These are the players I play with. Part II

Tonight as usual I bought in for 100 big blinds.

Within an hour I'm up to 150 big blinds. I'm on top of my game. I've won multiple pots without ever having the best hand. I've got my weakness antenna on tight and it's working. I'm picking out players who truly don't believe their hand is the best hand and I'm reraising them. And they're folding.

Meanwhile there's a guy to my right who talks a little too much. He's working really hard at showing how good he is. He's doing all the things a poker player should do. It's almost like he's read "Poker for Dummies." IE. He observes hands he's not involved in and guesses the other players cards. I can't help but notice that every time he's been dead wrong.

When it's his turn to act he takes way too much time. He studies players too long. He takes too long to make all of his decisions. He thinks he's better than he is and he is definitely starring in his own poker movie.

He does one other strange thing that he thinks is genius: anytime he enters a pot he raises it up 10x the big blind. I'm sure it'll serve him well the one time he gets aces.

Meanwhile he's risking 10 to win 1.5 if everyone folds, And since he rarely gets reraised when he gets called, he's automatically playing a big pot every time without ever really having a clue regarding where his opponent is at.

All I know is that if he bets 10x the blind and I have a hand that still looks good on the flop then I'm gonna take all of his chips from him.

So the way life works, he raises from the cutoff seat 10x the big blind and I look down on the button and see pocket 10's. It's very likely that I have the best hand right now. But as usual I want to win a big pot. I don't want to simply steal his bet with a reraise. I call.

Flop comes small. Something like 2,6,9.

He fires out 20x the big blind. This is a pot size bet.

(It's worth noting here that we've actually had a conversation in the past hour about continue betting. So I already know he's gonna continue bet no matter what).

This is an easy call. I still think I'm ahead.

Turn is a king. Here's where it gets interesting.

He checks.

Yes he could be slow playing ace king.

But I genuinely feel like the king scared him. That's my read.

At best I'm putting him on jacks or queens.

I want to get jacks or queens to fold. But more importantly, I think I have to bet here because if I check he's going to bet the river no matter what comes out and I'll have no idea where I'm at.

If I bet here and he calls I can always check the river behind him.

I need to bet right now and represent the king. If he reraises me I can make a decision for the rest of my chips.

So I bet out like I would if held ace king.

For me that means around half the pot . It's screaming VALUE BET. I think a move like all in here looks alot more desperate. If I held pocket jacks and my opponent bet half the pot it would frustrate me. It's a small enough bet to not look like they're buying the pot. Yet with 60 BB's already in the middle it's a large enough bet to make a decent profit. And of course there's also the fear of more betting on the river.

And it seems to work. My bet makes him pause. He's studying me. He's asking me questions.

I am sure of one thing: He doesn't have a king.

However I'm still not positive whether he's going to fold or reraise me all in.

But I now know I'm going to call him.

After a minute or two of BS-ing he pushes all in.

Okay dude. If you have me beat then good for you.

If you have pocket jacks or queens then GREAT PLAY not folding.

If you have ace king then I'm the sucker.

But I gotta call. Because unless you were slow rolling me I really think I'm ahead.

I tell him I gotta call and he asks me if I have a king. (This is good news.)

I say no and turn over my pocket 10's.

And he turns over....

Get ready for this one....

The same guy who has been bragging for an hour about how good his game is turns over...

The same guy who goes on about how good his reads are turns over...

The same guy who insists people want to back him financially to play poker turns over....

ACE SIX.

He has a pair of sixes.

He tells me that his read was that I was weak.

So weak that I didn't fold when he raised preflop.

So weak that I called his bet on the flop.

So weak that I bet out on the turn when he checked.

Lets stop the hand right here. I'm a f-ing poker genius.

I got all of my money in with the best of it.

It took a ton of courage to trust my read and bet that turn.

I could have looked like a fool if he had ace king.

But I trusted my read and believed he didn't and I put my money where my mouth was.

The fact that a 6 came on the river to give him trips and all my money doesn't effect any of this.

Afterwards he fed me the old "I'd rather be lucky than good" line.

As if this was my mistake.

Not me dude.

I'd rather be good.