Hello all

Normally, I go for the simple play. My edge at 7CS comes from being aware of live cards and odds, reading hands and knowing when and how to keep people in or shut them out. That's all you need to beat low limit 7CS and get all that Crypto bonus goodness.

Observe, however, the horror below. This is from a 5BB/100 player!

Crypto €1/€2 7CS

Seat 1: XX XX bring in - call
Seat 2: XX XX call - call
Seat 3: XX XX call - call
Seat 4: XX XX fold
Seat 5: XX XX call - call
Hero: complete
Seat 7: XX XX call
Pot: €7.75

Hmmm ... six players in a completed pot, and nothing's really dead except clubs and deuces and so what? A pair of kings vs. all sorts of small pairs, 3-straights and 3-flushes (or whatever these guys may have) is iffy. I shouldn't have raised so many people. I think I just made all their loose play correct. A different (and better) plan for this kind of hand is concealing it and then facing the field with a well-timed raise on 4th or 5th street to push them out. On the other hand, they probably put me on tens, so I've got a bit of deception going.

Seat 1: XX XX fold
Seat 2: XX XX call
Seat 3: XX XX call
Seat 5: XX XX CHECK - call
Hero: bet
Seat 7: XX XX call
Pot: €12.75

Man, I play good I got one to fold and I face the field with a single small bet. All gay draws and trailer park trash hands are correct in staying with me. On top of that, my kicker just croaked. Seat 3's board is straightish although its semi-dead, while Seat 2's board is both straightish (live) and flushing (dead). Seat 7 is also flushing, but I'll worry about that when I see one more. Observant villains put me on a high, buried pair now that my tens are gone and I'm still betting into a large field. I don't know how many in this hand may be termed observant, but those that are notice the absence of kings and aces.

Seat 2: XX XX call
Seat 3: XX XX fold
Seat 5: XX XX call
Hero: BET
Seat 7: XX XX call
Pot: €20.75

Observant villains put me on exactly the three kings I just made when I bet out here. I'm not facing the field with tough decisions, but I think I need to charge the draws. A different plan is to check and see who fancies their chances and perhaps get in a check-raise. Seat 7 should bet. Seat 2 is an enigma. He cannot reasonably have a straight, because he would have to have the case ten or have started with something like 458, so a small two pair? Seat 5 has queens up or what? I have no information to work with. It sucks. Still, I think just keeping up the betting is the solid option. I certainly cannot hand out free cards.

Seat 2: XX XX call
Seat 5: XX XX CHECK - call
Hero: check - call
Seat 7: XX XX bet
Pot: €28.75

Okay, we can now play seat 7 for a made flush (mistake 2). Seat 2 calls, which is very strange. Has he made a straight already and wants to call it down? Did the 7 fill him up and he's slowplaying? What about seat 5? Did he fill up and is now slowplaying? This hand is getting stranger and stranger. I almost have enough to raise for value on my boat draw but that would slow down seat 7 and I don't want that. My plan is to fill up and bleed them silly.

Seat 2: XX XX XX check
Seat 5: XX XX XX CHECK
Hero: check
Seat 7: XX XX XX check
Pot: €28.75

First, I was salivating. I check, seat 7 bets, the rest folds or calls or whatever and I raise. Unfortunately, only a boat can really raise the 4-flush but that's okay, because they will all call my very concealed boat. Muhahhahahah! Then it's checked down. WHAT??? FPS! My kryptonite!

Seat 5 shows queens full. He was slowplaying too. So, either seat 7 was bluffing with the hearts and he really had concealed aces, or he was smart enough to know that with three opponents, a boat is probably waiting to raise him, so a river bet cannot be +EV, since nothing he beats calls. If I had bet, seat 7 and 2 may or may not have called, but seat 5 would have raised and I would have re-raised and i would have gotten 3-12 BBs more into the pot, because low limit players have difficulties laying down straights and flushes, but nooooo, i had to be clever

I made two critical errors at the end of this hand to complement the initial mistake (playing a high pair incorrectly vs. a large field):

1) Putting seat 7 on one hand only. Since I played it simply and from the top, seat 7 could have a number of hands, including aces which are nowhere to be seen and simply be bluffing with the 4-flush, and since nobody folded, he gave it up on 7th.

2) Believing everybody but me is a donk. This is the fatal flaw of most 2+2'ers, and I've purged it from my play, but apparently it pops up now and again. I failed to give Seat 7 credit for NOT betting a flush into three opponents who have shown indifference to his monotone board.

The penalty was swift, just and crushing. I hope this horrible hand may serve as a warning and prevent FPS in my fellow BTP'ers, so that we may all prosper, be merry and get laid by gorgeous women

Cheers,

Smurf