Ill advised.
Those are the best words I could use to describe the maneuver I tried to pull after our 17 players had been whittled down to just 9, about halfway through last nights tournament.
I'd had a great night so far, building a stack simply by stealing the blinds on occasion and reading people correctly and pushing them off of hands. I hadn't caught any cards to speak of - it was pure intuitive skill that saw my stack grow to 2500+ from a starting stack of 1500.
When we got to a single table, a couple of moves I made - plus a couple of decent hands I started with, didn't pan out. So I was around my starting stack when I woke up on the button with pocket fours. My standard raise of 2.5x the big blind had been working well, so I popped it. The big blind, Cali, flat called. He had folded at least twice before to me, so I knew he had something.
Flop came 89k rainbow. Cali lead out with 300. A terrible bet that told me immediately he hadn't connected with the flop. He hits with his KJ he'll bet less, fearful of my kicker. If he has AK he'll value bet more to punish me for staying. (As an aside, if he had AK pre-flop he should have raised then, but he is pretty passive with drawing hands - even the best one in the deck). He runs into a set with 8's or 9's he'll check and try to slow play. This was clearly a "leading" bet, trying to take the pot right then and there. I pondered, and decided he had a smaller pair, or possibly he was semi-bluffing with an open ended straight draw. Either way, I'm getting him off of this hand.
To his credit, he did tank long and hard when I pushed all-in over the top; but eventually he did call with pocket sixes. So much for Doyle Brunson 101 poker. I put the tough decision to him, he wasn't nearly committed to the hand, he could have easily (and should have as far as I'm concerned) figured it out and folded. If I was him, I would have put me on AK or even a middle pocket pair, respected the power of position and laid it down.
But therein lies my biggest mistake. I'm not him. He was willing to risk almost the entirety of his stack because he's fallen in love with a pair of sixes, out of position. And he thinks I'm always trying to steal, cause he reads this blog.
A small part of me does give him credit for reading me well, and there's no doubt that he had information on me. But unless you're Patrick Antonius, you have no idea if I have pocket 4's or pocket 7's. I know he was tilting from his poor play earlier (calling pre-flop with J7os out of position is one lovely play that springs to mind) and I knew that as long as he couldn't get away when he was beaten, he was not long for this tournament. He busted out in sixth place.
Once again, I have learned the lesson to play the player and not just the cards. I've had my biggest successes with Cali simply by having the a very strong hand and moving all in. He is, as far as I can see, unable to discern a good position bet from the stone cold nuts. As long as he keeps calling me down when he gets just a piece of the flop or a pocket pair, I stand to crush him on a regular basis.
Next week; more patient with Cali and his ilk. Stay frosty with the tricksters.
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