Like the goofy robot in “Lost in Space,” the 1960’s science fiction TV series, sometimes another poker player or situation shouts “Danger!” at you in such an annoying manner that the first instinct is to move towards the danger, rather than away from it.
Of course, if Will Robinson always listened to the robot’s danger warnings, the rest of each Lost in Space episode wouldn’t be very interesting, would it?
This happened to me last night, playing $0.50 / 1.00 NL online. My table has been characterized by very passive play, with multiple limpers on nearly every hand. I need to attack these fish and make them pay. A player UTG+1 is particularly bad, with VPIP=35 and PFR=7 over a stretch of 55 hands. He limps, two more players limp and I am in the cutoff seat with Ad Td. So I raise to $4. The button and blinds all fold, but the original limper now 3-bets to $11.
I’ve seen this TV show before. He has pocket aces. I fold. No problem.
Exactly one orbit later, I am on the button with Qs Th. The same villain limps again, now from UTG+2 and everyone else folds to me. So I raise to $3. Just because he limp-reraised once with AA doesn’t mean I can’t punish Mr. Limp-A-Lot and leverage my favorable position to dominate this table.
The blinds fold, and this time he 3-bets to $9. Enough already! Just because I folded to your limp-reraise once does not mean I’m going to roll over and play dead every time. My table image could suffer too.
This is not going to be a battle about hand strength, but a battle of will power. I 4-bet to $19.75. That seems like a good amount to let him know I’m not scared of this BS. He calls, and now the pot is $41 and he has only $34 left behind.
The flop is 6-5-2. Still not wanting to back down, I again ignore the robot’s annoying warning. I’m not Will Robinson, but I’ve got more Will Power than the fish across the table. I shove all-in.
He insta-calls. Whoops! He shows KK and doubles up.
Did somebody forget to tell me that even the fish can get a big pair every now and again? Did somebody forget to tell me that the same fish can get a big pair in early position two orbits in a row? Did somebody tell me that the fish at this level aren’t thinking about the fact that I folded to their 3-bet from early position once and therefore they can limp-reraise light the next time? Did somebody forget to tell me that the fish aren’t going to fold KK even if you turn AA face up, because “Shee-it bro! Pocket kings is just too dang good to fold”?
Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. The robot gave me fair warning. Twice. I just refused to listen the second time.
Year-to-date online results: (- $509)
Month-to-date online results: + $696
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