Manila: Walk in a Valuetown 🌇
One of the most important reads you should be able to get on your opponent quick as possible is how much he’s gonna pay you. Pretty much player-type-based.
Best thing about the Asian poker scene, it’s full of the maximum value guys. A loaded guy, who loves to gamble. That guy with a short stack who will never fold once he pairs his ace. That young agro boy who does not see the “check” and “fold” buttons at all. The boy who doesn’t chase the girls because he’s too busy chasing every draw. Or just another reg on tilt.
Every time your river bet gets called, ask yourself: would he have paid even more? Sometimes ask your opponents, they tend to give honest answers to this question.
Hand 1, Resorts World Casino
I flop a set OP three-way with two clubs on board and check-raise the young boy with a huge stack. He chases (and hits) every draw, bluffs every river or calls three streets with a medium pair - and is sometimes right. Not so much of a hero call, just another neverfold. And a fun table. He calls a jam with J 10 and it’s good because the opponent has j 7.
Anyway, the turn comes a third club, I swear to myself, check to him, he bets, I call.
I fill up on the river, make a 2,5x overbet and get snapped by a flush, which makes me think I missed a ton of value by not shoving, which would be approx a 4,5x overbet.
“Had I gone all-in, would you call?” I asked.
“Of course,” was the answer. “What if you had a lower flush or just trips?”
I was left biting my elbows.
Hand 2, Solaire Casino
It was the morning session of my last day in Manila, which turned out to be one of my happiest days ever so far. I was playing my A++ game at NL200, starting a session with a hero call against the reg, making a few big folds and psychotic bluffs.
Those had been what I marked as the last thirty minutes before the taxi to the airport. I looked at the pocket tens from the big blind and called a raise multi-way. We were born on 10/10 and not surprised at all to see the 10 9 3 flop with two spades.
I looked around and saw myself in the pot with four action players. I checked. I could see that coming.
Bet. Call. Call. Of course we could raise the pot. But I looked at my opponents again and thought that whoever would call a pot-sized raise would might as well call an...
- All-in.
250 bb to gamble with your bloody draw, please.
First guy thought for a minute and folded with a big sigh. Second guy insta mucked what was probably a nine. Just when I thought that it might be better for the spirit to end this session winning a small pot than losing a big one, the third guy shipped his 200bb with J 7 of spades for a flush draw and a gutter.
The first guy immediately informed us that he threw away the nut flush draw. The turn was a jack and the river was a red queen as one fox went hysterical over winning the biggest pot of her entire life 🦊
I loved my decision to overbet-jam *a lot more than I loved some questionable bluffs that I somehow got through during that session*. You end up getting a lot more calls than you expect.
WHEN IT GOES WRONG BUT YOU ARE STILL PROUD
I used this hand in one of the previous posts to illustrate how the table dynamics lead my nitty opponent to making a call he might have otherwise avoided.
Metro Card Club
Me and a big daddy reg sitting on some serious stacks.
Hours of dreaming about flopping a set and saying “Come to me, sir”.
I opened with 22 (let’s get that straight, we love small pocket pairs, ok?) and he 3-bet from the blind.
And finally, flop came Q♦️2♦️3♥️.
I was caught on a goofball bluff just a couple of hands earlier and the table was still making fun of me. Guys, I turned 33 into a bluff and my opponent snapped me on the turn. He showed aces up before I finished saying “I hope you have a flush draw”. He 3-bet me pre.
The nitty daddy reg made the pot-sized C-bet. It was just the right time for the good old thing:
- All-in.
Massive overbet. Please, daddy, please, have ace-queen or AK♦️. Daddy looked confused.
“Why did you go all-in here? Is Queen - Jack no good?”
Weird stuff. No way this nit would 3-bet me with QJ. I try to act as goofy as I can (little did I know, I gave away enough tells for him to find at least five folds here), OMG did you actually hit, I won’t show this one, sitting and laughing like what did I just do.
He reluctantly calls without turning over his hand.
Turn and river K J, no diamonds.
He shows KK for a turned higher set. At least he gave me credit thinking he might be behind on the flop. He wasn’t slowrolling. He was actually hating his life with an overpair on a Q 2 3 board. Proper nit.
I stand up from the table and go to drink 🥃
This leads me to the point that I will cover in the next post: even the brighter side of the field has little idea about even the most obvious of the live tells. Which means, getting some kind of idea about them will boost your winrate big time.
MAIN IDEA
If you have the nuts and the target, go for maximum value. Ignore how much of an overbet it is, because they will ignore it too. If you failed to stack off versus the maximum value guy, you fucked up.