I normally have two or three STTs going at a time. After reading some discussions on this forum, I decided to take a couple of nights and focus on one game at a time. No TV, radio, or any kind of other distraction. Pure focus on the game at hand. I wanted to see if I could pick up some basic "reads."
I was quite surprised out how much more info I gathered, in a short amount of time, about my opponents playing styles.
The following is a prime example of a hand I would have handled quite differently had I not been paying attention to how "Other Guy" had been playing. (Normally I would not continue with a hand like this, but with what I'd witnessed, curiousity got the best of me...and I suspected that I was ahead the whole time.)
I want to emphasize that I don't believe my play here was good. I just wanted to share this hand because it was the first time I have felt a strong "gut" feeling about a read I had on an online opponent.
Limit $30 game, lots of "interesting" aggression at the table early on.
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Dealt to Player A (me) [ Kc, Ah ] in the small blind
all fold to me
Player A (me) raises (75) to 100
Other Guy calls (50)
(this guy had been raising preflop a lot, and reraising with a small field when he had any kind of face card, or any kind of hand-- including capping preflop at one point with pocket 2s. So I figured he didn't have much, because there was no reraise.)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qd, 5c, 2h ]
Player A (me) bets (50)
Other Guy raises (100) to 100
(I had picked up on the fact that he had raised when he had completely missed the flop in a heads up pot. From the hands I saw, he was just calling on the flop when he had nailed it, then raising on the turn. Out loud I say "b.s.")
Player A (me) calls (50)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Qs ]
Player A (me) checks.
Other Guy bets (100)
(Okay, this is getting a little bit scarier...but I've been watching him. I just know he doesn't have a queen. He raised on the flop. I should fold, but I know he has nothing...don't ask how, I just know. Or do I? I'm an idiot, but I just have to know.)
Player A (me) calls (100)
** Dealing River ** : [ Qh ]
Player A (me) checks.
Other Guy bets (100)
(there is no way he has the last queen. And a pocket pair is out... he was reraising preflop with any pocket pair... So just a five or a two have me beat.)
Player A (me) calls (100)
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Again, I want to reiterate that I don't see "check calling" this down as good play. But I had devoted a couple of nights to studying and picking up reads on my opponents and so I called to the end to see if I was correct. So I somewhat saw this as a scientific test on the accuracy of my "read."
Anyone curious about his pocket? :wink: