I love bar poker...

...because of the different types of players that you play with on a weekly basis. You also get some interesting hands to discuss with people, like the one I'm about to relay here. After this hand was over, 3 people really thought I did a stupid play, but at least 2 others (besides me) thought it was a great play. How would you play this?

Very early in the 500/1000 level in 2nd game at World Tavern this past Tuesday, and we have a MP player all in for his last 600 chips (just got crippled the hand before). Have a friendly, family pot of 7,600 going, because every player limped into this hand...and then it reaches me in the big blind. I look down and see A-J, and after taking a few seconds to think about my move, I shove my remaining 9,600 chips into the middle.

Everyone folds, I find out I am up against 9-7, and after my Jack hits on the flop, I get both a knockout and a decent pot. It was right after this that Mike, a player immediately on my right, told me that it was a pretty stupid shove on my part...and that I was lucky to not only have nobody call me, but that I also got the knockout. "Classic isolation play - kinda ballsy, but well played" was what Timmy, one of the better players in the game, said in response. After I explained my thinking in the hand, one of original players who thought it was a dumb raised his eyebrows, then nodded as if they understood the logic of it...but not everyone bought my logic. Oh well.

Here is was: No one had shown any particular strength in the hand, and with a pot of $7,600, a standard 3-4x BB raise was not gonna be enough here. On top of that, any raise almost surely pot-commits me here, since we're already at 10.6 BBs, or an M of 7 (if you prefer Harrington), and I really don't want to have any callers in this spot. Of course, if I'm called and stil have the best hand or am in a coin-flip, I won't be upset about that, either.

Also, with $2,800 of chips out there unavailable to the all-in, I would be freerolling against the all-in. Speaking of him, this guy's range is very wide, and I'm ahead of him most of the time. So not only do I gain 2,800 chips automatically, I'm also a favorite to take down the other $5,600 - this is definitely a +EV play here on my part! And if the shorty wins, so what - we're still at 15 players, he's still short-stacked, and I've increased my stack from 10.7K to 13.5K - 25% increase. This, in turn, increases fold equity here for any pushes I may do in this or the next level.

Good players understand the theory involved in this...bad or mediocre players do not understand it.