Inducing Tilt

Since I became a member of Cardrunners, I have ramped up the preflop aggression in my No Limit game online. I can’t remember whose video it was, but he gave a lesson in hyper-aggressive play in order to induce tilt in the other players and get paid off when you finally pick up a hand. Usually the most effective application of this strategy is to make the players on your right miserable by raising their limps or reraising their raises. It’s more effective because you have position on these players throughout the hand. Sometimes it can work on the players to your left, if they get tired of you raising their blinds or otherwise shutting them out of pots by making it too expensive for them to see a flop.

I had a great example of the latter on Poker Stars Monday night. The game was .25-.50 No Limit. My opponent was Snipin101.
I will just summarize the hands instead of printing out the entire hand history. I have eliminated the hands that I folded before the flop.

1) 66 on the button. Snipin101 is in the small blind. I raised to $2, everyone folds.

2) KdTd in cutoff. I open raise to $2, Snipin101 calls on button. Flop is 5d-9d-6c. I check intending to check raise, but he checks behind. The turn is another 6. I bet 3.50 and he raises to 11. I fold.

3)I have AsKs in big blind. Folded to small blind Bob_124 who raises to 1.50. I reraise to 5 and take it down.

4) AhKs in small blind. I open raise to $2 from the blind and Snipin101 calls. I flop the joint with Qs-Th-Js. I bet $2 and he calls. Turn is a 3c. I check and he bets $4.5 and I check raise him to $11. The river is an Ace. I bet 11.50 into a $30 pot looking for value. He shoves for the rest of my $24.25 and I call (this is what you do with the nuts). I am half expecting a chop since all he needs is a King and the pot is pushed to me as he shows A-2. Bwaha-ha-ha-ha-ha. How does this moron call a check raise on the turn with Ace-high and a gutshot?

5) J9o in small blind. It’s folded to me and I raise Snipin101’s blind. He comes over the top and I fold.

6) Q9o on button. It’s folded to me again and I raise Snipin101’s small blind. He comes over the top again. This time I call with position. (probably not a good choice, but he’s only got $22 at the start of the hand). I totally whiff the flop. He checks and I check. The turn also misses and he makes a 1/5 of the pot bet. I decide to let it go.

7) Ad4d in small blind. Folded around to me and I raise Snipin101’s blind again. This time he comes over the top of me for his whole stack of $29.65. I decide he’s screwing with me and I make the call. The board comes out 3-6-8-8-2. My Ace high is good against his K9o. Bye-Bye Snipin!

Snipin101 was close to following the proper strategy to counter act what I was doing. Obviously you should 3 bet more liberally as I am raising with a wide range of hands. Where he fell down was his atrocious post flop play. If he doesn’t play that A-2 hand so miserably, he may have a chance to catch me. I think he made a critical mistake in that he decided to target me individually to get his money back. You should never let the cards get personal. The object of the game is to make money from all the players at the table not just one. He made it personal and made a silly all in reraise with K9o that looked pretty obvious that he did not want a call. Even if I don’t win that showdown, I am fairly certain I would win the money back if we play long enough.