The epidemic of the "Sick Call"

I've noticed an increasingly large amount of Texas Hold'em players, whether it be live or online, calling on the river with _extremely_ marginal hands when pressed. Examples of pros doing this include Kenny Tran calling with simply top pair on a 4-flush board and Raymond Rahme making a giant river bet call with simply 88 on a board of overcards.

My roommate Tamim is also prone to doing this, and sometimes he makes amazing calls (like the call of my all in river bet on a heavy board with just AQ high when I had 23os bluffing the river) but it also leads to him being very susceptible to value bets.

I personally don't like the sick call, and I never, ever, ever call down without at least a pair, even in Hold'em, when so few people have an actual real hand. I find myself physically unable to call with a high card, even when I'm exceedingly pot committed.

An example of when I should have made a sick call was a few months back when I had Q9 at a $20 homegame 30c/60c at Mark and Jen's house. I got involved with a rather largish pot with Jarron and local donk Teddy.

I was BB and the game was 4 handed. Jarron raised UTG to $3 and Teddy called and I called in the BB. The flop came J84. I checked. Jarron bet $6, Teddy (as usual) called. I check-raised to $16, figuring neither had a very strong hand. Jarron looks mutinous, but because he has Teddy to act behind him he lays his hand down.

Teddy calls my $10 raise, and we go to the turn. It is an ace, and against any player who actually THINKS, it would be a great card to make a nice bluff on, if I had, say, check raised on a hand like AJ, AQ or AK. So it's me first and I bet $30. Teddy thinks for a moment and calls, leaving himself with maybe $15. I have around $20 left, and am panicking.

The river completely bricks, a deuce, and Teddy thinks for a moment, and exclaims, in that familiar Asian accent, "I'm aww in."

What can I do here? I'm attrociously pot committed. Even if I don't think Teddy has much of a hand, which I don't, I physically can't call with Q high here. I know what you're saying, "Styles, you got yourself into this situation, you made your bed..." etc. etc. But really, Getting the odds I was getting (roughtly 4-5:1), I only had to beat a bluff one in every 5 times for a call to be worth it. But I was sure Teddy HAD to have Q high beat, even a player as crazy as Teddy couldnt be still in this pot without a little piece.

So I didnt make my sick call. I let Teddy take the pot, at which point Jarron stands up swearing. I felt bad because I had represented such strength in the hand, but I had made a good play against Jarron, but a horribly donkish one against the complete calling station, Teddy.

Teddy, rolls over 9Tos by the way, for Ten high and a busted straight draw. Most uncool.

Anyway, I'm probably getting off my point. What do you think about this rush of people calling with very marginal hands? I think it has happened because people have gotten so good at Texas Holdem, realised you can win so much with pure aggression, that the standards of a river call are so much lower, because people are "playing the man" more than the cards now.

What do you guys think? Leave some comment love.

Styles

Can he be stopped?

God I rule. Just jumped in a $11+1 180-man SNG on Stars, and well...

You can see for yourself. ;)

If luck weren't involved...

I'd win every time. So I decided to go on pokerstars and test my TRUE poker skills with the field in the $30+3 Deepstack NLHE game last night.

I was in for a bit of a grind. The starting stacks were 5000 and the blind levels were 30 minutes long. I knew I didnt have to make any fancy plays or moves, just good, solid poker.

The hours wore on and after 5 hours 195 people had become 19 -- the bubble. No one was really "short-stacked" though after a crazy bluff on my behalf where I was called down on a double-paired board with Ace high (gc btw) I was down to 20000 when the blinds were 400/800/50 (yeah thats right, 400/800 after 5 hours!) The bubble was cruel and I was starting to dwindle-- until I made perhaps a tilty but good call of all in on a board of Qxx with JJ in my hand. One of the better calls of my tournament as the guy putting me in had TT.

I was back to 35k, dodged the bubble, and won a few more pots. There were around 12 left when my 50kish stack doubled up, flopping AQQ in the big blind when I had KQ. I bet every street, big value bets that the guy holding AJ had to call.

On the final table I started as 4th in chips but after a few shortstacks blew up, we were around 7 handed. I took the chiplead after this critical hand.


