I played some $5/10 No Limit Hold’em at the Vic the other day. Freddy Carle was in the seat on my immediate left; not a great spot for me, I know. Seeing as I was up close to the great man himself I thought I might as well watch him and try to learn something.
Fred has been playing and winning for as long as I can remember. Back in the day when all the action at the Vic was Pot Limit Seven-Card Stud, Fred won plenty at that game. And then when there was nothing but Pot Limit Omaha, he did very well at that game too. Naturally he has had no problem at all adjusting to No Limit Hold’em. In fact, I get the impression from talking to him that No Limit suits him even better than Pot Limit. I have decided that Fred is our very own version of Doyle Brunson or Puggy Pearson.
One of Fred’s strengths is his ability to mix it up. By that, I don’t just mean limping and flat-calling where others would raise and vice-versa, but also his near-perfect river play. Chunky value-bets and bluffs come in equal measure and you’re never sure which one he’s doing. Fred always pressurises his opponents into guessing games. I clearly recall watching one of his best customers squirming on the river one time facing a hefty wager – “I know that if I call you’ll show me the nuts and if I pass you’ll show me a bluff”, his hapless victim muttered. Once you’re putting your foes into dilemmas like that then you’ll know you’re playing good poker.
Add to that excellent judgement and observation of his opponents’ moods and tendencies and you have a ferocious poker machine.
Witness this hand: Fred limps in early position, another player limps and the big blind checks. The flop comes down king high with two spades. The big blind checks and Fred fires out £50. The other limper folds and the action is back on the big blind. There clearly was a bit of history between Fred and the big blind, a foreign guy, maybe Dutch or French, I couldn’t tell, but it was obvious that the foreign player perceived Fred as over-aggressive or too loose. Of course, the reality of the situation was that it was the other way around, but I thought I’d let this French/Dutch geezer figure it out for himself. He called.
The turn card was an off-suit queen. French/Dutchie checked again and Fred bet £100. French/Dutchie called. Incidentally, both calls on the flop and the turn were quick calls, no real dwell-ups at all. The river was a spade which also paired the board. The foreigner checked again and Fred put out a bet of £400.
“The last time you did that I had a full house,” the French Dutchman said. Fred smiled. I’m thinking to myself, “More like Fred has the full house and you’re about to make a bad call.”
The Dutch Frenchman though for a while longer and finally called. Fred turned over A-K off for top pair top kicker and our foreign friend tapped the table and mucked his cards.
Ok, so all you geniuses out there are thinking, “Totally standard, so what?”
First of all, I have to admit that if that was me with the A-K I am checking it back on the river. It’s a limped pot and to me this guy could have anything. I wouldn’t be too worried about a full house (as I’m sure Fred wasn’t) as a set or two pair would most likely have gotten busy on the flop or turn considering there was a flush draw out there on the board.
But that flushing card... I guess most players would have a bet there if they make a flush as they don’t want to miss any value so it is less likely he has a flush. But, if I am Fred then I have to know that my opponents will check a lot of strong hands on the river due to my frequent value-bets/bluffs.
I asked Fred why he wasn’t worried about the flush. He replied, “I’ve got to maximise my good hands, don’t I? It’s not often I get a hand like that is it? One in five times the other fella has the flush, but the rest of the time I’m rakin’ in the chips.”
As I admired and thought about Fred’s pragmatic and philosophical attitude I was reminded of Doyle Brunson’s famous line about having to give action to get action. Without a doubt this is something that Fred practises in spades. How light did the French-Dutch guy call him down? I wouldn’t be surprised if all he had was third pair.
I also think it’s interesting that Fred chose to limp in early position with A-K. Was this to set up a reraise before the flop? I think that Fred knows his reputation and in certain line-ups he gets away with limping a lot of hands preflop as a lot of players are wary of playing big pots with him, even if they are in position, so therefore he limps a fair share of his strong hands as well as his weaker ones.
Not All Trappers Wear Fur Hats
A bit later Fred limped under the gun and everyone folded around to the small blind who completed. I was in the big blind and found a pair of jacks, so I decided to raise £35. Fred called, as did the small blind. The flop came down ace high with two hearts. The small blind checked and, not really liking the flop myself, I checked too.
Fred bet £75 and the small blind folded. The action was on me and I have to say I had no idea where I was at. Seeing as I was out of position to a much better poker player than myself I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and mucked what could well have been the best hand. As Fred gathered up the pot he turned his cards over and showed pocket kings!
“I was hoping for a nine high flop, then I get a load of your chips,” he chuckled.
Fred loves to tell me off for never getting enough value out of my hands. He’s right of course. I remember about a year ago limping with 4-4 under the gun in a £5/10 game and flopping bottom set on a straightening board with three players behind me. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but at some point there was a four-liner to a straight out there and a bunch of checking resulted in me winning a small pot.
“If you’re gonna play them hands then bloody bet them when you hit for Gawd’s sake!” he admonished me. I spluttered some rubbish about being out of position and the fact that I felt somewhat hampered by there being four cards to a straight on the board, but Fred was having none of it.
Fred is also very good at practising game selection. If you ever see him in a game then you probably want to be in that game too. He is very good at befriending all the stars and they love to play with him. They know he isn’t granite and he is always willing to play short-handed to either keep or get the game going.
Like all great poker players Fred is a natural born hustler. He told me a good story about another one of his good punters who pushed a goolie (£1,000 chip) towards Fred looking for change. Sensing an opportunity Fred immediately asked, “What, you wanna do? Ace, jack, deuce?” This prop bet involves Fred getting even money on any ace, jack or deuce appearing on the flop; you won’t be surprised to hear that Fred has the best of it.
Not wishing to look weak and seem like a nit, the other player nods yeah, ok. One deuce on the flop later and Fred is a thousand pounds richer. “I only wanted change, but you know I can’t resist, eh Freddy?” the other player sheepishly admits. Like I said before, because Fred gives so much action, he always gets plenty of action back.