Polar bull

Actions made on the river are often polarizing. A polarizing action is a bet which could equally have been made by an opponent with a worthless hand and by an opponent with the nuts. When you respond to a polarizing action, you must decide for yourself whether your opponent has nothing, or everything. I've just come up with some terminology to distinguish your response. If you believe your opponent has everything, you should fold; in this case, you're a polar bear. If you believe your opponent has nothing, you should call; in this case, you're a polar bull. Not only are you bullish on your own hand, you believe your opponent's bet is bull(shit) :-)

Last night, I hit the rail in the second tournament I entered when I made a polar bull decision. I was dealt 4s Ah. The board was 8d Qd Qh Jh Jd. An opponent who had me covered went all in on the river, and I called. He turned over 9s Jc. I thought he was bluffing, since an earlier showdown had revealed his willingness to bluff. I was wrong, but I went with my read. That counts for something!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9    36     170   36    48        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    55     115   30    25    77000

delta: $-23,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,712,948
2017 balance: $795,800
balance: $12,213,630