by palman » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:17 pm
kent- being a LAG doesn't mean I'm the least bit willing to commit $250 or a 5 buyin stack with top pair weak kicker. I don't know where people are getting the idea that I'd push that strong with such a weak hand. When I push strong, I either have nothing or the nuts. My medicore hands I generally play fairly weakly. I'll take one stab at the pot and then generally slow down, either checking behind in position, or check-calling/check-folding depending on my read.
Bri - If I lead out for 11 and you raise to 30, I may very well call. But odds are I'm going to fold here. I might call one off hoping to improve, with the intention of folding to a big bet on the turn. I make a lot of questionable calls on the flop with weak pairs hoping to catch 2 or trips or gutshots if the stacks are deep enough, but I generally fold if I don't imrpove. If you raise it up to 30 here and then bet 60 on the turn, I'm folding in most cases. The only situations where I might check-raise you for a large amount is if I put you on a weak hand and a scare card comes. Suppose an A came on the turn, I might try to take you off the hand if I put you on a KQ type of holding. Regardless, the liklihood of me doing this is not high enough for your raise to become unprofitable. You will take me off my hand more often than not.
The key to playing a hand like yours, and to give yourself the best chance to take me off the pot, is to play the hand exactly like you would if you had a set. Check-calling the flop and check-raising the turn is such a strong move, that I would rarely if ever try to bluff you off of it.
I play in plenty of home games with friends where everyone thinks I am a LAG. My general counter strategy is this: I generally play one or two huge bluffs a session, and that's it. If I get caught and lose a buyin, so be it. If I don't get caught, I'll show. This makes everyone think I'm still being LAG. Then, I still continue to take stabs at pots, but these are just small pots where there's a high liklihood that no one hit a hand, like a J62 flop, for example. This creates the image that I'm still aggressive. Finally, I play virtually every hand. But here's the thing, instead of being loose aggressive, I become extremely loose passive. I play every hand because I know if it hits, people are going to think that I'm bluffing quite often, when in fact, I'm hardly ever bluffing at all.