I know it’s been a while since I posted any updates here, but I finally had something happen to me that I thought was memorable. Over the weekend I participated in a very wild game. The table kept from seven to nine players almost the whole night. A new player from Lexington was behaving very aggressively, which I found irksome since I’d more or less been table captain up until the time that he arrived, but a couple of bad beats, both of me and of some other players who helped chip up my competition, more or less pushed me to the sideline of the action on most of the hands. I had to tighten up considerably after the flop, and that isn’t particularly in line with my new style. Lately I’ve loosened up my post flop game to pick up a few extra pots and also to help cultivate an action image, which is helpful if you frequently go twenty minutes between playing hands. I like to push other players around, and these guys just weren’t being pushed. I just mention that to set the stage, and it really has not much to do with the story except for the new player’s aggression. A particular hand came up where I was in next-to-last position with AK offsuit. I don’t remember how the action developed pre-flop, but four players went to the flop with nearly three hundred dollars in the pot. I still had three hundred or so, and as I said I’d been getting my head knocked around by the aggressive player on my left all night, so I wasn’t betting if I didn’t hit. After all, what does a three hundred dollar pot cost to buy? Betting a lot in that position might just be asking for a raise from the two players in front of me. I hit nothing on the flop and it was checked around, and the turn was checked around as well. I’d more or less given up the pot, because I was sure if I bet here I’d get a slow-player. When the two in front of me checked on the river, I nearly bet my ace high, but decided to check instead. If their hands were really that bad I might even take it down without a contest. Betting on the river with a hand that might just win at a showdown but certainly can’t stand a raise seems unduly risky in my mind anyway. After I checked the aggressive player to my left bet all-in for his last eighty dollars. The players in front of me folded after some hesitation by the player on my immediate right. While this was transpiring a few things occurred to me. First of all, in my decision making process to check and not to be on the river, I thought I might just win with AK, because it had caused me to think of what the player to my left might be holding that he would call or bet into the pot pre-flop and then check all the way down. I thought two over-cards was his likely hand. The flop had mostly been small cards, with a jack being the highest. The river had been another small card, I think a four. I put him on either AK as I had, AQ, my hopeful choice obviously, or else the four made him trips on the river or a straight. I didn’t think my AK was the likely winner, but with the pot odds being so high and my own stack still being plentiful if I called and lost I decided to call with AK. While I was making my decision, I had looked over at Anthony (I had been taking a little while making up my mind) and said, “Man, I don’t have a pair.” He said, “Well, I guess you’ve got a difficult decision then.” I agreed, and finally called. When I did, the other player said, “You got me, all I have is ace king.” He thought I’d told Anthony that I had a pair. I showed him my ace king. I never wished anyone had foolishly mucked their cards so much. After he saw what I called him down with he declared it the stupidest call ever. How could I call eighty dollars with no pair? He finally told me he thought it was a brilliant call, but I’m not sure he was serious. In my mind though, I was foolish to consider folding. If my read is right in that situation one out of three times I’m making money, not to mention that calling someone with that kind of hand doesn’t encourage people to try to buy pots from you, and that also fits well with my style, since when I don’t have what I think is the best hand or at least proper odds to find out, I have no problem letting them go.