Save the Chipleader, Save the World

The Game: $1/2 NLHE with a $5 bring-in. It costs at least $5 to limp in, including the BB. You can sit down with a max of $500 or 75% of the biggest stack at the table. I have no idea why the blinds are only $1/2, when the stacks are so big. Standard PF raise is $15 or $20.

My image: Loose PF, fairly tight after the flop. I’ve been playing a lot of hands, open raising or calling standard PF raises with anything playable, including everything down to single and double-gapped suited connectors. Important for this hand: I have not lost a single showdown all night. I’ve either won before showdown, won at showdown, or bailed out before the showdown. I started with $500 and I’m the big stack at the table with around $900.

The Villain: Sunburnt 40-ish Kansas State fan who watched Kansas whip K-State earlier in the day. He’s the luckbox of the evening – he keeps stumbling into lucky coolers that no one can fold. He has AA when someone else has KK, all in PF. He flops top set when someone else flops middle set, all in on the flop. He turns a straight when someone else flops 2-pair. He sat down with about $250 and ran it up to nearly $800 through dumb luck. He’s playing somewhat loose PF, but he sticks to the big cards and doesn’t seem to play the lower cards. Most importantly, Villain has the shakes when he has a big hand, and its very obvious to the whole table. Its been a 100% reliable tell.

The Hand: UTG+1, I raise to $15 PF with AT-clubs. Four callers, including Villain in the BB.

Flop is 4-A-4, rainbow. Villain checks. I bet $45. Everyone folds to Villain, who just calls.

Turn is 4-A-4-2, two spades. Villain bets $100, and he’s shaking horribly. I openly called attention to his shaking by saying “The Shake-O-Meter is pretty high. That really scares me.” Some laughs at the table. Villain looks kind of scared. Then I call.

River is 4-A-4-2-2. Villain bets $200, and he’s shaking even more as he struggles to push forward two stacks of red without causing a minor earthquake. He has $405 left. I say “Wow” when he is done, to point out that I am very aware of how badly he is shaking and aware of his strength. Then I calmly push.

Villain thinks about folding for a long time, then calls and shows J4-hearts. I muck and go home.

Analysis: I was attempting to use his tell against him, but my play failed miserably. I was trying to tell him, “I know how strong you think your hand is, but I am still pushing in the face of such an obvious tell. I have you beat.” Maybe I should have been more blunt and just said, “I know you have a four, but you should still fold and save your chips. I’m all in.”

His pause after my push on the river meant that he at least gave serious consideration to the fact that I could have AA, or maybe A4. I played this hand exactly as I would with AA – just calling his strong bet on the turn, and then pushing on the river even though it was almost 100% obvious he had a four.

(As a side note, I could not figure out his other card during the hand. I really didn’t think he had A4, so that left something like 54 or maybe 64. So, his actual hand of J4 was very unexpected and out of character with his prior play, but also completely irrelevant.)

What I learned from this hand: Don’t try a big bluff against a mediocre player that is incapable of folding in this situation. Be less likely to bluff against someone that has had a really good night and 75% of his stack came from other players. Don’t bluff K-State donkeys.