I did buy a few pots in this game, and I think this player was probably also aware of that. But I don't think there was any doubt in his mind that I had the nut straight here. After the hand, he said he would've raised but was afraid I had a redraw to a bigger straight. I think that was an honest statement.
As to LP, I'm also a bit confused. We've played a lot more NLHE than PLO together, and he kind of wavers between just auto-folding whenever I bet and then once in a while getting upset and playing back at me. I also find it amazing that he would lay down KK here, so maybe he didn't have it--possibly top 2 or just a K with big cards would really be logical, although that passive flop bet is just bad whatever he had.
I really think that guy, while he's played a lot of poker, makes just a LOT of mistakes in trying to play by feel, with tendencies to get frustrated and aggro (or also on a roll and aggro).
I'd say that the good players in this game (MP probably being the best, although when it's 1/2, he sometimes doesn't take it terribly seriously) probably think I'm very tight, have a good feel for starting hands, generally straightforward, and have a few "plays" as well. But that I sometimes misstep in making the plays due to lack of experience in the game and that I miss out on some pots due to playing too tight. The former is accurate, but the latter I'm not at all sure about--at least pretty much all of the lit seems to advocate staying away from crappy starting hands (Ciaffone being a little looser than most, and I rarely lay down anything that Ciaffone wouldn't play, I'm pretty sure--at least PF).
There's also a little bit of history between me and the good player here: I had QQ once with top set, bet out flop and turn at pot on a board with a club draw and some little straight draws. I also had the naked Ac. Well, clubs did hit the river but no straight. I checked, and he potted. Well, I thought about this for a bit and finally called and won (he didn't show, but I would assume some kind of wrap here). The Ac was the decisive factor here as I knew he at least couldn't have been LOOKING for clubs with the nut club in my hand--but of course he could have had a straight draw with some little clubs.
In the hand from last night, the clubs didn't show up until the turn, and he said he didn't know whether I would have called or not (also accurate I think). He just looked totally shocked when I checked the river to him--the look on his face was pretty hilarious...
I figure he also does think I'm a little too tight/predictable, and he may be right. But I'm at least working on betting out some good draws and not being strictly nut-peddlish.
In his shoes, I agree with you that raising is better due to the uncertainty with LP. Maybe he had a better read on LP than me--they've at least played a lot of PLO together. Or maybe he was adhering to much to the principle of only raising with a redraw, which is a good principle, but I don't think it entirely applied in this situation with LP still in and only $200 or so left in a pot that was already at $600. I would have had to call even without any redraw at that point.Statistics: Posted by Aisthesis — Wed Aug 09, 2006 11:34 pm
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