Aggressive Poker Betting Against Rutt, and the infamous big blind bet.

I tried. I honestly did. I tried to find enjoyment from limit poker.

but at small limits... it drives me bonkers.

maybe I'll try again with a larger limit and see if I gain satisfaction from playing it.... and not more grey hairs.

So back to no-limit I go!

100 hands down this morning, and it was very profitable for me. I started with an $67 bankroll... and turned it into $240. Fantastic!

So let's review the scenerio...

• I'm the smallest chipstack by an average of about $60, or basically double my stack.
• I wanted to sit down in this situation and truly realize the extra pressure this puts on your betting.folding styles.
• I wanted to make some damn money.

This morning, I actually sat and watched about 20 hands before playing to get a feel for the type of people I was playing with. One pattern I picked up on was a consistent 2X big blind raise pre-flop. This tells me two things:

• Someone always raises, most everytime all players call
• Most players fold on the flop bet, unless they've hit a piece of it.

Interesting. This would be an excellent situation for me to have a bigger stack where the blinds were a small percentage of my bank roll, and I could raise and re-raise on the flop to steal bets.

That unfortunately is not my scenerio though... but I do it anyway.

I start by actually folding bad cards... letting the flop hit, and raising every time after the flop. I steal a couple hands, and win a couple. My stack has grown to $96 in the matter of 20 minutes.

OBviously, a few smarter players start to catch on to my play, and begin calling my raises and even re-raising me (to whcih I fold when necessary).

So now let's talk about where I double up, and explain a terrible play against me.

I'm UTG and call the $1 big blind with Kc 2c. Next player raises to $4, which everyone calls.

*** FLOP *** [6s 9c 2d]

Previously, I've made bets of $1 (the big blind) when I've flopped the nuts - just to show a pattern. I decide to do the same on this hand, expecting everyone to fold over-cards.

All players fold except for the dealer... who raises to $6. So I call.

*** TURN *** [6s 9c 2d] [2s]

Once again, I make my $1 bet - feeling confident that my set is the best hand.

My opponent makes a HORRRIBLE bet (in my opinion) and raises to $18 - which I insta-call. I'll explain why at the end.

*** RIVER *** [6s 9c 2d 2s] [2h]

I've hit quad's - the made hand. Following my pattern, I make another $1 bet.

My opponent makes his second horrible bet and goes all in. I again insta-call - and take down a $202 pot.

What did my opponent have? pocket 9's.

Why do I feel his $17 bet was horrible?

Given the pattern I had been displaying, if I had the nuts I would always bet $1 into the pot. Seeing this pattern, knowing that he truly did have the nuts on the turn, the best possible bet would have been to go all-in at that point, which I likely would have folded to.

Instead, he let me see another card which lead to his demise.

So remember, trapping works best when you're playing against loose players who call any bet, and play with less-than-valuable cards, when you've made the nuts.

That's my opinion at least. What's yours?