This is a hand I played on Saturday afternoon while watching the Ladies Open Golf.
It features a very loose, aggressive villain of a type I struggle to play well against. I posted the hand on EMS for discussion but thought this was a good place to consolidate my thoughts and their comments.
As BlackShuck pointed out, with stats of 67/24/3, Villain isn’t really a Lagtard – more an aggressive fish – but I just love the word. Lagtard. As for me, I was my usual 24/14/4 or thereabouts.
The first decision was whether to play a bad hand out of position against this villain…
BossMedia Game #1182680801: Table Table TH 21 – $0.25/$0.50 – No Limit Hold’em
Seat 1: Button ($14.45)
Seat 2: Crumble ($93.46)
Seat 3: BB ($49.96)
Seat 5: Villain ($57.65)
Crumble posts the small blind of $0.25
BB posts the big blind of $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Crumble
Villain raises $1.50
Button folds
Crumble calls $1.50
BB folds
Well yes, I could have folded as Niggy suggested on EMS. But we are 4-handed and this guy plays a lot of stuff in position. I suppose I could have raised as Benji suggests, but I don’t really want to build a big pot with this junk. That leaves the call.
*** FLOP ***
Crumble checks
Villain bets $3.00
Crumble raises $9.00
Villain calls $9.00
Well I was hoping to take it down now, but no such luck. I don’t know what to make of his call, after all I’ve shown a strong hand here.
BlackShuck, Benji and Fluence all prefer a flat call to the raise. My thought at the time was that I’m ahead and it’s potentially quite a draw-y board for this guy so I’m happy to represent a monster and take it down here and now, but in retrospect they are probably right.
*** TURN ***
Crumble bets $12.00
Villain raises $24.00
Crumble calls $24.00
I really really hate that minraise. Villain seems to believe he has the best hand here. I could even be drawing dead. The only reason to call is to protect against villain being so bad he has a hand worse than mine that he thinks is best.
In retrospect I think my call was bad: I should either push all-in or fold as suggested by Zitty. Chairman wants to fold; against a normal player I’d strongly consider it but not against this donk.
*** RIVER ***
Crumble checks
Villain goes all-in with $23.15
Heck. Can I fold? Like heck I can. The consensus is that I’ve put too much money in and because I’m getting at least four to one I have to call even though I’m not sure what big hand he’s representing. A set of 5s maybe?
Crumble calls $23.15
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $112.80 | Rake $3.00
Board:
Crumble won ($112.80), showed
Villain won ($0.00), showed
Hmm. So that’s what he’d hit: bottom pair with top kicker. Nice outcome for me. Sometimes you can play bad but take it down from someone who plays even worse. But I’m going to have to start playing better, I lost control of this hand and ended up guessing. I’m not sure my nerves can take it!
In Spades 