Message Board : ROCK(not)

i had a recent session that made me realize the benefits of following Ed’s and other’s advice that “tight is right”.

if you only play the starting hands advised on this site you will be folding preflop a lot. Ed of course is aware of that and tells us so.
we are instructed that as we gain experience this list can be expanded under some conditions. i suspect i’m not the only one who therefore loosens those standards just for action with no particular conditions- maybe it’s just a loose game but “Ed said we
can loosen up somewhere for some reason”.

atypical circumstances forced me to play a B&M 1-2 NLH game with $100 only without access to more cash for many hours. so I became a rock folding all those hands like K-J os to UTG raiser etc.
also limping was cut way down to almost never and then only in late position.

in 1 1/2 hours i open raised and won 2 small pots with KK and QQ.
later i opened the betting with AA and everyone folded and this was a loose game. i vowed to limp with the next premium holding that came along and realized that i could be waiting a very long time.

i was the rock- the player you don’t even notice is there until he makes that 1 raise an hour which you fold to unless you also have a great hand. i wanted to tell these guys ” BUT I’M NOT A ROCK - MY WIFE HAS MY WALLET AND THE CAR AND WE ARE ON VACATION AND THIS CASINO IS THE ONLY ENTERTAINMENT AROUND ” as i know that “rocking” is a laughable way to try and win money- it was my ego that was wanting to shout.

well i certainly had been playing super rock just to stay in the game to build a stack so i could play “real” poker. i had not tried to steal or bluff either but something had to give here. in LP i finally made a “bold” move with A-T s and called a $10 raise to which someone behind me said “uh-oh”. 2 of us saw the flop which was all 9 or lower and 2 of my suit. the raiser bet the pot and i pushed about $90 with my nut semi-bluff. the raiser said “that’s the first real bet you’ve made in 3 hours” and mucked QQ face up. he had about $500 in his stack and as i mucked my cards and swept the pot i said “damn….good lay down”. he asked “bullits” and i said “cowboys” to which the table praised his read.

thinking about the experience later i realized i had NEVER seen a true rock bluff- they just don’t do it. so i saw the advantage one could have as playing like a rock with some bluffs thrown in at the right pots. and if you are caught in your bluff then you will get called more and win more on your “rock” hands. you gain a huge amount of fold equity (respect). i also realized how much limp money i had saved in those hours and how tight play had kept me out of hands i could otherwise have been stacked in.

when i put all this together i realized one last thing- this is simply the tight aggressive play Ed has been teaching since day 1- DUH.
the one aspect i didn’t understand before was the bluff potential rocks have (and don’t use). i’m going to take that desire for action
and instead of channeling it into playing more hands i’m going to save it up for strong bluffs into large pots. in other words i’m not going to stray from Ed’s tight stategy- REDUH

the ONLY difference i see between a rock and true TA player is the bluffing (edit to add they do not usually bet aggressively either to the point that some will never raise and only call. next time you make the often advized fold with “only” a good hand and not “the nuts or close to it” to a rock in a large pot
look and see if you can spot the slightest of grins- the kind a tiger might have after hiding behind a “rock” for hours to devour an unsuspecting meal.

tobori