Live By the Sword, Die By the Sword

Every now and then when I sign onto Poker Stars I look to see if any of their professional players are playing. I just so happened to see Dario Manieri was playing and since he plays a lot of heads up tournaments and he is a very aggresive player, his matches are usually entertaining to watch. Now I'm not one to second guess his playing because he has won more in his poker playing than I ever will and the $1130.00 he lost in one hand might be a drop in the bucket for him, but to be this aggressive with 10-3 off suit was surprising to me.

PokerStars Game #19525458776: Tournament #101417531, $1100+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2008/08/10 - 23:33:56 (ET)
Table '101417531 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: kitty97 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Dariominieri (1500 in chips)
kitty97: posts small blind 10
Dariominieri: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
kitty97: raises 40 to 60
Dariominieri: raises 140 to 200
kitty97: calls 140
*** FLOP *** [Kc Ts Kd]
Dariominieri: bets 210
kitty97: raises 210 to 420
Dariominieri: raises 880 to 1300 and is all-in
kitty97: calls 880 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Kc Ts Kd] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Kc Ts Kd Ad] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dariominieri: shows [3h Th] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
kitty97: shows [Kh Jd] (three of a kind, Kings)
kitty97 collected 3000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 | Rake 0
Board [Kc Ts Kd Ad 6d]
Seat 1: kitty97 (button) (small blind) showed [Kh Jd] and won (3000) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 2: Dariominieri (big blind) showed [3h Th] and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens

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Yeah I've seen him play HU a little bit 2 and I dont understand some of his plays either but this is one of his odder ones....

Manieri plays a lot of heads up, so I'm sure he's aware that most players will slowplay trips on a flop such as this. The raise by villain, therefore, means one of two things:

a) Villain has two pair (whether it be Tx or a pocket pair)
b) Villain is playing back at Dario's aggression, and has absolutely nothing.

Both of which are hands that are easily lay-downable if your opponent is representing trips. While the first bet could mean anything, the 3-bet should force villain to fold unless he has Kx or better. As it turns out, he held one of the Kings and the bluff didn't work out for him.

My guess is villain played this hand this way simply to play off the idea that you don't raise with trips heads up.

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1st place, March/April 2008 Sunday League

Fault always lies in the same place, my fine babies: with him weak enough to lay blame.