Let me start off by giving you the circumstances of the game:
- - We were about 9 hours into the game.
- - About half the players were straddling, me not included — a couple of them were defending their straddle extremely hard.
- - The player that had the straddle in this hand almost always raised when people limped into his straddle and he was last to act.
- - I had been playing rock solid.
Well, in the small blind I pick up AhAs and see four people limping in before me. Obviously, beeing out of position I would have popped it big right there hoping to be up against at least one player, but realizing the super-loose aggressive player on the straddle I decided to take a risk and limp in with my aces – keeping two things in mind:
- - I would have to re-raise BIG if people call the raise (which was bound to happen with such a loose player raising and a table filled with people overplaying hands pre-flop)
- - If the straddle would happen to check, I was prepared to throw away my aces if the action on the flop wouldn’t be to my liking.
So — I limp in with Aces, the Big Blind limps in too, and the straddle makes the BIG raise I was hoping for, raising the $20 straddle to $100. Of the four limpers, two people call effectively putting the pot size over $400, so I decide to repop it to $500 (I had a $4500 stack, the straddle-guy had about $2000). Big blind folds, straddle-guy calls and another really loose player calls too (stack about $1200, decided he was pot-committed if he connected in any possible way).
The flop is a beauty:
AcKc4s
I flop a set of aces, and I’m first to act. Basicly, it’s tough — because I might not see any action if I bet out — but checking could look suspicious too. I do decide to check, and the straddle-guy decides to bet a strange amount – $400. The other caller moves in with his remaining chips – and I decide to repop it all-in. To my surprise, the straddle-guy instacalls. Hands are shown as follows:
- Straddle-guy: AJos
- Loose limp-caller: QJos
That’s about as good as it gets — no flushdraws, just the gutshot to dodge. Blanks hit the turn and the river and I scoop a huge pot.
Limping in worked out great – yet, I’d hardly ever do it again if I don’t have these conditions, obviously.
