Desperation bets

On Saturday night, I doubled up on the third hand. I'd hit a set of sevens on the flop, raised to $800 that round, raised to $11,600 on the turn, and went all in on the river. The fact that I got a caller on the river really surprised me. Either that player was really bad, or he made a really bad read. Thinking it over, the only way his decision could have been based on a bad read was if he interpreted my river bet as a desperation bet. When you know your hand is beat, you either have to fold or make a desperation bet - a very large bet meant to dissuade callers. If you get called, you're toast. I very rarely make desperation bets.

The ironic thing is, if you're playing against someone who thinks he can read desperation bets, you're better off going all in with a strong hand than trying to make a value bet! I may have somehow sensed that that particular opponent would be fooled by an all in bet at that particular moment, but it's much more likely I simply lucked out.

After that huge pot, my stack descended slowly but surely back to its starting amount. It even dipped below it briefly. Shortly after I'd gone back into the black, the whole table quit on me.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 86 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 14 times while in big blind (64%)
- 6 out of 13 times while in small blind (46%)
- 38 out of 59 times in other positions (64%)
- a total of 53 out of 86 (61%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 11 (45%)
Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $3,400
balance: $2,093,010