Posted by Dr Fro 3:24 PM
Warning: this is not a bad beat story. However, it is necessary to tell about a loss in order to make my point.

Last night i played online in my hotel room. Early on, I played J9o from the SB. This is my least favorite hand (see earlier posts on this hand), but it was 50c to me and it was a family pot. I flop the open ended straight draw and make the straight on the river. Multiple guys were all in and I won a monster pot. I liked this, because I love the appearance of winning with junk early, as it helps me to get calls later.

The comments were flowing from angry players. "Why would you call with J9?!!???" Etc, etc. For 50c to an unraised family pot, I'd play with only one card.

What is my bread and butter of early advertising for the sake of big calls later turned against me. I got some big hands, but no matter how much I bet (up to 3X the pot) I would get a call if my opponent had anything. Ordinarily that is fine, but my flush would lose to runner-runner full house. My flopped sets would lose to flushes. I once had a made flush, with a open-ended straight-flush draw on the flop. I also had top-pair. My "outs" were numerous and I already had a great hand. I lost to a higher 1-card flush. It was crazy. I was getting calls on my big hands from this guys right and left but just kept losing.

It is funny, because these guys were actually conservative and good. But they were right for the wrong reason. They called b/c they thought I had crap. I did not, but they turned out to be right to call, even if it took runner-runner to prove as much. The irony is that the very river luck they accused me of is exactly what they used to beat me. Based on their comments, though, I was stupid when I was lucky on the river. They, however, were brilliant sharks, taking advantage of my loose play. I guess it is a matter of perspective, but I find it interesting that they based their entire anaylsis of me based on 1 hand. And I think that the analysis of that hand was wrong in the first place.

My point is this: I think it is usually dangerous to make decisions about another player based on 1 hand. It is entirely too possible that you got something wrong in your analysis. You should wait until you have a body of evidence on someone before completely changing your style of play on them. Not only could you be wrong...you could be right, but the player may be capable of changing gears.

Last night, following my advice would have cost these guys money. But it should make themm money in the long run.

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