Sundays are usually my off day; they are spent at home watching football and relaxing; it’s a good thing I wasn’t interested in the late game. I arrive at Green Valley Ranch at 4pm and immediately fill an open seat in the 1/2 NL game. For the first two orbits I do nothing but play pitch and catch with the dealer. At first, I thought this was going to be a tough table, but it didn’t take long to spot the source of my daily income.
Seat 7, Bill, was an older gentleman who was winning hand after hand after hand. He was relentless. Finally, he had to showdown a few hands and they were silly. He was raising with almost anything, but no one at the table knew how to play back at him. At last I found a spot for a squeeze. I was sitting in my favorite spot versus an aggro-maniac: four seats to his left. Most people believe, or have read, that it is best to sit to the immediate left of the most aggressive player at the table–WRONG. If you are sitting on an aggro-maniac’s immediate left, Seat 8 in this situation, then after his raise you are next to act. There is no dead money to play for, no dead money to steal, just the blinds and Seat 7′s raise. The optimal position is three to five seats to his left. This creates great opportunities to squeeze after players have entered the pot following the aggro’s raise. The following hand is a great example. I am in the BB with 9
T. Two EP limpers enter the pot (in this game, EP limpers mean absolutely nothing), and Bill raises to $20. The blonde lady in Seat 8 calls, as does a weak-passive player in seat 10. I make it $90 to go and all fold. Had I have been in Seat 8, this raise wouldn’t have had near as much as value. Sitting a few seats down, I was able to collect a bit more dead money for a nice little pot.
I continued to exploit his weakness of being too aggro by squeezing when given the chance, making marginal call downs, and taking strong hands to value-town against him. All-in-all, this was a nice session. I love playing in games that make me use a little more than basic ABC fundamentals of poker to win. It makes me feel as if I’m improving my game, which I am. Everyone likes to get better at what they do, and this was a great chance to do that. I came out $700 ahead in a three hours, and I have to give credit to great play and great position. So the next time you spot an overly aggressive player, sit three or four seats to this left, have a cup of coffee, and watch your winrate increase exponentially.
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