Trapping fish with a karmic net

"Nothing feels better than getting someone to bet into you when they're drawing dead. The opponent thinks he's making an aggressive move, when really he's just trapped in your web, tightening the net, unaware that he's already become food."

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Still full of energy, Joey arrived at the poker room. He added himself to the list for the 2-5 game. While waiting, he relaxed and watched TV. It took an hour this time, but he finally got a seat. He saw Amy was also in the game, which wasn't great, but there were enough bad players to make it worth it. He tried visualizing Amy as a honey badger so he could ignore her, but she must've had a protection amulet or something because he just couldn't do it.

The next hour of play went pretty well, Joey doubled up from 500 to 1000. That's when an interesting character came into the game. It was the sunglasses guy who knocked Joey out of the tournament. Joey overheard him bragging to a friend how he came in 3rd and won $1000. So he was going to buy in big now because he was freerolling off that prize money. Sunglasses went ahead and bought in for 1000.

Joey looked down at his equally sized stack and lightly smiled. '...He's dead.' It wasn't personal. He watched sunglasses for a while before. Not only did Joey already know some of his tells, but he was an all-around bad player. It was an easy choice to make him a target.

Three hands later, they had a faceoff. Joey was dealt [7♠ 8♠], a type of hand called suited connectors. This type of hand starts out weak, with only 8 high. Despite that, because it's both suited and has two cards in sequence, it can hit a lot of monster hands such as straights and flushes. So there's value in playing it preflop for a small amount because you can get paid off for a lot of money if you hit a strong hand. This concept is called having positive implied odds.

If Joey or his opponent had a small stack of 200 or 300, Joey might not play this hand once someone raised preflop, but because sunglasses decided to buy in big for 1000, Joey's implied odds became much higher. If he hits a strong hand, he could win many times his preflop investment. Sunglasses raised to 20 and Joey called in the small blind. The big blind folded and the pot was 45. Joey developed a habit of keeping a mental count of how big the pot was. He felt it was important and helpful for many decisions.

The flop came: [2♥ 7♥ 8♣]. Joey flopped top two pair, a big hand. Another benefit of suited connectors is you can still win some hands with three of a kind, two pair, or sometimes even one pair or a bluff. In this situation, Joey's hand was very strong because there were very few hands that sunglasses could have that would beat two pair right now. Yet, there were some potential dangers.

Among hands that weren't beating Joey now but were still dangerous, his opponent could have a flush draw if he had two hearts, a straight draw such as 9T, or a pocket pair above 99 that would win if it hit three of a kind or another 2 came. However, if his opponent didn't have those hands, then Joey was way ahead. If sunglasses did have something that Joey should worry about, he would likely bet when Joey checked. Joey thought sunglasses would also likely bluff when checked to so checking was overall the best play.

"Check," Joey said. Sunglasses bet 40. Joey's options were to call or raise here. Raising would be a pretty good play to put pressure on any dangerous draws that could beat Joey. Be that as it may, Joey felt his opponent was pretty weak right now and didn't even have a good draw. That would mean his two pair was way ahead. If Joey raised, his opponent would probably just fold, and Joey wanted him to keep putting money in, so Joey only called. The pot became 125.

The turn arrived and the board became: [2♥ 7♥ 8♣ 3♣]. Joey looked at his opponent and read that he liked that card. There weren't many hands his opponent could have that would have improved on a 3♣. Joey didn't think he could have pocket 3s or any hand with a 3 really, so the most likely candidate, by far, was that he had two clubs in his hand and just picked up a club flush draw. Joey knew he would bet again if checked to. He already had a plan for the rest of this hand. 'I'm going to trap him.' Joey checked.

Sunglasses bet 100. Joey was definitely going to at least call. If he only called, it would make the pot 325. He knew based on watching sunglasses play, that he was loose enough to call a medium-sized raise from Joey here with only a flush draw. Joey preferred to build the pot now. He had a strong feeling that if his opponent missed his flush draw on the river, he would bluff, but if Joey only called now, because the pot was 325, his opponent would only bluff 250 or so. That would be ok but not the best result.

In no limit hold 'em, the sizes of the bets correspond to the size of the pot. In practice, players keep the vast majority of bets to 30%-100% of the pot size. So if you have the best hand, especially if you are trapping, you prefer for the pot to be as big as possible. Returning to Joey's hand, he had a way to build the pot now. If Joey check/raised the turn to 350, the pot would be much bigger.

Joey believed that on the river, on the majority of cards, sunglasses would probably bluff all in for 590 because the pot would be 820. If he bluffed any less than that, Joey would be much less inclined to fold because the pot was too big, which would give him very good odds to call and try to catch a bluff. Check/raising the turn and check/calling the river on a non-club was Joey's best way to earn the maximum with few exceptions.

"I raise, 350," Joey announced. Sunglasses thought for a short while and called.

The river came: [2♥ 7♥ 8♣ 3♣ 2♠]

This was a great card for Joey. First, he was sure it didn't improve sunglasses' hand. Second, to sunglasses, it surely looked like a bad card for Joey. Now 78 lost to any overpair above 9s, and all of Joey's potential draws missed, just in case Joey was bluffing himself with a draw on the turn. It was a great card for sunglasses to bluff. Joey checked, implying he was weak.

Sunglasses thought for a few moments, then said, "I'm all in."

"Call," Joey stated. Sunglasses cursed and flipped over [K♣ Q♣]. Just like Joey thought, he had a flush draw on the turn that missed. There's actually another reason Joey was confident sunglasses would bluff the river. Not long ago, they had a hand where sunglasses went all in and turned over a monstrous three tens. Joey knew that sunglasses would remember that hand, and know it was still fresh in Joey's mind because it knocked him out of the tournament. So sunglasses would try to "change up" his play by doing the same thing with the opposite hand, a bluff.

Joey scooped up the pot. Just like that, the $1000 that sunglasses won in the tournament, which he received partially due to Joey making a rule error, was now in Joey's stack. In the end, the money always ends up in front of the good players. It's just a matter of time.

As Joey was stacking his chips, he made a comment. "Hey squirt...you've made a sizeable donation to the feed the Joey foundation today. So I'll give you a little piece of advice...lose the sunglasses. Not only do you look like a douchebag, but your cards reflect in the lenses."

Sunglasses gasped. "Is that true?" he asked the entire table, wondering if his sunglasses really reflected his cards. He took them off to inspect them.

"Yes, it's true," Amy replied. "You do look like a bag of douche."

The entire table and half the one nearby burst into laughter. Veins started pulsing on sunglasses' forehead. He gnashed his teeth, then stormed out of the poker room in a rage. The sunglasses didn't reflect his cards, Joey just felt like trolling him. Amy leaned over to Joey and whispered, "You know, you really shouldn't antagonize the fish. They're like your customers. It's in your best interest to keep them happy and playing as long as possible."

'...Didn't you just call him a bag of douche?' Joey thought to himself but replied, "I understand. You're right. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to that face slap action." He shrugged. "Nobody's perfect."