I Like Big Pots and I Cannot Lie

The last week has been kind of up and down, but mostly up. I believe I'm up a few thousand so far in August, which is really all you can ask for 10 days in. All of my winnings, however, can be attributed to these two pots, both of which took place in a live 30/60 game at The Oaks.

In the first pot I elect to raise Ace Ten off after one limper in very early position. The idea here is to isolate the limper and play a pot heads up. It's The Oaks though, so this never happens. Realistically I can hope to see the flop maybe 4 handed, which is probably fine. Any more than that, however, and I'm really just gambling, as I don't have a hand that plays very well multiway as on the river I'm mostly going to be reaching for the chips with one pair. So it being The Oaks, 4 people elect to cold call my raise (of a possible 5), and the blinds and limper come along and we take the flop 8 handed for two bets a piece:

T93r

As flops go, this is an absolute gem. No flush draw is present, the only reasonable two pair is T9 (which is even less likely since I hold a ten), and even the sets are reduced in likelihood since many of my opponents would have 3-bet with the last two tens or two of the three remaining nines. So it checks to me and I bet, I get a call or two, and then somebody raises. At this point a siren goes off above my head alerting everyone in the room that a ginormous pot is brewing. Practically everyone calls and I 3-bet, the trapped players call, and the villain caps it. Now I have to actually consider the possibility that I am beat and not just getting action from something like QT. I call, which is my only option with a 4-bet cap, and in all 7 players remain. That's right...one person folded. The pot now contains 44 small bets, and I say a small hail mary to the patron saint of offsuit deuces.

T93-2 with now all four suits equally represented (this flop is pro-affirmative action)

My prayers answered, I donk after the couple stragglers check to me. Anyone who can hand read in the slightest now is 100% sure that I have an over pair, likely aces, or a set of tens or nines, but this does not deter them. Everyone calls, save one reasonable soul who actually might have made a mistake (even 2 outs is worth a call here, so any pair, any gutshot, or any over...the only hands that can't call are things like 74) and the pot comes to rest at an even 28 large bets. Once more I turn my head skyward, offering thanks and wishes to the patron saint of offsuit deuces.

T93-2-2

Hallelujah! I bet. Only the preflop capper can call and "Dave the Grinder" declares "That's a big pot to win with Aces" to which I respond "That'd be easy. What about Ace Ten?" as I table my hand. The group is beside itself and collectively turns to the villain who still has cards, longing to see a hand that can defeat my measly pair tens, longing to know that they were all not drawing so painfully live and could have dragged this $1800 monstrosity had only the patron saint of offsuit deuces not heard and answered my prayers not once but twice. He responds as custom dictates he must in a situation such as this; "Nice kicker", and his honor is preserved.

The second hand in question was less exciting to play, but equally humorous in retrospect (it happened on a different day, actually, but with basically the same cast of characters). One or two players limp and I limp along with the Ace Deuce of clubs. Someone raises (probably Dave the Grinder), and again we see a flop 8 ways for two bets. This time my only request is not to flop a single club. Zero, two or three would be just fine, but please not one. The deck cooperates:

Qc Ts 8c

I check/raise Dave the Grinder, he 3-bets and I cap it up. There are 5 of us left when the dust settled, and one or two opponents contributed a bet here and there before getting out of dodge. Let us estimate the pot at 38 small bets.

Qc Ts 8c - Jc

Being the capper on the previous street, I just go ahead and lead out which apparently was not the best course of action as it turned out. Everyone called, and we now had a 24 big bet pot on our hands.

Qc Ts 8c - Jc - Kd

Sweet mercy what a beautiful, sexy, utterly fantastic river card. Dave the Grinder is gonna have to call unless he has a set. Basically anyone with an ace now owes me $60 more. I bet and much to my amazement two of them do fold (what on Earth do you people have?). As I'm tabling my hand EBX (the tightest player at the table against whom I recently played these two hands) says "No, no, not the ace high flush!" and goes semi-ballistic while tabling his K9 of clubs after I show my hand. The guy made the second nut on the turn and didn't put in a raise....this is how tight and nitty he is. In a way I felt like I'd just taken a bad beat, as the 27 big bet pot I was dragging should have been 20% bigger.