PokerStars Game #14175233357: Tournament #71071683, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIV (1000/2000) - 2007/12/29 - 09:21:00 (ET)
Table '71071683 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: Mike_OxBig78 (11750 in chips)
Seat 3: Ragaboo (182433 in chips)
Seat 5: DANVAR (122622 in chips)
Seat 6: Willskis (114445 in chips)
Seat 7: lehighlax (200934 in chips)
Seat 8: dacrazesta (196781 in chips)
Seat 9: (146035 in chips)
Mike_OxBig78: posts the ante 200
Ragaboo: posts the ante 200
DANVAR: posts the ante 200
Willskis: posts the ante 200
lehighlax: posts the ante 200
dacrazesta: posts the ante 200
: posts the ante 200
lehighlax: posts small blind 1000
dacrazesta: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [9s 9c]
: folds
Mike_OxBig78: folds
Ragaboo: folds
DANVAR: raises 3555 to 5555
Willskis: calls 5555
lehighlax: folds
dacrazesta: folds
*** FLOP *** [9h 4d 7h]
DANVAR: bets 116867 and is all-in
Willskis: calls 108690 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [9h 4d 7h] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [9h 4d 7h Qd] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DANVAR: shows [Ah Td] (a pair of Aces)
Willskis: shows [9s 9c] (three of a kind, Nines)
dacrazesta said, "just a matter of time"
Willskis collected 232890 from pot
Ragaboo said, "Nice hand."
said, "ha nh"
Willskis said, "instacall"
dacrazesta said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 232890 | Rake 0
Board [9h 4d 7h Qd Ac]
Seat 2: Mike_OxBig78 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Ragaboo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: DANVAR showed [Ah Td] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 6: Willskis (button) showed [9s 9c] and won (232890) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 7: lehighlax (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: dacrazesta (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: folded before Flop (didn't bet)

We played 5 handed for close to an hour, all of us having deep stacks and playing rather conservatively. My chiplead fluctuated and was passed around the remaining 5 players. It truly was a grind.

One by one guys dropped, until finally we got to headsup. My opponent was the only guy at the table who had not advocated a chop. I wouldn't have minded chopping heads up, even though I went into the match as the chipleader. A chop could guarantee $1400 for my $30 investment rather than a guaranteed $1170. Nevertheless, I didn't push the issue.

The guy played the same game headsup that he had been playing, solid and partial to flop and turn raises rather than brave river calls. I had been playing rather tight and passive for the most part, folding to large reraises of my feeler bets. KJ'o'spades won me a large pot early on, hitting top pair and overbetting on the turn, him calling my all in (he had more chips at this point) and being second best with his A9 middle pair. Afterwards he battled back till we had a more even chipstack. Around 45 minutes and close to 220 hands into heads up (exhausting, no?) this hand occurred.

PokerStars Game #14177248675: Tournament #71071683, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (2500/5000) - 2007/12/29 - 11:31:33 (ET)
Table '71071683 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: Ragaboo (466058 in chips)
Seat 6: Willskis (508942 in chips)
Ragaboo: posts the ante 500
Willskis: posts the ante 500
Ragaboo: posts small blind 2500
Willskis: posts big blind 5000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [Qh 9s]
Ragaboo: raises 7500 to 12500
Ragaboo said, "Nah"
Willskis: calls 7500
*** FLOP *** [Jh Ts Kd]
Willskis: checks
Ragaboo: bets 15000
Willskis: raises 25000 to 40000
Ragaboo said, "Always!"
Ragaboo: calls 25000
*** TURN *** [Jh Ts Kd] [Kc]
Willskis: bets 55000
Ragaboo: calls 55000
*** RIVER *** [Jh Ts Kd Kc] [4s]
Willskis: bets 160000
Ragaboo: calls 160000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Willskis: shows [Qh 9s] (a straight, Nine to King)
Ragaboo: shows [Ac Qd] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Ragaboo collected 536000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 536000 | Rake 0
Board [Jh Ts Kd Kc 4s]
Seat 3: Ragaboo (button) (small blind) showed [Ac Qd] and won (536000) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 6: Willskis (big blind) showed [Qh 9s] and lost with a straight, Nine to King

The K on the turn saved me from losing potentially my entire stack, as it turned his hand from the nuts to a possible second best hand. Thank God because it didn't slow me down. When he called the turn I figured he might have a hand like AK and wanted to milk as much as I could.

After roughly 1 hour and 10 minutes the final knockout blow came up.

