The Setup.
I was in a MTT at SC 500 nightly II. about midway through im sitting at about 19k chips and the blinds are 250/500 cant remember the ante. anyways i figured my "M" to be borderline green or upper yellow zone. The player to my left is a female player who i pinned as a little loose and very passive. i have seen her call everytime to the river then quickly fold every hand. probably chasing something. she was around 8000 chips when we played this hand.

The play.
I was dealt 99 on the button. UTG+1 limps in. the cutoff This woman limps in. with good position i raise 4X the BB or 2K. Both the blinds fold and so does UTG+1. She calls.

The Flop.
out comes 7s8h9c rainbow. Im thinking ok i have a set with a straight possible on the board. She called me on the preflop raise and i really had no idea what she had. i was thinking possibly a high pair or a Ax. To get a better feel for what she was playing i watched her check and i bet 1/2 the pot. She quick calls. now im thinking ok she is now pot committed with that call so no matter what i bet she will call all in no matter what the outcome.

The turn.
out comes a Jc. now im thinking with that quick call she could have a straight 10/J or maybe high pocket pair. She checks the turn. and i think ok she has been playing very passive and shows signs of weakness but doesnt want to let this pot go. I check to fire at the river.

The River.
Out comes a 5c. So the board now has a flush possible a str8 possible and i have a 9 set. I feel i still have a great chance to take down this pot but i could be 2nd best. i still feel like she has an overpair cause she limped in and checked called. then checked the turn. i couldnt pin her on a flush cause who would chase a flush with a rainbow flop. and i could pin her on the str8 but she would have raised me all in off the flop rather than just call me. Im not scared of any hand she could have cause i could call her all in and still have a good stack of chips to keep playing. so i fire away on the river pushing her all in. she calls!!

What she had was a 2 6 clubs!!!

Who wants to take a crack at this one!! yes it was a donk move but i am not complaining i already confronted her about that and was satisfied with her answer. she stated that she was short stacked and needed a hand to win and just picked that one cause it was suited. after the flop she said that she had me pegged for A high. or maybe A9. reguardless she said after the flop she just chased it down.

anyways i told her i couldnt congradulate her on this hand cause it was a donk hand to play and that any good player would have folded to a 4x BB bet preflop with that hand.

So after that i tightened up my game and continued on. later that hand she donked on me again just check calling to the river. then i was moved to another table. That was the turning point of my game that put me on a downward spiral to being eliminated at 104th place.

How can i play against a passive player like this? and what can i do differently next time i come accross one that i find im playing heads up in a hand with?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2009 04:11PM by MrM89.

The check caller passive player is my nemisis!!! You don't want give them free cards and never know where you stand.

I tend to keep it small, limit style poker...as I pull my hair out trying to figure out the same fucking thing? What do they have and why can't they raise or fold!

Hey MRM89. What a hand. I hate it when I play a hand right and lose. But it happens, and I think you played it just right. Pretty much all decisions were made preflop and on the flop. Turn and River didn't much matter.

Preflop-Raising on the button after people limp is a valid play regardless of your hand, and you actually had a good hand! So I like the 4x raise here. Good amount, and no less than 4x. You got what you wanted too. Heads up against a stack that plays well for your starting hand. You've got a medium pair against someone with effective stack of about 1.5 times the pot in position.

Flop - Top set, on a dangerous board. Definitely bet as you did here. 1/2 Pot at the minimum. 2/3 to a full pot might be better since it is so draw heavy. Any call or raise is committing anyway since she only has 6K.

Turn- yea thats a shitty card. Betting here will fold out some weaker hands that might get a call on the river, Which is why you check here and bet the river instead, as you did. The fact that it's a scary card doesn't really matter much, as you are not folding at any time. Might be right to bet it to get called from a person holding 6 7 in case they miss the river

River - another shitty card, but it doesn't matter. Your hand is good enough to bet for value and get called enough times by 1 and 2 pair hands to be a profitable bet.

To be honest, given her stack size, it's hard for you to misplay this hand after the flop. And you aren't that far ahead after the flop. You are 75% on the flop or 3:1 and about the same on the turn when she picks up the backdoor draw. You gave her 3:1 odds on the flop and infinite odds on the turn. So I guess technically the only thing you could do better is bet more on the flop, but it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome.


And Now I wonder how things would change if she had YOU covered?

Anyways, tough hand, well played.

DK

Thanks for that post DK. I for one would have folded that crappy hand suited or not. i would have been a little more selective being so short stacked. but other than that. the tables been turned around i probably would have played the same as she did. check call all the way and if i dont hit then i lose and move to the next tourney.