Card Player Pro

Game: $10-$20 no-limit hold’em
Opponent: Loose-aggressive
Stacks: His: $2,483; Mine: $2,000
My Cards: 9 9
My Position: Button

This hand took place in an aggressive $10-$20 six-handed cash game online. My opponent had approximately $2,500 and covered my $2,000 stack. I raised from the button to $70 with the 9 9, and my opponent reraised to $200. I called, and we took a flop.

The first discussion point is my preflop decision to flat-call his reraise. Against certain opponents, four-betting is a good option, but against this player, I think flat-calling is better. When playing against someone who has a wide three-betting range but is not shoving over four-bets often, calling is optimal. We have position, and a hand that is well ahead of his three-betting range. Overall, we’re going to end up in more profitable situations by calling his three-bet than by four-betting preflop.

The flop came 6 2 2 — a great flop for my hand. I am going to be well ahead of my opponent’s range here.

My opponent checked, and I bet $260 into a pot of $410.

Against a tighter player, there isn’t a lot of value in a flop bet. Most of his range will miss this board, or will be significantly ahead of my 9-9 (10-10 to A-A, and some big heart draws). However, against this opponent, that isn’t true. Against someone who is three-betting more than 20 percent of hands, there is pure value in a bet here, as we can get called by hands like 6-X, A-K/A-Q/A-J, 8-8, 7-7, 5-5, 4-4, and 3-3.

He called, and the turn brought the 3.

My opponent checked again, and I bet $440 into $930.

The 3 is another good card for my hand. If my opponent picked up a heart draw, he’s not folding, and my hand is almost certainly the best. Some players might freeze up here once the third flush card hits, but it’s highly unlikely that an aggressive player just check-called the flop with a flush draw.

This is a spot where players sometimes bet big to protect their hand. I argue that a small bet is better here; I’d actually like him to call with his single-heart hands (for example, the A K, A Q, or A J), as I’m a solid favorite over those hands. A bigger bet also discourages him from check-raise bluffing the turn, as he can’t expect me to fold very often after betting $750, for example, with only about $800 behind.

My opponent check-raised all in over my $440 bet — and I pretty happily made the $1,100 call.

Unfortunately, my opponent had the K 2 for flopped trips, but it’s important not to be influenced by the results of the hand. This player could just as easily have had the K 6 and made this same play for value. The river was the 4, and he scooped the pot.

Sometimes you need to be willing to take some post-flop risks against ultra-aggressive opponents. Even though I lost this pot, I easily could have gotten it in on the turn against him in great shape.