somewhere far beyond your reality

TOSHITSUGU TAKAMATSU (1889 - 1972) is the latest combat ninja who killed many other fighters in combat. His words for martial arts are also applicable to poker in some way.

"Always be ready for when your attacker drops his guard, then counter attack, without giving any warning or opportunity for a second chance. This is the way I handle this type of situation. I wait for my opponent to attack me then I just wait for him to drop his guard or make him relax. This is an important point. The Sakki or intent to kill is felt through a system comparable to radar the one who is not able to receive these emissions will not be able to reach a high quality state of a martial artist."

The Sakki for poker is stacking your opponent. Players have many ways to defend theirselves, like folding, pot controlling or making feeler bets. When your opponent is strong it's not easy to find a weak spot in their game. They usually understand that you have a big hand and lay off their hand. The important thing is to make them drop their guard. They might 3-bet you a lot but they might fold to a 4-bet instantly when you do. They might make cbets on every flop but they can fold to raises easily when you do. When you notice such a guard you have to attack that spot with weak holdings. Once, twice or maybe a lot more times but there's a tipping point where they decide you can not have that many hands on that particular spot. You got to foresee before they drop that guard and you have to attack that spot with a real hand once and for all.

I forgot the author but I remember someone saying that your opponent should think that he might take you all-in for you to be able to take him all-in.

I will share one hand I played today:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4480071

I have two reads to make this call. First of all he wasn't folding any pairs on the flop, secondly, he did a very fast call on the flop (he didn't think about raising it even for a second) A 7 was possible but I took that risk and made the call.

Untill next time.