PokerStars Game #14177388944: Tournament #71071683, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVIII (3000/6000) - 2007/12/29 - 11:39:31 (ET)
Table '71071683 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 3: Ragaboo (718658 in chips)
Seat 6: Willskis (256342 in chips)
Ragaboo: posts the ante 600
Willskis: posts the ante 600
Willskis: posts small blind 3000
Ragaboo: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [Jc 8s]
Willskis said, "close Wink"
Ragaboo said, "Haha, nope. Close, though."
Willskis: raises 12000 to 18000
Ragaboo: calls 12000
*** FLOP *** [6c 9h 7c]
Ragaboo: checks
Willskis: bets 12000
Ragaboo: raises 24000 to 36000
Willskis: raises 201742 to 237742 and is all-in
Ragaboo: calls 201742
*** TURN *** [6c 9h 7c] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [6c 9h 7c Qd] [3s]
Ragaboo said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ragaboo: shows [As 9c] (a pair of Nines)
Willskis: shows [Jc 8s] (high card Queen)
Willskis said, "Phew."
Ragaboo collected 512684 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 512684 | Rake 0
Board [6c 9h 7c Qd 3s]
Seat 3: Ragaboo (big blind) showed [As 9c] and won (512684) with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: Willskis (button) (small blind) showed [Jc 8s] and lost with high card Queen




So there you have it, 2nd placing for $1170. I'm very happy with that as you can imagine, but I'll keep striving for first. For all those who are able to play flops well and are able to fold TPTK to a substantial reraise, I recommend this tournament, if you have a spare 10 hours handy to win it, of course. :)


Click the thumbnail for a screencap.



Styles OUT

PEACE

Unbelievable strategy.

I'm on a sick run online, I've won my last 9 sit'n'goes and it's all thanks to this guy's strategy. It's very advanced so you may not understand it at first but I'm really winning big with this guy's incredible advice.

It's all happening, yes, yes, yes it is.

Major update in Hatland, campers. We have two new members in our exclusive poker crew, who after a long trial period have proved that they can ball like the best gangstas. Jarron Miranda (known online as "Jarron M" -- yes, original -- on Full Tilt) and Kyle "fakedante" Minett have both been inducted into the Five Hats poker crew.

In other news, Jarron and I drove to Lithgow the other night to play the $10 APL (shudder) freezeout. As we got to the club, the lady said, "You do know that poker isn't on tonight?"

This did not bode well.

So we decided, far be it from us to waste a perfectly good 1.5 hours of our lives, and we decided to drive to Star City in Sydney, picking up Sarah and Matty P from Bilpin on the way.

Matty and Jarron jumped on 80NL and I sat down (foolishly) at the softest $5/$10 fixed limit table. I realised early on that these people weren't playing poker, really, just no fold'em hold'em, so I decided to knuckle down and wait for cards. It was boring as fuck. It went like this:

Call preflop with ridiculous odds with a hand like 9sTs. (I'm in late, 6 people have called already, pot $30, pot odds 6:1..)

Miss flop. Fold.

Repeat.

Repeat again, only this time, HIT flop. Bet. Called by 6 people. Turn isn't scary. Bet. Called by 5 people. River is somewhat scary. Check it down, call bet from donk on end of table. Top pair is good. (Donk's bluff, not so good). $130 pot.

After having a few two pairs drawn out on etc. I had my once-proud stack looking short. When my flopped BB 2 pair 8s3s on a board of 8c3d6h flop ended up being outdrawn by 5s2h catching a gutshot I should have left the table with my pride intact, buuuuut... I didn't, and lost most of my $150 buyin. Damn luck wins again.

We even made a movie on my phone to show the contrast between the start of the night and the end of the night. The sync between the audio and video went a bit out of whack at the end... but an enjoyable video nonetheless.

Keep tuned for more Five Hats and Shit updates!

Tournament of Champions

This guy's Cunningham impression cracked me up. :D

RIP Chip Reese

One of the Greatest High-Stakes Cash Game Players Passes On

David “Chip” Reese, the three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, longtime cash-game star, and member of the Poker Hall of Fame, has died. He was 56.

Card Player has learned that Reese went to the hospital last night and was then sent home later that night and passed away in his sleep. Card Player's original information reported that he had died at the hospital.

Reese, the Ohio native who learned to play poker while attending Dartmouth, was a regular in the biggest cash games and was considered the best seven-card stud player in the world. Doyle Brunson held Reese’s play in such high regard that he pegged him to pen the chapter on stud for his book “Super System.”

He affirmed his position as one of the world’s best all-around players in 2006 when he won the $50,000 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event ($1.8 million). He also won bracelets in 1982 and 1978 ($5,000 limit stud and $1,000 stud split).

Source: Cardplayer.com

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A true legend of the game. RIP Mr. Reese.