Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Aaron Jones

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Hand No. 1

Villain raises to $150. AEJones reraises from the big blind to $550 with the Q 2. Villain calls.



Craig Tapscott: Can you explain your strategy behind the reraise from out of position?



Aaron Jones: Preflop, my opponent was passive and incapable of four-betting, so I'm OK with three-betting a very wide range, especially since he was folding enough for me to possibly show an immediate profit. Obviously, this three-bet is a "bluff," but I'm comfortable enough to play post-flop with the lead with just about any two cards in this spot.



Flop: 9 7 2 (pot: $1,100)



CT: An automatic continuation-bet here?



AJ: I continuation-bet the flop with the same bet size that I would with any hand that I chose to continuation-bet here. In this case, it's somewhat of a semibluff, because I have a pair and a backdoor-flush draw, giving me at least five "clean" outs, which I expect to make the best hand for me almost every time. Since check-calling makes the hand too difficult to play and gives away the lead, and check-folding is far too weak, I think continuation-betting is by far the best option. Additionally, I'm able to "charge" opponents who are going to play flush draws passively.



AEJones bets $575. Villain calls.



CT: What's your read on this smooth-call?



AJ: I think based on how quickly he called that he's got a lot of draws and weak one-pair hands.



Turn: K (pot: $2,250)



AJ: The turn is an overcard, which doesn't help my hand, but I believe it's a good card to continue betting, because I'm still semibluffing – but with the emphasis on the "bluffing" part. My bet size stays consistent, about half the pot, which enables me to go "half-pot, half-pot, pot-sized shove" if I elect to go "bet, bet, bet." The turn also enables my opponent, whom I have already deemed to be an amateur from the hands we've played, to make a large mistake. I believe he will fold some better made hands than mine and call with a lot of draws that are actually behind my pair of deuces.



AEJones bets $1,250. Villain calls.



River: 3 (pot: $4,750)



AEJones checks. Villain bets $5,319 and is all in.



CT: What do you make of this shove? Can you call with only the deuce?



AJ: Well, my opponent called the turn so quickly that I believed his range to be heavily weighted toward draws and not made hands (this timing tell is virtually never recognizable on a good player, but is somewhat reliable on a novice). Therefore, when he shoved the river, I expected his range to be heavily polarized toward bluffs (virtually all of them are worse than my pair of deuces) and very strong made hands. Since there are more combinations of bluffs (many more, including all the straight draws) than strong made hands, and since he shoved the river fairly quickly (and I expect him to think longer if he's going to make a thin value-shove), I believed his range to be almost all bluffs, so I snap-called.



AEJones calls. Villain reveals the Q 6. AEJones wins the pot of $15,388.



AJ: Luckily, I was correct; he had a missed flush draw turned into queen high, and my pair of deuces shipped the pot.





Hand No. 2

CT: Do you have another mindset against the players here at the smaller stakes?



AJ: It really depends on the player. Within a few hands of a match, I can usually typecast the player I'm playing against. I'll be able to tell what he's doing wrong and what I can capitalize on.



At the higher stakes, though, there are generally two different types of players that you don't see at the smaller stakes: super-aggressive players (usually Europeans), and weak-tight players who are scared money, because they are sitting with several thousand dollars in front of them.



CT: What's happened so far in this match?



AJ: Villain is an unknown to me, and so far in the match he's been playing passively and doing a lot of calling.



AEJones raises from the button to $18 with the 9 4. Villain calls.



AJ: I would raise here with any two cards, literally, and use my position to my advantage heads up.



Flop: K 4 3 (pot: $36)



Villain checks. AEJones bets $30. Villain calls.



CT: A standard continuation-bet against all types of players?



AJ: I would usually check second pair here for pot control and to induce bluffs, especially against someone who is decent, but this player had been peeling so widely that I thought he would check-call with a lot of worse pairs, straight draws, or ace-high type of hands. Also, he's been very easy to play against so far. I'm not all that worried about him check-raise bluffing me, like I might be against someone good.



Turn: 6 (pot: $96)



Villain checks.



CT: Should you continue betting?



AJ: Well, on the turn, unfortunately, a decent number of those straight draws got better than my hand (whether by making a straight or pairing the 6), so I don't need to turn my hand into a bluff. At this point in the hand, I'm fairly happy to see a showdown with it.



AEJones checks.



River: K (pot: $96)



CT: What range of hands do you think he has been calling you with? And did he tank or insta-call?



AJ: After he called the flop quickly and checked the turn and river so quickly, I can now eliminate a lot of hands from his range. I've taken a king and a straight out of his range, because I believe that he would have led the river with those strong hands.



CT: So, you made it to showdown. Time to check?



AJ: Although the easy play would be to check and get to showdown, the easy play is not always the best play. At this point, I decide that I'm behind only if he's got 6-5 or 7-6 – a straight draw that made a pair for him on the turn. Based on his flop call, I think he's got a pair of threes or ace high, and will call enough with it that I should bet for value. When deciding whether or not I can bet thinly for value here, I think of the way the board ran out. Since the board paired on the river and he's a calling station, it's likely that he is thinking on the first level. On the first level, he would assume that the river king improved his hand because he made a pair, and he is not thinking about my range at all.



AEJones bets $55. Villain calls and reveals the A 5. AEJones wins the pot of $206.



AJ: As such, he called me with A-5 high – excuse me, a pair of kings (on the board) with an ace kicker.



CT: How did you determine the bet-sizing for the thin value-bet on the river?



AJ: I thought $55 would be called more often than a full-size pot bet. Although half-pot might look like a value-bet to a thinking player, I wasn't worried about that against this opponent.



Aaron Jones attends Butler University, seeking a degree in philosophy, while at the same time dominating high-stakes cash games when he chooses to jump into a game online. He is also a private coach and the author of the poker-theory audio-book The Memoirs of AEJones; online, he shares his poker theories at LeggoPoker.com.