Hammertime!

I play a tight aggressive style that works pretty well for me. A trash hand like 72o ("the hammer") is an automatic fold unless I'm in the BB or I am getting huge odds in the SB. There is a lot of talk about playing the hammer amongst the bloggers, including some contests for winning a hand with it. I once won a massive pot with it when I completed the SB with 6 others already in, and the flop came 722. Lately I have made it a point to try to get out of line and play the hammer when I normally would fold it. The only way to play "the hammer" is for a preflop raise, with the intent of a continuation bet to take it down post flop. I have played it now twice and I am 2 for 2. First time, I am in the BB, one limper and the SB folds. This is a play I have used before, and it makes no difference what hand you hold. What you do is pop it 4x from the BB. You will be heads up against the limper (weak), and will have the first opportunity to bet post flop. The key is the SB must fold. Odds are the limper folds preflop, but if he does not, a pot size continuation bet will scare him off unless he hits the flop big. In this case the limper folded and I won. The second time was earlier today. I get the hammer on the button and its folded to me. I pop it 4x and both blinds fold. I am not a big blind stealer in a cash game, as I do not think there is a ton of value there. Tournaments are different. I will steal with decent cards, but I am not going to automatically pop it with crap just cause I get folded to on the button in a ring game. Steals gone wrong can get expensive in a cash game. Because I am not constantly stealing, when I do come in for a raise it usually gets respected. I may be getting too much respect though, so stealing with the hammer can be profitable in two ways. I can win the steal, and I will get less respect when I steal with a solid hand. The key for me is to show the hammer when the steal works. Unfortunately, I have muck the winning hand set for all the sites I play on. When you play 4 tables at once, you don't want to add show/muck decisions to all the other decisions you have to make. I will probably try to disable the automuck winning hand and see if I can work with it. I imagine that if you time out on the show/muck decision your hand will get mucked, so it should not hurt. If you are ever at a table with me, and I steal from the button, watch out. I either have a pretty good hand, or it hammertime!