(The amounts of the bets on the flop were wrong. I bet $20, the other player raised to $40, and you raised to $120. I then pushed in and had both players covered.)
Your post suggests that somehow I made a mistake by calling with the best hand. Yes, I have been lamenting my problem getting off top pair, but not against you. If anything, it's almost too easy to know where I am against you in NL because you are always pulling the same tired semibluffs against me every week. (Also, you refer to "unquantifiable" tells that I have when I hold an overpair, but as usual I am going to call bullshit until you can enumerate them.)
Your tells that you had a combo draw:
- When another player's initial bet suggests a big hand, you are much more likely to call with smaller suited connectors and one-happers than a pair that are getting crushed - You carefully examined everyone's stack to see who was pot-committed (an important part of calculating fold equity) and what odds the pot will be laying you if you get called - much more carefully than you normally do - You overbet the pot, trying to increase your fold equity
I read the situation correctly, and pushed all in because I wanted the maximum amount of money in the pot while I still was ahead. You can call that fishy play if you want, but in that case it was not. I, too, was surprised that the other player folded, but as it turns out he had TT and figured he was drawing super-thin. I actually like his play best of all; it's impossible to lay off TT preflop to an early raiser, and he got himself in the minimum amount of trouble before realizing he was beat.
And now for a dose of reality
Your post suggests that somehow I made a mistake by calling with the best hand. Yes, I have been lamenting my problem getting off top pair, but not against you. If anything, it's almost too easy to know where I am against you in NL because you are always pulling the same tired semibluffs against me every week. (Also, you refer to "unquantifiable" tells that I have when I hold an overpair, but as usual I am going to call bullshit until you can enumerate them.)
Your tells that you had a combo draw:
- When another player's initial bet suggests a big hand, you are much more likely to call with smaller suited connectors and one-happers than a pair that are getting crushed
- You carefully examined everyone's stack to see who was pot-committed (an important part of calculating fold equity) and what odds the pot will be laying you if you get called - much more carefully than you normally do
- You overbet the pot, trying to increase your fold equity
I read the situation correctly, and pushed all in because I wanted the maximum amount of money in the pot while I still was ahead. You can call that fishy play if you want, but in that case it was not. I, too, was surprised that the other player folded, but as it turns out he had TT and figured he was drawing super-thin. I actually like his play best of all; it's impossible to lay off TT preflop to an early raiser, and he got himself in the minimum amount of trouble before realizing he was beat.