You probably are aware that you will run into some pretty tough customers at the the higher limit levels. For the purposes of this discussion we consider high limit to be 30/60 to 100/200 and we are looking at the short handed tables. The great percentage of players in these games love action and like to see a lot of flops. It is not uncommon to see prefop betting capped with three or more players remaining. You, no doubt, would be surprised that their hole cards often times are marginal starting hands leaning toward rags. These players appear to be fearless with little regard for money. Fearless and care free until they suffer a bad beat, that is. That's right! Even the big limit players are not immune to going on tilt. Recently I was third on the waiting list to play 100/200 at the short handed table. The boys were jamming it up pretty good. On this particular hand the player under the gun raised, middle position calls and the button reraises. The button holds pocket queens and he gets called by both players. The flop comes J J 2. Early player checks and middle position leads out. Button raises with his ladies, early player folds and middle reraises. Button, now concerned, just calls probably putting middle player on something like AJ or KJ. I'll wrap this up. Middle position had called three pre flop bets with J 4 unsuited and took it down. Apparently somewhat embarrassed he types "sorry man" in the chat box. The button player with pocket queens let him know that it would be his preference for the J 4 player to " Burn in a fire". Yes, it can get pretty emotional. If you thought all the high limit holdem players were cool and unshakeable tacticians, think again. Typically you will get three to four solid players out of the six. One or two fall into the tight passive category. The remaining player or players could be a rock or maniac. It varies. Invariably one of the solid players will attempt and often succeed at isolating the weak player. Generally you would be to the left of the target. You make your raise with the goal of getting the remaining players to fold their hand. From there you square off with your victim and go on to out play him or her. Sometimes the other good players will pick up on this and block your efforts to capitalize. On the other hand, some are so good at isolating that all sorts of misunderstandings occur. I was sitting 100/200 and folded the trash I'd been dealt. This was one of those rare occasions where there was only one pre flop raise and three players remained. Under the gun bets, next player raises and the button calls. Early position calls. The flop comes 9s, 4h, 3d. Early position checks, the middle player bets and the button raises. Under the gun folds. Middle player reraises and the button calls. The Turn produces a King of clubs for a pure rainbow. To make a long story short the middle player took it down having played K9 unsuited. The button had played A10 suited and went absolutely out of his mind when he saw the hole cards. Remember, the middle player had raised pre flop in this highly unfavorable position with at best marginal cards, even for short handed play. The button is steaming and accuses the winner and the early fold of team play. I won't go into the vicious dialouge, except to say it was clear that the words were a product of extreme frustration. Had he not been so emotional he may have picked up on the fact that the winner had put the under the gun player on nothing and raised only to get the remaining players out of the hand. This individual had attempted to isolate, failed, and then got very lucky on the flop and turn. It was unfortunate for the button that he had a very strong starter that never improved. Nothing new here. Human weakness still very much intact. Good and bad everywhere. The differences between 20/40 and 100/200 are negligible. The question is do you have the courage to play in the bigger game? ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ |
