Called a huge 200ish BB pot w AK because I KNEW the guy was bluffing on a four-straight board. He sayed "you're good" and I tabled AK. He loled and showed bottom pair. Just make sure you beat the bluffs when you call down. Lol.
My biggest call was calling down 3 streets with pocket twos at a final table. The dude chatted that his son was watching so I sensed he was trying to pull off a big bluff. I called and he had air. From that point on the final table respected every one of my plays and I took down the tournament.
When you start getting called down like this, it’s time to tighten up. Gut check call for me, called down with 9’s on a Q,J,10,5,4 board in MP against a button flat. My thought process was “I block K-9s. Sure enough button had king flush and straight draw that bricked out
After watching all those hands where Airball beat down Jungleman with bluff after bluff, who would ever fold to Nik with a big bet on the river. I love Nik's response like "damn, why can't i get a bluff thru, life is so unfair??". I notice Nik is talking a lot less these days.
Ethan has come so far. When he first started making vlogs, I thought he was a losing donk. Even when he first started playing the stream games, I thought he was a losing player who happened to luckbox a bracelet. This was the time where the extent of his hand analysis was "folding is boring, so I call." I think I was right a couple years ago, but he has very clearly put in a ton of studying and is now a really thinking player with a good amount of gamble. In this hand, he blocks AA, KK, AQ, KQ, and the diamond flush (which Nick wouldn't overbet river with, would he?). He loses to JJ and 10 10, but I feel Nik would have gone with a much smaller value sizing with those, like 40 - 50K. He's so polar here, and Rampage blocks the value side of the polar range. Plus his name literally has Airball in it. All that said, if the stakes were 1% of this, with a $1100 bet on the river, I would not have been able to make the call. Incredible that he did it in three seconds flat.
One level you have to respect Nik's willingness to go for it. It is real hard to push that hard. On the other picking your spots and opponent is just as important.
It was a horrible bluff spot for a couple reasons. One is that anyone who was watching live saw that this hand happened right in the middle of Nik’s epic meltdown where he started 3 betting and calling 4 bets pre with literally any 2 because he was rage tilting. A hand or 2 after this hand, Nik 3 bet then flatted a 4 bet pre…. with 82 off 🤣 It was at the point where whoever picked up the real hand would 3 bet to iso against Nik and they would just take turns picking him off over and over and over. When your table image is shot to hell like that, it’s better to wait until you have it before sticking lots of money in a pot. The other is that even a player like Ethan whose leak is being a bit of a station isn’t rolled to be staying in huge pots with nothing for these stakes. That board and the fact Ethan stayed in until the river meant AK was the bottom of his call off range here. Nik shoulda realized that taking everything into consideration, Ethan likely was calling off even with just AK in this spot and just cut his losses.
@@jaredcarrick3468 Jeez, it is almost like I am saying he picked a Bad Spot and a Bad Opponent to bluff. All I am saying is I respect the Moxie to bluff, even in that state. It is a Stupid bad play but it takes a special brand of stupid to make that bad play.
I don’t know about that. Someone of his stature and wealth… Its probably the equivalent of a really wealthy dude playing a .5/1 cash game. I think he was just being an idiot.
My gutsiest: my first hand sitting down at a 2/5 game, got check raised on the flop while holding QQ on Ax10s8s flop. River was a Ks, and V bet 650 into ~800. He walked away on tilt after I called.
I understand the blocking stuff but the term is so over used its getting ridiculous-And just bc he has AK doesnt mean he can't have AA or KK AQ or KQ-Just like AK supposedly blocks A3 right lol-IDC what anyone says the term "I block this and that bc I have 1 of the 4 Aces" means nothing-If he can have A3 off then he can certainly have AQ off. Obviously with 3 Queens out there it makes it very very unlikely but that not my point-I played a live Cash Game last night and I had 99 multi way pot flop comes 764 two diamonds, and the main guy in the pot with me had 89 off and according to all this blocker talk that is so over used its ridiculous I block 89 so with that mentality he can have 85,67,64,910, two overs with a flush draw or bluffing with air. Players started using solvers and said "this must be + or - EV here to make this play bc I have one of the 4 cards which means I block that possibility of combos" which is way way over blown- Again if he blocks AQ here then according to blocker theory you block A3 and when you start thinking like this it fucks everything up-Yes it makes it more unlikely but claiming you are blocking certain combos is just not true
Rampage is good, but he is playing in a soft game. Put Ethan in a cash game against Polk, Dan Smith, Negreanu, Ivey, Holz, Adelstein, etc at one table and in the long run he will lose.
@@supersmoo7377 poker is not esport, even thought a lot "pro" or poker streams try to promote it like it's a game of skill, it still matches a lot of luck elements. its only fun when you're winning, and by winning, please win as much as possible.
When my wheel draw missed but hit my four. Villain bet about pot quickly. Without even thinking, I snap called. My subconscious must have recognized something in the villain. He showed a wheel draw but hit his 3 on the turn so my pair of fours beat his pair of threes. Or maybe the time I knew the villain missed his draw and he bet big on the river. I called and realized I read his hand better than I read my own. His ace high beat my imagined but non-existent pair of queens.
one thing i seem to see a lot is people making reasonable calls through to the turn and then folding on a river bet when the logic of the hand hasn't changed. rampage's calls on flop and turn made sense for all the reasons jonathan explained and if he had then folded on the river bet, it would have been a huge mistake. anyone decent running a bluff is likely to keep blasting and if you call call fold constantly you're throwing money away.
Marino and Rampage studied the tapes against airball and took a premium hand line against him and it worked he smoked him in every single hand 4 times with a premium it pays to study
2 of my best calls: Cash game -heads up. I had a pair of 9's on a super wet board. A lot has me crushed. But his betting pattern was telling me something else. Bet big on the river. 100+ in a 1/2. Took me about 30 seconds to break down to justify a call. I didn't believe him and was right. Tourney - I had a pair of 4's but was sure villain missed his flush. Bet on all 3 streets with an all in on the river. Called him and he missed everything. He was pissed lol
I watched most all of this live. This was exploitative poker at its best by Rampage. He got Airball on tilt, and Airball did what he does on tilt, keep blasting off over and over.
One thing about these charts I find interesting - in Rampage's shoes, pre-flop AKo does a lot of calling, whereas AKs does a lot of 4-betting. I've got to think the marginal difference in equity pre-flop is about 4%, yet AKs gets played WAY more aggressively than AKo. I suspect this is because AKs has a massive nut advantage - you won't get to take advantage of it very often, but when you do it lets you confidently pile money into the middle and win big pots. A small chance at something very valuable is itself quite valuable.
Just a few weeks ago I was at a 223 game at California Grand Casino. I got dealt 66 and opened for $15 and got two callers. Flop was nine high giving me 2nd pair and I put in a $20 cbet and one guy calls and the other guy folds. The turn was an 8 and my opponent checks to me so I bet about $40 and now he check raises me to around $90. The 8 on the turn brought an inside straight if my opponent had 67, but I remember sitting there looking at the board and thinking I block the straight so I called. River was a Jack so I check and he bets about $120 and I call pretty quickly and he table KQ for king high. I tabled my 66 and people at the table were like wow you must have had a read on the guy. I did see him spew on one hand before, but I didn’t mention to anyone my reason for calling and just took down the pot.
I've been in this spot many many times vs LAGs. It seems like a majority of the time I call them down they turn over baby pocket pairs or they boat up on the river with something like T8.
Biggest call? I called down a $800 pot with pocket 2 against a maniac. I showed him the ducks and he flipped. He asked what I put him on and flat out told him. I put you on nothing! *airballllllllll
1/2 300 effective. I have 88 on BTN, UTG raises to $6, 3 calls before it gets to me, I squeeze to $38. UTG calls, the rest fold. Flop AJ4, UTG donks for $20. Odd, but he shouldn't be leading, I call and see what develops. Turn 9. UTG bets $20 again, I decide to turn my hand into a bluff, seeing as he should be capped in this spot, even if these types of players hate folding. I raise to $65, he calls. River 9, UTG donks again for $100. The story doesn't make much sense, especially after I raised turn. I don't block Broadway combos, and he raised to 15 earlier with a stronger Broadway combo earlier at showdown. I flick in the call, and he has KTo for the missed gutshot. 🤑🤑🤑
Gutsiest call? Guy opened UTG+1 on a 6max micro cash and I called with 10 8 suited (from the button iirc). Flop came 10 high, he c-bet, I reraised, he called, turn was below a 10, he bet I called, river was also below a 10 he shoves for like 200bbs? And somehow I make this call. Normally this would be calling station behavior because obv he's got overpairs in his range like crazy, but he's also got all the high connectors - plus, I had noticed the guy was preeeetty aggressive. So I figured what the hell, let's look him up with top pair and see. (I recognize this is more likely a hole in my game, but it's my story, so here it is) He had 10 5 offsuit. This would've been great, but the cards on the board that weren't a 10 were, of course, 2 3 4 and 6 (and not in that order), so poker did me pretty rough on that one, but then again I probably had it coming for calling a shove with a top pair of 10s and a pretty bad kicker.
My gutsiet call: I check called $770 all-in into a $510 pot with King high (Kc5c) and a board of 6c-6h-Ah-Jc-9d. I was the aggressor on the flop. Called a raise from $65 to $200 on the turn. The overbet on the river was obviously POLAR, representing a strong hand or nothing. The player had a high VPIP and had been caught attempting a river bluff (for only $125 in a previous hand). I reasoned that IF he was strong, he'd want to extract VALUE ... so, based on his VPIP, previous bluff, and young, aggressive style ... I called and took down a HUGE pot with King high. I should have asked him to table his hand or muck, but since he was so slow to act, I announced King high and revealed by hand.
Home game with some friends, villain is the most aggro player on table. Open KQo early position button calls for heads up. Flop A56 with 2 diamonds, I c-bet 1/3 and villain raises 3x. I call with the king of diamonds. Turn offsuit 8, check and villain bets 2/3 pot. I make a pretty loose call hoping he shuts down on river. River offsuit 7, brings a 4 liner to the straight. I check villain jams for a little over pot. Don’t like having the king of diamonds but I can’t put villain on a value hand, flopped set or backdoored straight likely goes for a smaller sizing. I tank for like 5 mins and call. Villain says nice call and passes his cards over to me, QTdd.
Im an absolute call station but my pub games noone ever bluffs and they always have it! Just need to not pay off the fish but damnit I can't help myself.
called down a river jam with AJo (ace high) online a few nights back, board was really dry, can't remember the board or action fully, but he barreled big turn then river even though nothing draw wise would have came in on either of them. Didn't put him on KK or AA based on the preflop action and nothing made sense for his bet sizing. He mucked his air.
I made a big call on the river with A high and ended up losing on accident. My opponent was blasting the whole way with Q3 and rivered a 3. I'm happy with the call. He was making that bet either way.
lmao i thought airball was the other guy. i'm watching the real airball look so confused thinking the other guy was stupid. the plot twist in this whole story is that the real stupid is me.
called KQ high against an (obvious to me) missed straight draw with 78, in a small buyin WSOP tournament in 2018, the guy went craaaaaazy. It talked about it until he busted
A few weeks ago, in a 1-2 NLH hand, I called a river bet of $100 in a pot with ~$250, holding 2s. He called my flop bet, we checked the turn, and I check called the river bet. He was open ended. 🎉
We can all see it was a good call but what's the logic behind it besides Nik being a super aggressive player. Pocket 7s - Pocket 10s is totally possible the way he played it. If it was me I probably would've folded on the river but I understand Rampage is super deep.
I once did a satellite and won a spot to 500 dollar sunday on pokerstars several years ago. Just a few hands into the tournament i had a hand that was pretty similar to the hand in the video, I had AK in button and raised, BB 3bet and I just called which in hindsight might have been a mistake but turned out great. Board is 662. He blasts, i call, comes an 8, he blasts even more and I call. River is a 9 and he goes all in. I kinda snap called because he had played super aggressive pretty much every hand and I thought he was a maniac. He showed AJ. The rest of the table was probably thinking twice before bluffing me after that... Anyway I came pretty far in the tournament and cashed a bit of money but sadly no big win.
Called with Q hi at a live MTT when we got to heads up: i completed on btn with Q8o and he checked. Flop K42, check/check, turn 7 he bets I call, river another 2, he pots I call. I figured he will raise any A pre, donk flop with K, so it was actually somwhat trivial. He had Jhi. Im about 50/50 with A hi calldowns, couple of times losing to better Ahi🤣 50% wr at showdown is pretty good considering pot odds... Perhaps i need to call light more often!
I love Ethan's game. I've followed him since the Boston Billiard days. He's nowhere near a great player...he's a very good player with balls of steel - which counts for a lot when you're playing super-high stakes. He gets a little too bluffy and a little too call happy sometimes (I think he'd admit that) but when you see him piling up chips it's hard to find fault with his style. He picks his spots decently enough to not get crushed every time and has it often enough to get some credibility on his sometimes-too-aggressive play. I'll say this knowing he's got a pretty decent trophy case already: I think he should stop donating to tournament pools and just stick to mainly cash with the occasional tourney buy in to mix it up. He'll make more money AND more content than dumping thousands into buy-ins that yield little to no reward. All in all Rampage is great for the game. I hope Airball keeps coming after him on HCL and Rampage picks his spots to felt him.
Nik may not have worse pocket pairs than JJ preflop. You block the nuts, like Jonathan said. It's not a fun call, but it's a call and I've made this call (and been right a couple of times) in similar spots in my life. EDIT: Not for this kind of money.
