The Ball Cap Kids

Yep. I'm plagiarizing The Poker Tournament Formula. Someday I'll write a review on this book, but it has taken my game to a new level. In that book, Arnold Snyder discusses a bunch of personality types that will be at your typical poker table. The stereotypes are often very useful, at least until you have a better book on the player, but I've found one to be particularly helpful: The Ball Cap Kid. You know the type. They are young. They are pretty. And they wear their ball cap, normally backward, with a KC or NY logo (around here, at least). And they love to be aggressive. They love to force action. I love to eat their lunch when I can. Last night, after getting knocked out of my favorite Ameristar tournament, I played in the $1-$2 no-limit hold 'em cash game. It is an odd game, as it really costs $5 to even limp, and the big blind still must complete his bet as well. But I digress... I don't play in cash games much at Ameristar, although I should. But last night, sitting in chair nine, I was up about $450 before my favorite kind of player came into the game. Another ball cap kid. I'm the very opposite of discreet. In fact, I'm usually the loudest one at the table. My jabber usually prevents me from calculating odds as quickly as I should, but I'm positive that it gets my opponents off their game more. These ball cap kids love to pick on my personality type, and I love it. For the rest of this post, let's call this particular guy KC. He was sitting to my right, which was exactly where I wanted him. I'd never played with KC before. He was probably about 23, muscular, and generally filled with testosterone. He was one of the backward hat types, so I knew this guy was going to be a big source of my chips for the night. This particular hand was especially noteworthy. KC was under the gun, or the first position after the blinds. He had about $250 in front of him, and I had about $550. He limped for $5. I figure he has approximately squat. I look down at an:

A-H, 9-D

Not a particularly delicious hand, but at this table, I thought it would be a good idea to raise and limit the action. $15 to go. I got one limper behind me, a straightforward tight-passive player, and KC to follow. Effective pot after the rake was $45. KC would be first to act for the rest of the hand. Flop:

9-H, 6-C, 2-S

Not a particularly threatening board. I had top pair, top kicker, but I still wasn't committed to the hand. KC bet out $15 into the $45 pot, so he probably had a piece, but I popped it to $60, figuring that he'd go over the top if he actually had something special, and I could simply fold. The other guy folded, and KC called. Pot: $165. Turn:

K-C

Not a terrific card for my hand. If he was limping with a K-J or K-10 and just betting with overcards on the flop, then I might have been toast. But I still had second pair, top kicker - a hand that I'll go into check-call mode against a loose aggressive, like KC. He bet $45. I honestly didn't know where he was at, but I called anyway, hoping to have a no-betting showdown on the river. Pot: $255. River:

K-S

I liked this card. The chances of KC having a King are much lower now, and since he didn't bet much on the flop, I figure I'm good to go. KC reaches for chips, but he makes a mistake while doing so. He reaches for $45 again, and sets them in front of his stack, but immediately after laying them down, he starts quickly going through the rest of his stack, popping off 2 or 3 additional chips. He throws $60 into the pot. A weak bet at best. I might have laid it down, but grabbing for those additional chips made it look like he was going to be bluffing or semi-bluffing, but he felt like I would call or even raise a $45 bet. I called. He flipped over:

J-D, 9-C

And I won. Ah, let the celebration on my end begin, and the cursing begin with him. I think a lot of players would not have noticed this peculiar chip stacking behavior, but it cost him the pot. Thanks, KC. Next time, don't wear a cap, and don't play top-pair, jack kicker so aggressively (like putting in over half your stack with such a weak holding). There is no reason to force the action so much in a cash game, unless you hate money. After a hand like that, I usually consider every other player at the table, and I ask myself, "How would I have responded to the same series of bets from this player?" Well, it turns out, only one other player at the table would have caused the same series of events post flop, but that player wouldn't have limped with such a mediocre holding under the gun and called a raise. In other words, I would have made no money with my hand from any other player. So here's to you, KC!