2008-07-03 - Mike the Mouth #2

Originally Posted by kctcjo

quizzy almost always decides to take the exact opposite action than he should. aggressive when he should be passive and passive when he should be aggressive.

Exactly, he is not a poker player. He is an online luckbox obviously no real game experience.

If Mike checks in this situation, it's much more suspicious than if he just makes his usual play and bets out.

Phil knows that Mike likes to keep firing whether he has anything or not (and for those that like to criticize Mike, it's actually a strength of his approach to the game...more on that in a little bit). So Phil is likely to call him down as long as he's caught anything on this pot. He knows full well that Mike could be betting nothing more than a draw. So Mike's best play here is to just put in his normal bet and let Phil call it, building the pot so if he does hit the flush it will be difficult for Phil to lay down. It's a dangerous play if Phil has a bigger flush draw, but if Phil has something like trips or a straight, it will be hard for him to lay it down on the river, knowing that Mike is perfectly capable of firing at the pot again even if the hand is a complete bust for him.

And Phil probably doesn't have anything that good, because knowing all that he would have raised rather than call on the flop, to keep Mike from doing this.

So Mike knows that Phil either has a mediocre hand like top pair, or already has a made flush. If Phil has a made flush, he's not going away no matter what Mike does. But if he has something like top pair, he may very well call a reasonable bet because of Mike's style. I think Mike is actually hoping more to hit the straight than the flush, because it would be much more likely to prevail in a showdown. But he wants to put money in the pot, and he does that by betting out.

If he checks, Phil will immediately get suspicious, since it's not Mike's usual play. If Phil has a made flush, he might check behind if it's really good, or bet out if it's weaker. If he's got a strong draw like the ace, he'll probably check behind and take the free card. If he's got a strong non-flush hand, he'll probably fire a bigger bet than Mike can reasonably call with his draw. In any case, although a check-raise is generally the more aggressive play and would work for a lot of other players, it's probably not Mike's best option here. Mike is either going to miss an opportunity to build the pot when Phil checks behind, or he's going to be faced with a big bet that will force him to commit almost all of his chips on a draw if he wants to raise. Phil is unlikely to put out a little probe bet that Mike could comfortably raise unless he actually has a strong flush and is trying to suck Mike in.

So I like betting out here, from Mike's perspective. I think he would probably have bet a little more, though...the option was about 3/4 of the pot, and I think he should probably bet at least the pot, maybe just a little more, say 15k. I didn't see this hand, so I don't know how it actually played out. Mike *DOES* try to be somewhat unpredictable, so I wouldn't put anything out of the realm of possibility for what he actually did.

Back to my comment about Mike's style of play...he takes a lot of criticism, and some of it is justified because he is somewhat inconsistent and has times when he really blows up at the table. But his basic style is to be very aggressive whether he has a made hand or not, and he plays a very broad mix of cards. If you're playing against him and he keeps firing away, you're faaced with putting a lot of chips in the pot without having any idea whether he's got you beat or not. He could have nothing, or he could have a monster. Most of the time, your best play is to just stay out of his way...but the problem with that is that if you do that consistently unless you have a great hand, he'll figure you out and know when to get away from his bluffs. You have to be willing to gamble against him, and for large pots. So he's really very difficult to play against for most players. The only people who can really negate that advantage are the people who play against him a lot, and they tend to dance very carefully around him until they get the right opportunity. Their ability to figure out those opportunities is what makes them world-class players. Mike's style serves him very well against ordinary mortals...but it does make for big swings in his stack size. Notice when you see him in a tournament how his stack is almost always huge or tiny and almost never average. I don't think he's in the very top echelon of players, but he's only one level below them. If he could get a little more consistency to his game and adjust a little better when he's playing the very top players, he could get there. He's certainly a lot better player than we are!

whats with the answer ""could be correct,, but probably not????"", i did the 10,000, if you watch the high stakes games these guys have no prob betting you might as well fold if your not going to make a move on the turn, give the guy a little scare if he's chasing too!!! if he retaliates you can always fold. i didn't see this one televised, but it doesn't matter. i don't know if quizzy wants us to bet like mike,????. i saw a high stakes game with daniel and gus, heads up " daniel w/ p6's and gus w/ p5's the flop was ?56, the turn 5, daniel had a boat/gus quads, i can't remember all the specifics, but what was
daniel going to do w/ a made FH, he ended up having c280,000 in the pot, and gus won over 600,000.. that's poker for you!!!









d going to do with a made

what is with the daily winners under the poker quiz? what do they win and how do they win. I got the question right?

Let phil do the betting if he pleases,you dont have anything yet, so attempt to keep this pot small and if you hit the nuts on the river then i would make that bet of 10k, if not you didnt hurt anything by just calling going into the river.

Check fold here.

After Phil Laak smooth called on the flop, Mike should be worried here.

I would advise check folding here, unless you check call with Phil betting a small enough amount to make pot odds to appealing.

But after the smooth calll on the flop, a min bet by Phil would be crying for you to please call or re-raise him.

Check fold here.

[dooman]

i got the answer right but 1st of all your a moron just for calling enough said

I dont like mike very much lol