Monday, March 15, 2010

Play Bad Run Good

I'm really not proud of this hand, but it was pretty exciting and should make a good story, so here goes. I'm sitting in a jumpin' commerce 20/40 game, gaining great entertainment from the two jokers on my left (one is playing, the other just sitting there talking and being awkward) discussing how hard it is to make money playing 20/40 and how the games have changed and how nobody should tip and all sorts of ceaseless rubbish. The man folds UTG and the player on his left raises. 3 people cold call (as I said....jumpin'), the small blind comes along, and I behold the beast that is 73 of diamonds. I say to myself "straight flush draw" and sling in the 4 chips. This call is pretty easy with any two cards that can do anything whatsoever. I might fold J2o or some similar cheese ball, but any two suited is a turbo-call. Plus, I have excellent post flop position, basically acting last if the sb and I opt to check to the preflop raiser. The boar is:

Ad 7h 6d

Also known as gin. But wait....I've forgotten who the preflop raiser was! What do I do? In my panic I do what Babar tells me, and simply fire a bet into the pot, on the immediate right of the preflop raiser in a 6 way pot when I've flopped a monster draw. Well, whatchagonna do....sometimes you screw up. He just calls, and I breath a sigh of relief. He probably has QQ or something and might not have bet anyway, and I've avoided the only bad thing that could have happened, which was ending up headsup with a guy holding AK. Two players call behind, and while I'm not exactly thrilled with the result, at least it didn't check around. Dealer, the turn.....

Ad 7h 6d - 3c

Two (ugly) pears! I bet cause I mean what else am I gonna do, right? The preflop raiser now springs to life and raises. My brain starts whirring around, but only smoke comes out. I decide he has somehow slow-played AK, which in retrospect is just impossible. People don't do that. I probably still have the best hand, and if I don't have all kinds of outs. To make matters worse, another player calls two cold. In my fantasy world I'm crushing both of them and, if behind, have 4 outs to boat up and 9 more to make a flush. In the real world, it's much more likely that the pfr has a set of aces or 7s (killing nearly half my outs), and the other player has a flush draw (although this is unlikely since he did tank before calling). So what do I do? 3 bets! The preflop raiser caps instantly and the other guy folds. I cringe and call, praying to the lord of idiots to save me this one time with a clean diamond.

Ad 7h 6d - 3c - Jd

My check/raise is swift and merciless. As the preflop raiser is slow-calling the idiots on my left ascertain that I must have 45 of diamonds, which is I guess is possible since I might not have been allowed to 5 bet on the turn since another player called two bets, but whatever. As my hand hits the felt it is met with chorus of ooohhhs, awwws, and "soooted!"s

3 comments:

AIMless Ronin said...

Wait, but what did he actually have?

jesse8888 said...

He called the river and mucked in disgust, so either he open raised 54s, or flopped a set.

Unknown said...

can never win with the rockets, even when I flop a set!!