Quote Originally Posted by bjsaust
Finish the day a bit brighter, shipped slightly over 2.5 buyins over 540 hands tonight. First time I've played more than an hr this year. Felt good, played good, got rewarded. Nothing I'm too ashamed of. One iffy calldown when I hit a FD + gutshot on flop and raised a minbet called, he minbet turn again and I called and he potted river and I called with my A high and his A8 > my A5, so bleh again I guessed correct it was a bluff, but lost anyway. Then again, the knowledge I got from that hand I'm pretty sure I made back later from the same player.

Thats one topic you dont see discussed much. Calling for information. There are times I have nothing, but the line is so weird I feel its worth calling. Heres an example:

This is the guys first orbit so no reads:

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($11.15)
SB ($30.46)
Hero (BB) ($90.25)
UTG ($68.99)
MP ($70.82)
CO ($5)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, K
3 folds, Button raises $1.75, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.75) 9, 7, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($3.75) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($3.75) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3.75, Hero calls $3.75

Total pot: $11.25

Results:
Button had K, 10 (flush, King high).
Hero didn't show Q, K (nothing).
Outcome: Button won $10.70


Now I guess sometimes my K high might be good there, but I'm not counting on it being good enough times to be +EV. However I now have a note on this guy that he didnt semi-bluff his draw as PFR, and didnt bet turn when the draw came in, but did desperation bet-pot the river hoping to make up for the value he lost by trapping. Thats a pretty nice note to have.
I suppose... but I think you value the info way too much unless you're going to play a few thousand hands with the guy. In the first hand you mentioned, the bet on the river HAD to be way to big to pay that much for info. If you don't beat a bluff, it's really hard to call there. If the board is bad enough that the 8 kicker played, there's all sorts of raggity stuff he can be bluffing with that you don't beat.

I can't find it, but I remember a discussion about paying for information a while back. The conclusion was that it's almost never worth it. Let the other players pay for your information.

The second hand could be worth it if the guy is a reg multi-tabler. You're paying purely for info tho, I think there's like < 5% chance that you're good there.