Under the gun

	I was now likely to be playing a big pot against a tough player out of position, and the flop didn’t help my mood

Cash games are where the really big money is won and lost in poker. And with deep stacks and short-handed aggressive games there’s plenty of potential for ending up in difficult spots. Most players nowadays like six-max cash games where a lot of raising and re-raising happens before the flop and the money can easily end up in the middle after it.

Playing in the same games also means that a lot of ‘history’ can develop between players and in one of the $10/$20 games that I play there are a number of regulars who like to be in control of the game. I’m very much one of the players scrapping to be table captain.

Another player fighting for dominance at this game is one of the best $10/$20 players on the internet. He’s a big winner who has chosen to stay at this level and dominate it rather than take a shot at the nosebleed higher stakes games. He is extremely loose-aggressive, sometimes playing around 40 percent of his hands pre-flop and opening for a raise with 30 percent of them.

Because the natural strategy most players take against this approach is to re-raise with a wide range of starting hands he will also defend his raises liberally, calling with many low suited connectors and marginal hands in the hope of hitting the flop or outplaying his opponents, or sometimes he’ll simply three-bet back at them.

Post-flop he is an expert hand reader who isn’t afraid to raise with nothing, fire bluffs on every street or call with marginal hands, and has well balanced frequencies for doing these things.

All in all, this makes him an extremely tough opponent to play against with whom a lot of big and often interesting hands can develop.

Deep stacks In a recent session I was tangling with him on several tables but had been careful to sit down with position on him in an attempt to neutralise his aggression. We had both been playing for some time and I had re-raised him a few times, but we were yet to get it all in together despite some heavy post-flop betting. His stacks had grown very deep and on the table in question I had increased mine from its original $2,000 up to $2,852 when the following hand came up.

I was dealt red Aces in the small blind and after three folds this opponent made his standard open to $60 on the button, which meant little except that he had position and the opportunity to enter the pot first. In other words he could have almost anything! Knowing his tendency to make loose calls and with my stack growing towards 150 big blinds, I did not want to let him get to the flop cheaply. I made a substantial re-raise to $260, enough to give him poor odds to call. After the big blind passed, he called, making the pot $540.

At this stage my feelings were mixed as I was now likely to be playing a big pot against a tough player out of position, and the flop didn’t help my mood by coming 8♠-7♣-4♥, which was little help to my hand but could easily have hit my opponent. But obviously I wasn’t about to give up my bullets. I fired a $460 bet into the pot, planning to put my money in against him if raised, as I felt he’d raise me with any number of combo-draws, bluffs and slow-played overpairs, as well as legitimate hands that beat me.

Scary situation However, he surprised me by just calling the bet, which made it difficult to narrow his range of hands down much as he would do this occasionally with very big hands like straights and sets as well as with more modest holdings and even overcards or a gutshot, hoping to bluff a scary turn. There was now $1,460 in the middle and I had $2,032 left, making the stack sizes somewhat awkward, particularly when the turn brought the 7♠.

At this point I was in something of a quandary as if I bet again my opponent would fold most of his worst hands and shove all-in with those beating me expecting a call. So I reluctantly checked and after some thought he bet $880.

At this point I had to do some thinking, as clearly I would need to either move all-in or fold. He had certainly succeeded in putting me in a tough spot. He knew my range of hands in this spot was still very wide and would fold many of them at this point.

The 7♠ was clearly a scary card but we both knew this, and so after letting my timebank tick down I eventually shoved all-in and was called after only a small pause, seeing the river come the 4♣. I waited to see what would happen and after an agonising second of anticipation his hand was mucked and the pot worth $5,724 shifted across the table to me.

The hand history revealed he had A♠-5♠ for the turned flush and gutshot draw. Against many players I might throw Aces away in these kinds of spots, but you always need to take into account the player you’re in the pot with, not just your cards.