Didn't listen to all of Jon Little as he talks to much. However, the fact is. Airball is 3 betting all his suites aces (and apparently off suit aces sometimes here - 30+ combos). He has only 6 combos of AA or KK, and 3 Combos of KQ. Therefore, Rampage is beating most of Airballs range, as there is no way Airball bets with those bet sizes with JJ or TT. Game solved in less than 30 seconds. You talk sooo much Jon. God damn!
Was playing a pretty deep 1/2 game about 400 effective, I open in MP to 15 with 33 get two callers, SB 3bets to 50, I call and both players behind me call, flop comes 642, SB Cbets 65, I call, players behind fold, turn is a 6, villain Jams, I tank for the whole clock and find a call at the end, we run it twice and the first run is a 4 and the second one is a K and villain shows AKo to scoop, was a tough drive home
Called someone on the River with King high on a double paired board. I was right. His line made zero sense. Caught his hand in the cookie jar with just a king. Felt good.
Listen it's a great call. But the snap part of it shouldn't be surprising. You don't call the turn without knowing what's coming on river and already deciding to call both bets on turn.
I just called a guy with J high yesterday at a final table (it was blind vs blind and checked until the river, similar board with QQQ). I once called a guy for $500 with Q high in a cash game, it went check call check call lead all in...I was almost certain he missed the open ender with 109 and was right.
Super standard call call call…. Never ever fold to these type of guys who are ready to blast off. Played 10/25 game in Houston. Had to call 25k on river with A10 high and I snapped.. they shows T9 off suit 😂 he was fkn pissed. Kicked the chair into the wall in the high rise and put a hole in the wall. 😂😂😂
You said it, already. Bluffers gonna bluff! Almost every highlight I see of Nik shows him losing, but that may be because he’s an unlikable person. Curious to know if he’s a poker pro or just a wealthy guy who plays for kicks.
Why doesn’t Nik have a low full house in his range like pocket 55-99. There is only a three bet pre, and Nik easily could do that with a low or mid pocket pair. He then could turn his low full house into a bluff representing a higher full house or a queen. Then rampage doesn’t even catch 22 as a bluff.
Feel like he has a lock of a live tell on airball, some live tells are as if the hand is face up. Airball is a blaster that doesnt understand how to switch gears, or use be sizing to make most and to make decisions hard to call. But this feels like live tell, ive played with good players, prob on of best players at the game that gave of insanely accurate live tells. This happens in all forms of competition, Agassi destroyed becker due to serving tell.
What’s targeted a lunatic who was the last office entire stack, almost every hand. I flipped bottom pair and called them all the way down to the river, taking a quick 600 from him. Felt gross inside the whole way, but as usual he had air.
It’s only “standard” against this specific player in this specific type of game where being entertaining is higher on the priority list than say good basic poker play lol
opened 98s utg, bb defends passive, flop 672, bet one 3rd, recieved call, turn J, i barrel again one third, get check raised small, river 2, BB player bets pot size on the river, I tank call, he shows 54, I am good with 9 high...
playing 1-2 150bb deep ($300) i had A3suited called a raise in position. i flopped bottom pair against an aggressive opp on a 3 7 9 board. he bet out of position, i called, about $20. turn was 7 check, check, river was a Q. opp lead out for $45. i tanked for 1 minute and called. he showed K3 and i showed A3 to win with my ace kicker. not the biggest pot ever, but im pretty happy about it. i found my call thanks to his check on the turn. if he bets turn i most likely fold.
I can't speak for his long game, but in these two hands I saw a tell when Airball was bluffing. I don't want to give it away, though, because I don't want Airball to lose his nickname :D
I play 6d9d on the button. Middle position raise preflop to $10, I made the call. Flop was 7d8s2c… mp bet $24, I called with $88 behind. Turn was a 7c. He bet $60, I called.. river was a 8c… he went all in, I called with my my last $28… I ended up winning the pot because he had pocket 3s 😂…
When someone does not say you those dirty words you know that you are the fish. It is importent to keep customer happy. Pros are always first to admire when a wealthy business man makes a successful bluff and shows it. Their admiration is not real but fishes don`t understand it. When spirit is high fish will come another time.
Nobody has a Q, so it’s a 2 or 8. So no bluff can go through. But Nik made it super big. Maybe Nik should do some talking, when your bluffing is not going to make it. Like saying, …”this pair of twos will get through”. Lol
Nik has become super exploitable, he needs to adjust badly. I called a 1/2 pot river bet, on a JJ884 board with 10 7 off, not a snap tho.. opp showed 56 busted flush draw..
