Joe The Pro

Unconventional Line - Forcing people to put you on a hand

The thing I hated most about grinding and playing TAG was that I stopped thinking about poker and that is the worst. Not only does it suck the fun out of poker but you begin to miss opportunities to make better plays.

Today I made an unconventional play that I think is quite good.

UTG+1 made a strange opening overbet to 6x the blinds. Let's say 6. This usually signifies a strong hand that they aren't completely sure of so likely holdings are AK or JJ.

I have QQs in my hand so I'm feeling pretty good. I raise him to 16, a little less than 3x his raise size. If I get pushed on I won't feel good but I will call and congratulate him if he played AA or KK in this strange manner. However I expect a call or a fold.

If he calls, the worst two cards to see are obviously an Ace or a King. I will be put to tough decisions if I see those cards. I will likely fold to a decent size bet if both the Ace and King come.

He calls and fortuantely the flop comes 2, 3, 4.

As I've said, he most likely has AK and then JJ and perhaps other pocket pairs.

The pot is about 33 and I have about 80 behind. If he has JJ this flop looks good for him. If he has lower pairs, this is the most he could hope for. If he has AK he has a gut shot straight and 2 strong overcards.

I decided the best play to do was to go all in for 80 into the 33. This line forces him to put me on a hand. It puts him to a hard decision.

All his pair hands look great now and my line looks very much like I have an ace or some sort of draw. Even AK suddenly starts getting paranoid that I'm doing this with AQ or AJ and he's completely crushing me. He feels that even if he's wrong with the AK he still has his gut shot and overcards.

So what I have done is have Jacks insta call me, lower pocket pairs have a higher chance to call since they are very suspcious of my overbet, and have AK overcommit on their actual EV.

I could bet small and find lower pairs folding; I could bet small and have ak get good implied odds; I could bet pot and lose the AK.

Going all in HERE is very good for most types of players online who are always wary of their opponents.

ps he had JJ and insta called.

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