{"id":2531663,"date":"2024-06-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/?p=2531663"},"modified":"2025-12-29T12:28:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T12:28:41","slug":"aqo-flops-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/aqo-flops-trips\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing the ball in slow motion \u2013 AQ flops trips"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What if the entire game slowed down around you?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a baseball fan, you may know that \u201chitting a pitched baseball represents the biggest challenge in all of sports.<\/a>\u201d The people who make it to the Major Leagues have extraordinary ability to see the ball in ways that lesser mortals simply don\u2019t. The article linked above notes that Michael Jordan, a near super-human athlete, had the lowest batting average in the entire league<\/em> the year that he played minor league baseball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve often suspected the best poker players of having an analogous sort of skill \u2013 to basically see the game happening at a reduced speed. This enables them to think backwards and forwards in the hand, and find good decisions that most of us don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never felt that I\u2019ve had this skill, but I had a recent session in which I got a soup\u00e7on<\/em> of what I imagine poker\u2019s Hank Aarons experience day in and day out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A favorable flop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was in my regular $3\/$5 game that has a $10 \u201crock\u201d \u2013 a winner straddle, with preflop action starting to the left of the rock. The rock is in early position, and one player limps in front of me. This person has a VPIP nearing 100%, so their hand could be two Olive Garden gift cards. I\u2019m in the cutoff, and look down to find A\u2660\ufe0fQ\u2666\ufe0f<\/mark>. I\u2019m happy to take the pot heads-up against two gift cards, so I raise to $50. This works perfectly, as the button, a recreational player, cold-calls my raise. It folds back around to the limper, who immediately puts in the call. This strengthens their range to two Ruth\u2019s Chris gift cards or better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With $160 in the pot, the flop is what Andrew Neeme would call \u201cfavorable\u201d \u2013 A\u2764\ufe0f- A\u2663\ufe0f- J\u2764\ufe0f. Ruth\u2019s Chris checks, and I check as well. In general, when you find yourself out of position in a multi-way pot<\/a>, it\u2019s fine to check. Now the button bets $70. Ruth\u2019s Chris sends his steak back to the kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And time slows down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can see the button\u2019s range as clearly as that matrix we use to show starting ranges. He\u2019s got a jack, or he\u2019s got a flush draw. I\u2019m crushing all of it. I will call here, because a check\/raise would scream strength, and he might fold. It would be unfortunate if he folds a flush draw, and catastrophic if he folds a jack. Then I will check the turn and see what he does. If he bets again, then I\u2019ll check\/raise, because now maybe he has the case ace, and we need to pile chips into the pot. We started about $1,000 effective, and if I\u2019m going to stack a weaker ace, it will require a raise on the turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turn ($300 in the pot) is the 5\u2660 \u2013 perfect. I check, and he quickly checks back. Again, the scene unfolds slowly, but clearly. He doesn\u2019t have an ace \u2013 he\u2019s always<\/em> betting an ace here. He now has a jack or a heart draw. Classic \u201chand reading\u201d theory would suggest that he is more likely to have showdown value rather than a draw. The argument is that, without showdown value, he should bluff. However, passive players don\u2019t bluff their draws as much as they should \u2013 they check (\u201cequity realization\u201d is the magic phrase here) and hope to hit their hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have the entire game tree mapped before the river hits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"I<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So we get a river card of T\u2660. I look and see it in his eyes (could Willie Mays see what pitch was coming from the pitcher\u2019s eyes?) \u2013 he wants it to go check-check. This means that (a) he doesn\u2019t have KQ for Broadway, and (b) he has a jack. Why? Because life is running at 0.75x speed, and I\u2019m seeing everything pixel-perfect. KQ would reflect as, \u201cOh, please<\/em> bet.\u201d A missed flush draw would be, \u201cBet, check, I don\u2019t care, because I\u2019m not putting another dime in this pot, and you win.\u201d But there\u2019s cautious optimism \u2013 \u201cIf it goes check-check, I probably win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cFigure out what your opponent wants, then disappoint them.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\u2013Mike Caro<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I announce a bet of $150, and his one-chip call beats my chips into the pot. In fact, he called so fast I worried that maybe I\u2019d completely misread the situation, and he did indeed have KQ that wasn\u2019t willing to raise. But I turned up my hand, he looked, his shoulders sagged, and he asked the dealer, \u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In retrospect, I think that snap call was to prevent himself from second-guessing the decision, though second-guessing was exactly what he needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I bottle this?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Winning the pot was lovely \u2013 it\u2019s always nice to win a medium-big pot. But far more energizing was the sense of hyper-clarity. That at each street, I could see the game tree laid out ahead of me like a Google map \u2013 I just had to walk the tree, knowing exactly what action I\u2019d take<\/a> based on the cards that came out and my opponent\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This clarity is new for me, and I\u2019m wondering what\u2019s the secret sauce, and how do I repeat this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure yet, but I have some theories that I\u2019ll cover in subsequent articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if the entire game slowed down around you? If you\u2019re a baseball fan, you may know that \u201chitting a pitched baseball represents the biggest challenge in all of sports.\u201d The people who make it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":2531849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[877],"tags":[896,130],"class_list":["post-2531663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poker-basics","tag-postflop","tag-preflop"],"acf":{"peak_live_date":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips.png",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips-373x210.png",373,210,true],"medium":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips-746x420.png",746,420,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips-768x432.png",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips-1024x576.png",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips.png",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips.png",1280,720,false],"author_image":["https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PC-Blog_Seeing-the-ball-in-slow-motion-\u2013-AQo-flops-trips-100x100.png",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Lee Jones","author_link":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/author\/jonesleehgmail-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"What if the entire game slowed down around you? If you\u2019re a baseball fan, you may know that \u201chitting a pitched baseball represents the biggest challenge in all of sports.\u201d The people who make it […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2531663"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2531786,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531663\/revisions\/2531786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2531849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2531663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2531663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokercoaching.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2531663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}