$100 NL hand from stars today. I think it illustrates a good example of knowing the type of play your opponets are capable of. my opponent has a little under a full stack. i have him covered.
i'm UTG with and decide to go for a limp reraise. unfortunately, 6 other players, including the blinds, decide they just *have* to come along for the ride. whoops.
pot = $7
flop comes a harmless looking [10c][7h][3s] - a pretty harmless looking flop in all aspects. I bet the pot. I get called by the button. a very aggressive player. I haven't seen many of his hands showndown recently, but he's taken down a lot of pots with aggressive play on multiple streets. Namely, he seems to love to bet on scare cards. . The one time he did get called he showed middle pair on a board where he bet when the third suit came on the turn. Anyhow, he's my only caller.
pot = $24
turn . perfect. I check, feeling confident that he'll bet at it. Sure enough, he fires out $20. i pause for a few seconds and call.
pot = $64
river . excellent. i could not have asked for a prettier looking card. i check, feeling once again, very confident that he'll bet. To my joy he pushes his remaining $65ish, i gleefully call and drag the pot against his [10s]
Normally i'd make a smallish bet on the river here - probably on the turn too - hoping to get called, knowing that i've got the deck pretty well hammered though. Against an opponent who was being overly aggressive on scare cards, especially heads up, i got the opportunity to bust him before anyone else did. Had i lead out with a large enough bet on the turn, i can't imagine that he would have called - more importantly, i can't imagine than any solid player would have called. however, given my read, i felt confident enough to check both the streets to him, feeling i knew him well enough at this point to expect a bet. Had i played solid ABC poker, i would have won, at most, a $10 pot. Instead, going for the limp reraise UTG, and then finding myself heads up against an aggressive scare card better, i was able to drag a nearly $200 pot.
Anyhow, i was just proud of this hand, and felt the urge to post it on here.
~Dustin