Why Did He Shove?

Saturday I had another 1/2 session in Ventura.  I will probably be playing that game more often than the 2/3 game because I think it might be more +EV.  The 1/2 has a max $100 buy-in, which is too low, but I'm starting to believe that the quality of the competition in that game is significantly lower than in the 2/3 game (which has a $300 max buy-in). 

Anyway, there is a hand, the last big hand, that I want to discuss.  Obviously, I try to learn how to improve every time I play.  A lot of time I analyze my hands (or ask you folks to help analyze them).  But you can obviously also learn from how your opponents play or misplay hands.  In this case, the villain did something I found odd which may—or may not—have helped me out.  I don't understand why, maybe you can help.

I'd been having a fairly good session.  I'd run my $100 buy-in to $165 and was ready to call it a day.  One good hand came when I had Queen-8 off in the big blind and with no raise flopped two pair.  For good measure an 8 hit the river filling me up.  I took a decent sized pot off the guy who will be referred to as the "villain" in the big hand coming up.

Another noteworthy hand came when I raised with pocket Queens, got called only by an off-duty dealer.  I c-bet the Ace-high flop and he folded a low pair face up.  Oh, and I opened to $8 with pocket Aces and didn't get a call.  The table was weird, a few aggros but lots of limping too.  We went a few orbits where most times the blinds would chop, and then others where there were some big raises, big pots.

I had decided to leave when the big blind came to me, but as I played my UTG hand, I decided I should play one more orbit. So in that hand, I picked up pocket 10's.  A guy in early position opened to $5 (a very common open for this game).  The villain also called.  I threw in the three extra bucks to call as well.  Note:  I'm not sure if there were one or two other players in the pot.

Anyway, the flop was sure nice:  Ace-10-9, rainbow.  I decided to check to the raiser.  And if the raiser didn't bet, I had a strong felling Villain would.  Both of these guys had big stacks, had me covered by over $100 each.  The preflop raiser was a fairly average player who had made a few hands.  Perhaps he was a bit on the nitty side.  But the Villain was fairly aggressive, and as he built up that big stack, he had tended to get more and more aggressive.  If it checked to him, I figured he'd likely bet to steal it even if he didn't have anything. 

Well, the preflop raiser bet—but only $5.  If there was anyone else in the hand, they folded to Villain who smooth called.  Now it was back to me.  Honestly, with that fairly dry board, I might have been tempted to slow-play it and just call there, but the size of the bet was too small to do that.  I felt I needed to get the pot bigger, and if I bet everyone off of it and picked up a small pot, so be it.

So I made it $20.  The preflop raiser said, "Oh, the ol' check-raise, huh?"  Now it is no big deal, and I've heard that before, but honestly, isn't that poor etiquette?  I mean there's another player in the hand, perhaps he wasn't paying attention and didn't know it was a check-raise and not a regular raise?  Or perhaps just his pointing out that it was a check-raise would make him think about the hand more than he otherwise might?  I mean really, what's the difference between saying that and saying, "Oh, there's two spades on the board, you on the flush draw?"

Whatever, after tanking for a bit, he folded. I wouldn't have been surprised if Villain folded too, but instead he very much did surprise me.  After a few seconds, he announced "all-in."

Really?  I didn't snap call, I gave it some thought, though, honestly, am I ever folding middle set there?  Maybe on a monotone board (I said "maybe") but as I said, this was a rainbow flop.  So I had the second nuts.  And there was no way I could see him playing a set of Aces this way.  Realistically, there was no way he wouldn't have three-bet pocket Aces preflop.  And it seemed unlikely he would keep slow-playing a set of Aces and just have called the $5 flop bet (though I think a call there is more likely than a call preflop).  Regardless, if he's trapped me with a set of Aces and I lose my whole stack there, that's poker.  I leave, the drive home is less than pleasant, and I'm out my $!00 buy-in.

So I called.  As the dealer was about to put out the turn card, Villain proudly turned over his hand.  Ace-10 (I believe off suit).  So he flopped two pair, pretty good flop for him.  I turned over my 10's, and he groaned.  Someone else at the table said, "Oh, what a cooler."

