Straight Flushes Going Around

Today at Bay 101 I watched a ridiculous 20/40 hand where "Tom the Nit" flopped a straight flush. The pot is like 6 ways for two bets and he has like T8 of spades or thereabouts and just flopped a freaking straight flush. He's Tom the Nit though, and when he makes expert slow play the flop checks through even though he had a chance to act after the preflop raiser. So on the turn the board is:

J97sss - 5d

He bets and gets raised, and does his super obvious live tell (well it's not really a tell...he's a nit so he always, always, always has it) where he gets all aggressive physically and 3-bets real fast and with authority. The other player just calls and Tom the Nit dark bets the river, which is:

J97sss-5d - 7c

So the board has paired. I personally am pretty certain Tom the Nit has the nut flush and this guy just rivered his sorry ass. But no, the other guy just calls, and Tom tables his monster. The other guy mucks 55 face up. So in short, the other guy did fill up on the river, but chose to only call with his full house because he was literally able to assign a huge portion of Tom the Nit's range to be exactly the straight freakin' flush. I am in awe of basically everything that has just transpired. Tom the Nit actually says to me "You make 80 more with that hand" to which I respond "80?"

So many hours later I have moved up to the 40/80 game to sit on the immediate left of a player I formerly refered to as "Crazy Russian Guy". Well, turns out he's not Russian, he's Polish, and he has a bit of a lazy eye, which Pete used to identify him recently. So now he's been renamed "The Polish Eye" instead of "Crazy Russian Guy". He is, however, still crazy, and just a massive fish.

He plays every pot, raises with 97o, all kinds of stupid shit. He did win close to ten thousand American dollars today, as evidenced by the "stack porn" I've provided here. Anyway, we're all bumbling along, basically watching him and the other lag fish in the 1 seat drag pot after pot after pot, when the following hand comes up.

Somebody limps and he raises. I cold call with Jack Ten of hearts for a multitude of reasons. First of all, against his raising range, honestly I'm in fine shape. Second of all, the JT loves it some big pots, as it practically always flops something. Seriously, there aren't many flops where Jack Ten soooted can't take one off at 12:1. We end up seeing the flop 6 or 7 ways for two bets a piece, and it comes down:

T 9 7

The astute reader will see that I have flopped an interesting hand. I have top pair, a gut shot, and a back door flush draw in a massive pot on a very coordinated board. I also have horrible relative position, as the Polish Eye is about to bet into me with half the table left to act with live hands behind me. He does this, and I opt to just call, thinking that I'll be raising lots of turn cards. Another player raises, two players call two cold, and the Polish Eye 3-bets. I just call again, and the other player opts to only call. So now we've got ourselves a 13.5 big bet pot going into the turn, with 5 players still having hands (somebody did, somehow, manage to fold).

T 9 7 - 9

Huh. That's a strange card. The fact that the Polish Eye 3-bet the flop lends strong evidence that I am behind. He is crazy preflop, but post flop he tends to play very straightforwardly and actually tends to miss a ton of value with his big hands. If he doesn't have a big pair, he has 4 spades. Again, the pot is huge, so I opt to misplay another street (giving me perhaps an even 3 so far) and just call when he bets into me. The player who raised the flop now raises again....one other player calls, and the Polish Eye also calls. I stare longingly at the 20 big bet pot and call, reciting to myself that I have 9 outs to make a flush that is "probably" good, 8 outs to make a straight, which is "perhaps" good, and 2 tens that are a virtual lock. I take a minute before calling to figure out how I'll treat most rivers and then....

T 9 7 - 9 - 8

Honestly, it had not occurred to me that this was possible. The prospect of making a straight flush on the river hadn't even entered my mind, and I hadn't spent a single moment figuring out what to do if I did. The player who'd been calling all the way checked, the Polish Eye checked, and I....Donked. I quickly decided that the guy behind me's hand could be broken roughly into two catergories:

1. Full House or sweet blessed mother please quad 9s.
2. Less than that.

If he had (1), he'd raise, I'd 3-bet, and life would be peachy. If he had (2), on this river he probably wasn't even going to bet unless he'd flopped a straight with J8. And it'd have to be suited for him to call preflop, I think. So donk I did and he just called. Great, I thought, he just has like a pair of tens and wasn't even gonna bet the river. The calling dude (who's line in the hand has been call/check, call 2 cold, call/call 2 cold so far on the 3 streets) calls again, and the Polish Eye folds. I declare "straight flush" and expose my nuts. The guy behind me shows....98 sooted for a full house that he just called the river with (probably in an attempt to collect overcalls, I guess....which kinda makes sense....sorta). I am floored once again, but set to stacking the 23 bet pot.