This weekend I had my first playing experience with a professional player. I had played with grinders before, but this guy is our country's most accomplished player. It was a fun afternoon, since I was sitting to his left (luckily...) the whole tourney. He was very chatty and for me it was probably one of the greatest poker lessons I've had. We talked a lot of what was going on thru the hands; probably because it was a charity tourney he was very open to discussing strategy with me.
What I admired the most from his play (besides being a true gentleman at the table) was his small ball play. Of course he knows his post-flop play was the best at the table, so he kept the pot small every time he went in, still without losing aggressiveness. His reads were negreanu-esque, pinpointing the exact cards people had.
Of course my strategy was the opposite, waiting for good hands and playing big pots against him. I was fortunate that he folded in the hand that would've busted me. He raised from mid-position 3x the blinds to 600, I re-raised him with 2000 (AKs) and a late position player makes the worst acting job ever and pushes, but only 300 chips more than my raise. The pro folded AQ, I called the 300 more and of course he shows aces. The flop was 10-J-10, I called a Q and it dropped in the turn giving me the straight and the river was another Q, that would've given the pro a full house. Whew!
But anyway, it was an amazing learning event sitting next to this guy. What has been your experience playing with known players?