The Three Hands From HELL!!!
Ok, first, I hate bad beat stories. This is a game of probability, and Murphy's Law of Probability (which I sorta made it up) is that anything that can happen, will happen, and at the worst possible time. Second, I WANT players to make bad decisions against me. Long-term, their bad decisions make me money (at least, that's what I tell myself when I'm trying to talk myself out of smashing the moron who called me all the way down to the river on an inside straight draw right in his or her simpering face). Anyway, I post this because 1) it's pretty funny, and 2) I'm wondering if I could have played it any better. I'm actually pretty happy with my decisions, but want some outside feedback.
I'm playing in a daily tournament at my casino. 35.00 buy in with one 10.00 rebuy and one 10.00 add-on. The blinds are at 75/150, I have around 4,500 in chips, I'm on the button with one early-position limper in front and look down to see:
Ks Ts
I would normally raise in this situation, but the guy who limped is on a big stack and has a tendency to try and sneak big hands in from early position so he can re-raise. I decide to just see a flop and flat-call. The small blind calls, the big blind checks. There's 600 in the pot, and the flop comes:
Qh Jh Js
I'm open-ended, but will fold here to any bet. My Rule of Aquisition #184 is "WHEN THE BOARD PAIRS, BEWARE!!"; I don't draw to straights and flushes against paired boards. It checks around to me, and I check as well. I'm not going to risk getting check-raised trying a semi-bluff in this situation. The turn comes:
Qh Jh Js 9d
I've made my straight! It checks around to me again. Hmmmmm. Mr Slow Play in early position might have checked a full house once, but twice? Especially when two out of his three opponents in the hand have checked again? The other two players are inexperienced, and I don't think they'd do that either. I decide to find out where I am in the hand and bet 400. The small blind folds, the big blind raises to 1,000 and the guy in early position folds.
I try to put the pieces together. If the big blind had flopped quads or a full house, checked the flop AND checked the turn, why would he raise here with me betting into him? The whole reason for checking a monster like trips not once, but twice is to portray weakness and to let your opponents catch up a little bit, or induce them to bluff at it. If he was going to slow-play it this far, why wouldn't he walk the dog on me, extracting as many chips as possible? If he had a full house or better, the smart move would have been to flat-call, hoping I'd put him on a flush draw. If the third heart didn't come, he could bet hoping I'd read it as a busted flush making a steal. Nope, the only thing that made sense here was a poorly played Jack trying to be tricky. Only a moron would check trip Jacks here twice with flush and open-ended straight draws on the board and 4 opponents in the hand, but, as I went over hands I'd remembered seeing him play, I decided that's where he was. I ask him for a count. He has about 2000 more. If I lose, I'll, still have around 1500 left. I shove 'em all in. He instantly calls, slapping his Jd Ts down and crowing, until someone points out that I have the straight.
"Oh", he said, "I didn't see that"
Of course, the river comes:
Qh Jh Js 9d 9c, giving him a full house. Sigh .....
The very next hand, I'm in the cutoff with about 1500 left. It folds around to me, I look down and see:
Qs Qh
Short-stacked, I shove 'em all in the middle, hoping a marginal hand will think my raise is a little red-assed and call. I get my wish. The small blind calls with:
Ad Tc, and makes a Club flush.
REBUY!
I get my 1000 in chips. THE VERY NEXT HAND, it folds around to me in late position, blinds still at 75/150. I look down and see:
Kc Kd
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
I shove 'em all in there. The guy on the button (the same guy who called last hand) calls with:
As 8h, and makes an eight-high straight!
The table sits in stunned silence. "Nice hand", I say as I get up, slink away, go home and beat my dog. Looking back at it, I don't think I could have played it any better. Yes, I could have just called JT's raise on the turn in the first hand, but he could well have been on a flush draw, and, if he did have a Jack, he had 10 outs at that point to make a full house or better on the river. I felt I had to protect my hand and make him pay dearly for his draw, and I did.
On the next two hands, I got my money in good as a 3:1 favorite both times. You can't ask for much better than that, especially when you're short-stacked. With the Queens especially, I would've preferred to see a flop before committing, but I would've called any preflop raise with both hands, so why not get the money in right there and have possible fold equity as well?
