Calling Down Against a Splashy Opponent in a Cash Game
Today I'm continuing our break from tournaments to analyze one more $5/$10 no-limit hold'em cash game hand.
In this video I'm actually leaving the cards face down for most of the discussion in order to give us a chance to talk about position, reading ranges, image, and how to respond to an overly loose opponent blasting off with big bets on every postflop street.
Once again my opponent in this hand is the same "splashy" player against whom I've been battling in the last couple of weeks' worth of hands — a very loose player who was frequently contending for practically every pot. And in this hand he seemed especially aggressive with his play.
I was on the button where I opened for $30, he called from the big blind, then he led for $50 into a $65 pot after the flop came K♦5♠3♣.
Here I stop to talk about what hands he might be betting with on this board (mostly draws and marginal made hands) as well as what I might want to do in response with both bad hands or marginal-to-good hands.
In this case I called, making the pot $165, and the 10♦ came on the turn. This time my opponent bet $350 or more than twice the pot. I called again — which gives you a clue I had something — then faced another big bet of $700 into the $865 pot after the 7♥ river.
Take a look at how this hand ended up playing out, and hear what I say about how to respond against a player seemingly going off like this one.
This sort of hand doesn't come up all that often in tournaments, but it does happen occasionally in small-to-medium cash games.
When someone is overly aggressive, one option — the one I chose here — is to buckle up and call down. What hands would you have called down with in this spot?
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,500,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
