When you've got some time to reflect, would love to see you post some of the tougher hands you've faced in the PAHWM section!
EDIT: I wrote this right after the hand, and was coming off an adrenaline rush, so didn’t do much disclosure of my thinking / calculations, have now added some at the end.
Just got out of one, taking a break because it was so stressful lol.
I was UTG, and have a tight-aggressive image, so I sometimes like to mix up my range so I’m not predictable.
I looked down at
and bet out 6BB. Super tight player in middle position re-raises to 24BB. He almost always will have a super premium hand here, most likely AA / KK / AK, and so I decided to gamble and smooth call. One thing that was a departure from his usual re-raise is that he didn’t do his whole “Hollywood” bit. He usually remains super still, but his eyes dart left and right like they’re in a pinball machine, and then after a while, he usually re-raises. This time, I noticed no darting. More on that later.
Flop comes
.
I check to the raiser.
He bets $500.
At this point, I need to test whether he has a single Ace, KK or pocket Aces, so I decide to raise him. In my head, I’m screaming “two pair, beware.”
I make it $1600 to go.
He goes into the tank. And that when I realize the masks are gonna save me. Because every part of the face is covered, I’m focused on the eyes. And his normal darting — it’s just... not the same. It’s different. He thinks, thinks, thinks.
Goes all in. For about $5,600.
So everything about him would usually tell me to fold because he has AA. He’s just that tight of a grinder. But those eyes, just above his black mask — they’re really different this time. And so, I trust my read, and after about 2 minutes l call.
Sure enough, he turns over
.
I miraculously avoid a flush and straight on both streets, and scoop up a massive pot. The adrenaline rush is something else.
EDIT: thoughts
Some thoughts about the hand: so pre-flop, given my image, he could have easily put me on a range of hands, but given my position, he probably put me on AK/AQ/AJ/KQs, or any decent pocket pair. When I called his re-raise, and knowing what he knows about how I see his image, I imagine he narrowed that down further to AKs/KK/QQ/JJ/10s or MAYBE AQs if I were being somewhat loose.
When the flop comes, and I check to him, I assume he imagines that’s SOP.
When he bets, he already thinks I’m thinking he has a super premium hand, most likely Aces, which gives him the cover the build the pot for his draws.
When I raise, and he goes into the tank, I imagine he’s trying to decide if I either have
or
. He can’t imagine I have pocket 8s, or 5s. So, he has to imagine his flush draw is no good except for the outs he has to make a straight flush. Which makes him think I’m at a 68-69% equity. It’s possible that he also considers the outside of my range against him, which would make pocket 8s a possibility. Given his push, I think he decided against that.
But he now probably thinks since I imagine him to have Aces, and he represents Aces, then the only thing he could really do is push. Because he knows I’d be calculating him at just over 70% equity and there’s no way I’d call him. And so he pushes.
So when my instincts told me he didn’t have Aces, there were only a few hands I could put him on, if he pushed. A straight draw, a straight flush draw, or just a high flush draw.