Playing with the Rocks

I've noticed a player in my low-limit room who exemplifies the "rock" prototype in limit poker. We'll call him Frodo for now.

I used to think of Frodo as a pretty tough player. I didn't call his raises much because I knew he has premium hands. I checked it to him if I called his pre-flop raise, and usually laid it down.

However, I've lately come to feel differently. These sorts of rocks can be tamed, even if you can't make much money off of them. The truth is, they don't make much money for themselves. I played a two-hour session with Frodo and while he never went negative, he was never up more than about 5 or 10 big bets. He would win a big hand with aces, the let it all get blinded away.

Here's a hand that came up between us:

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Five handed and I'm in the big blind. The first two players fold and Frodo raises on the button. Now this guy does not raise just because he is in position; I'm almost sure he folds playable hands like T9s on the button, and he almost never limps. He only raises with big cards and pocket pairs (which really isn't a bad strategy at low-limit). The SB folds and I look down at:

J ♣ 2 ♦

Pathetic. I'm only getting 3:1 and I like to get at least 7:1 before I even consider playing a trash hand like this.

But I call. Here's my reasoning: I am 99% sure Frodo has AA, KK, AK, or QQ. If he has the big pocket pairs, I'll know it in a hurry. However, AK is the likeliest thing here.

The flop comes:

7 ♦ 3♥ 2 ♣

I have nothing at all - a pair of deuces. But I bet out. If he raises me, I'm done. But hand reading is so straightforward with players like this, I'm almost sure he has AK. Unless an A or K comes, I think I'm all right. And if I check it, he'll probably bet anyway (he's not that much of a rock).

I bet and he calls. I consider this good news. If he had a pocket pair he would definitely raise. There's absolutely no way he has something like 87 or 45, we would never get involved with that.

Turn:

10 ♠

Not too great, not too bad. I bet again (this is questionable in retrospect) and Frodo calls again.

River:

Q ♣

Hmm. AQ is possible, I suppose. I'll check and probably fold if he bets it. But I check, he checks, he shows A ♠ K ♠ and I take down the pot with a pair of deuces.

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Obviously folding J2o preflop would have been a fine play here. But I want to take advantage of the ease of hand-reading against rocks. When I'm heads up against a raise from Frodo, I know pretty well where I stand. In some ways, I would rather hold trash than something like A9, because then I'll just get outkicked if I hit my high card.

Frodo also folds an amazing amount, if he's in the big blind, with a raise and two cold-callers, he'll almost always fold. Now you're getting 7:1 on a call here, so I feel almost any hand is worth it; certainly any two suited, any two connected, any ace and maybe even some straight up junk like Q7o. But he'll fold or re-raise every time - he never calls. It's not a terrible strategy, but I think it's giving up some good opportunities in the long run.

Addendum: even the rocks can surprise you. I saw frodo bluff at the river with 86o on a board reading something like AKJ3T. He got called and lost the hand. But this really doesn't change much, he was in the hand for free in the big blind and knew he's lose if it was checked down.