How sick is that to have those three hands all in a row? My poker name in the casino has changed from "Sean The Squeeze" to "Three Hands From Hell" ("Three Hands" for short). Not sure how I feel about that.
I'm playing in a daily tournament at my casino. 35.00 buy in with one 10.00 rebuy and one 10.00 add-on. The blinds are at 75/150, I have around 4,500 in chips, I'm on the button with one early-position limper in front and look down to see:
Ks Ts
I would normally raise in this situation, but the guy who limped is on a big stack and has a tendency to try and sneak big hands in from early position so he can re-raise. I decide to just see a flop and flat-call. The small blind calls, the big blind checks. There's 600 in the pot, and the flop comes:
Qh Jh Js
I'm open-ended, but will fold here to any bet. My Rule of Aquisition #184 is "WHEN THE BOARD PAIRS, BEWARE!!"; I don't draw to straights and flushes against paired boards. It checks around to me, and I check as well. I'm not going to risk getting check-raised trying a semi-bluff in this situation. The turn comes:
Qh Jh Js 9d
I've made my straight! It checks around to me again. Hmmmmm. Mr Slow Play in early position might have checked a full house once, but twice? Especially when two out of his three opponents in the hand have checked again? The other two players are inexperienced, and I don't think they'd do that either. I decide to find out where I am in the hand and bet 400. The small blind folds, the big blind raises to 1,000 and the guy in early position folds.
I try to put the pieces together. If the big blind had flopped quads or a full house, checked the flop AND checked the turn, why would he raise here with me betting into him? The whole reason for checking a monster like trips not once, but twice is to portray weakness and to let your opponents catch up a little bit, or induce them to bluff at it. If he was going to slow-play it this far, why wouldn't he walk the dog on me, extracting as many chips as possible? If he had a full house or better, the smart move would have been to flat-call, hoping I'd put him on a flush draw. If the third heart didn't come, he could bet hoping I'd read it as a busted flush making a steal. Nope, the only thing that made sense here was a poorly played Jack trying to be tricky. Only a moron would check trip Jacks here twice with flush and open-ended straight draws on the board and 4 opponents in the hand, but, as I went over hands I'd remembered seeing him play, I decided that's where he was. I ask him for a count. He has about 2000 more. If I lose, I'll, still have around 1500 left. I shove 'em all in. He instantly calls, slapping his Jd Ts down and crowing, until someone points out that I have the straight.
"Oh", he said, "I didn't see that"
Of course, the river comes:
Qh Jh Js 9d 9c, giving him a full house. Sigh .....
The very next hand, I'm in the cutoff with about 1500 left. It folds around to me, I look down and see:
Qs Qh
Short-stacked, I shove 'em all in the middle, hoping a marginal hand will think my raise is a little red-assed and call. I get my wish. The small blind calls with:
Ad Tc, and makes a Club flush.
REBUY!
I get my 1000 in chips. THE VERY NEXT HAND, it folds around to me in late position, blinds still at 75/150. I look down and see:
Kc Kd
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
I shove 'em all in there. The guy on the button (the same guy who called last hand) calls with:
As 8h, and makes an eight-high straight!
The table sits in stunned silence. "Nice hand", I say as I get up, slink away, go home and beat my dog. Looking back at it, I don't think I could have played it any better. Yes, I could have just called JT's raise on the turn in the first hand, but he could well have been on a flush draw, and, if he did have a Jack, he had 10 outs at that point to make a full house or better on the river. I felt I had to protect my hand and make him pay dearly for his draw, and I did.
On the next two hands, I got my money in good as a 3:1 favorite both times. You can't ask for much better than that, especially when you're short-stacked. With the Queens especially, I would've preferred to see a flop before committing, but I would've called any preflop raise with both hands, so why not get the money in right there and have possible fold equity as well?
How sick is that to have those three hands all in a row? My poker name in the casino has changed from "Sean The Squeeze" to "Three Hands From Hell" ("Three Hands" for short). Not sure how I feel about that.
posted by Sean at 8:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home