He still had outs, but I was better than a 90/10 favorite.  No Ace came. One of the cards was a  7 and the other was like a 5 or a 4.  All it needed to be was not an Ace.

The guy took it pretty well and I suddenly had over $300 in front of me.  Not to look like a hit-and-runner, I stayed an extra orbit on top of this extra orbit I'd already stayed for (and was quite happy about that last minute decision, obviously).  I didn't get another playable hand.

I cashed out $335, a $225 profit.

It was a fun ride home.  Eventually though, I started thinking about how he played that hand.  The more I thought about it, the less it made sense to me.  I was thinking I really lucked out that he played it so aggro, because he didn't have to double me up there.  Now, I'll get back to that thought later, but for now, let's just consider his shove.

At the time, I assumed his shove was most likely a big Ace.  Probably not Ace-King because he didn't three-bet pre. But maybe Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack.  I had seen him shove top pair, mediocre kicker earlier in the session (but that was on a wetter board).  Maybe he would do that with a straight draw, like Queen-Jack, but he hadn't raised big with a draw before that I had seen.

Why didn't I think he had Ace-10 or Ace-9?  Because if he thought he had the best hand with two pair, which he clearly thought he did, why would he bet so much?  Now, when I watch poker training videos I sometimes hear the poker coach talking about "allowing your opponent to play perfect poker."  This is an example.  With that huge bet, going from $20 to effectively $140, he allowed me to play perfectly.  I'm not gonna call with just an Ace.  Not unless I think there's a really good chance he's bluffing or semi-bluffing.  Ace-9, well yeah, I probably call off my stack.  Queen-Jack?  Well, he didn't give me the odds to call and chase the draw.  In other words, he made it so I'm pretty much guaranteed to only call if I am well ahead of him.

I should add that this guy had been playing with me for a couple of hours.  I'm sure he noticed that this was my first check-raise of the day.  Oh and in case he hadn't noticed that I check-raised, the guy who opened the betting had just reminded him (at least he hadn't said that it was the first time I'd check-raised all day).  So….does he really think I'm doing that with just a straight draw?  If he's been paying attention at all, I don't see how.

To me, my play screams that I have a set, and I would have preferred not to play it that way, but again, I felt I needed to build the pot.

Does he think I'm doing that with Ace-King, Ace-Queen?  A check raise?  Again, I suppose he might have if he hadn't noticed how tight I'd been playing.  But if I was in there with a hand he beat, why not just call or perhaps raise a more reasonable amount—say to $50-$60—and get more value for his top two?

Ok, so maybe my check-raise is a big hand, but not as big as his top two?  And I will call off my stack.  But again, that could only be Ace-9 (that he beats).  Does he want me to fold Ace-King or Ace-Queen so I can't hit my three-outer to beat his second pair?  I would think he'd want Ace-King or Ace-Queen to keep calling his bets.

Also, if he was prepared to shove there, why did he initially just call the original $5 flop bet?  To keep me in?  To get just $5 more out of me?  I'm not sure I get the transition from calling the $5 and then shoving over my check-raise.  Maybe he put me on only two hands…Ace-10 or Ace-9.  If I call with Ace-9 that's sweet for him.  If I call with Ace-10 we chop it up.  And maybe, just maybe I fold Ace-10 putting him on a set.

The initial thought I had was, he didn't have to double me up.  If he slowed down he could have saved himself some chips.  But after thinking about it, it was probably inevitable.  I mean if he was trying to get max value for his hand, he was gonna keep betting until I'd be able to get the rest of my stack in by the river. That is, unless he sniffs out that my check-raise means there was a good chance I had the set (and he'd put me on 9-9 before 10-10 since he had the case 10).  But he can't be certain and so maybe he wants to get to a showdown as cheap as possible.  If he does that, and just calls, calls, calls, I probably don't get all my chips in on the river.  Not because I wouldn’t want to, but because I'd bet smaller to make it more likely he'd keep calling me. But that wasn't the type of player he was.

As long as he was seeing his two pair as the best hand (despite my check-raise), he's gonna double me up.  And if that's what he thought, why did he shove on the flop and make it easy for me to play perfect poker?

I'm not complaining, to be sure.  But I want to try to learn from his mistake.  Maybe I'm missing something.  Any thoughts?