O-Poker

Sometimes, I just don't understand what is going through someone's mind at the table. I ran across the perfect example of "What was that guy thinking?" last night. I sat down at a Party Poker 2/4 shorthanded NL game with $400 and had been playing fairly tight, especially out of position, trying to get a feel for the table when the following hand occurred:

My stack $425. Button Stack $470. I get dealt AA UTG and raise to 15. The guy on the button immediately goes all-in with KK. What on earth could have been going through his mind? He bet $470 to win a whopping total of $21. The only way he is getting called is if I have AA or KK. He might think someone will call him with AK, but pretty doubtful. I called and thoroughly expected us both to have AA. If he raised a reasonable amount and I re-raised, he could have flat called and worried about AA or possibly even re-raised me all-in at that point if he thought I didn't have it. He had position on me for the rest of the hand. Anything could have happened. He may have been able to get me to lay down my hand. I didn't have the Ace of Spades and the flop contained 3 spades with a 4th spade on the turn. There is a decent chance he may have been able to win with his postflop play. He didn't have the King of spades and I won the monster pot with 1 pair.

I think the main reason this guy lost his entire stack was because he had no confidence in his post-flop play. Why risk so much for such a small pot? It makes sense to think about why you are making a bet before you make it and how the other players will react. Maybe he was sucked out on one too many times, but there was still no reason to risk his whole stack for a $21 pot.

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I am deleting the post with the Hand History Animation. I think it has been causing some problems with the blog. If you want to check it out - click here or go to PokerXFactor.com.

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I am on a serious hot streak. I have made more money the first week of Feb than I made the entire month of Jan. My PTBB/100 is over 23 at short handed NL tables. This brings me to the question - When will I cool off? Hopefully not anytime soon. I won't let it bother me if I do. Very nice to be on the good side of variance.

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I am heading to a live game tonight. $150 buyin tourney with 18-22 players. It will be a nice change of pace. There is usually a 1/2 NL cash game afterwards, but I'm not sure I'll be able to stay up late enough for the cash game..

Enough ramblings for now.

cmitch