, his stats were TAGish for the sample size and I had not seen him get out of line.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12791640618: $21,000 KO Guarantee (95008692), Table 127 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:22:16 ET - 2009/06/13
Seat 1: diera (4,370)
Seat 2: hokumfool (3,383)
Seat 3: Norm682 (1,672)
Seat 4: garamond10pt (2,355)
Seat 5: DirkBravo (3,790)
Seat 6: TKROCKET (2,615)
Seat 7: du_duaraujo (3,455)
Seat 8: alexisonilt (5,930)
Seat 9: zulek (3,515)
DirkBravo posts the small blind of 20
TKROCKET posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [Kd Ks]
du_duaraujo folds
alexisonilt has 15 seconds left to act
alexisonilt folds
zulek folds
diera calls 40
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
hokumfool raises to 180
Norm682 folds
garamond10pt folds
DirkBravo folds
TKROCKET folds
diera calls 140

He limped in, there was 100 in the pot and I raise it to 180 with position. I put him on a pocket pair, obviously.

*** FLOP *** [8c Th 2h]
diera checks
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
hokumfool bets 275
diera calls 275

The pot size was 420 so I make a standard C-bet of two thirds the pot. As a thinking player I can expect him to call this most of the time. He probably has AK,AQ as a huge percentage of my range. Something I notice a lot is guys with an overpair to the board JJ-QQ will frequently bet pot here. So I like my bet size which screams AK, AQ.

*** TURN *** [8c Th 2h] [Ts]
diera checks
hokumfool bets 300
diera calls 300

This is where I get tricky. The pot size is 970 and I bet 300. I make it really hard for him to get away from the hand here. Even if he is capable of seeing this as a pure value bet, he is getting great odds to call.

*** RIVER *** [8c Th 2h Ts] [9s]
diera checks
hokumfool bets 888
diera calls 888

My read on him still stands as a pocket pair. Yes, perhaps he limped a suit-connector but most players open raise the connectors preflop. I also think if he was anywhere near the board with a connector, 76 or JQ, I think there is a great chance he would have check raised me on the flop. So I have him firmly on a pocket pair and I bet just over half the pot and I get paid.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
hokumfool shows [Kd Ks] two pair, Kings and Tens
diera mucks
hokumfool wins the pot (3,346) with two pair, Kings and Tens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,346 | Rake 0
Board: [8c Th 2h Ts 9s]
Seat 1: diera mucked [4d 4s] - two pair, Tens and Fours

I could have played this hand faster but I think he would have folded. I think the key to getting some chips out of this guy was the small turn bet. A good hand reader might have known he was on a ride to value town but probably would have called with the great odds he was getting. This is an example of getting some value out of a hand that typically folds out on the turn versus a standard turn continuation bet.
Of course he might have called me down the whole way with standard bets and I could have lost some value here but I obviously do not think that is the case. The floor is open for discussion.

GG GL

[theoldman999]

NH Hok
_________________
I'm not a poker pro, but I do play one on television.

[hokumfool]