08- 5-08, LearnTexasHoldem:
Running Nines - aka. No Justice for Great Play
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It was the $15K Guarantee w' Re-buys at BoDog, with a buy-in of $55. I had satellited into it through a sit-and-go and was playing great - in the first hour I ran my starting stack of 1,500 chips to over 8,000, and was above the average without even adding on at the break! We were into the third hour when this hand happened - the blinds were 200/400 with a 50 ante, and I had 12,345 chips (around the average).
I woke up in the big blind with A-K of diamonds. The player in the cutoff position - who I had covered by just over 2000 chips - min-raised, and the small blind called. I re-popped to 3000 chips total. The cutoff called, and the small blind folded, putting the pot at 7,250. At this point, I'm putting the cutoff on something like a medium ace or pocket-pair - I doubt he would call such a big raise with rags or even suited connectors.
The flop comes K-6-10 with two hearts and one club, giving me top pair-top kicker. I decide to check it. I figure if the cutoff was stealing before, he might take another shot at the pot again and I can get some more chips. And he does bet - a whopping 1180. It's a bet clearly intended to take me off the pot if I missed the flop. I figure if he had pocket 6's or pocket 10's, he would either 1) check to try and trap me, or 2) put out a bigger bet to try and get some value. I'm pretty sure I have the best hand at this point, so I check-raise to 3,000 total. The cutoff insta- calls, pushing the pot up to 13,250. Now I'm putting him on something like a flush draw, or maybe a weaker king - both of which I have beat.
The turn is a nine of spades. I consider for a moment that he might have queen-jack for a straight - but would he really have called such a big reraise pre-flop with queen-jack (even suited)? After a few seconds, I decide that no, he wouldn't have. So I push all-in (which is really putting him all-in). If he has a heart draw, I'm going to make him pay to hit; if he has a king, he'll probably call and I'll be a huge favorite. The player takes about four seconds, then calls all-in. And what does he turn over? A-x of hearts? King-queen? Nope - A-9 of clubs. I'm amazed at what he shows, but I'm now a 95% favorite to win a 21,600 chip pot and be in great position towards the money. All that can save him is one of the two remaining nines...which he promptly gets when the nine of diamonds hits the river. Just like that, he takes a huge pot with running nines and I'm almost out of chips. I end up busting a few hands later when my pocket sixes get outdrawn by A-2 offsuit (only fitting).
To recap: My opponent 1) called a big pre-flop reraise with a marginal hand, 2) Insta-called a check-raise on the flop with Ace-high and no draw, and 3) Called for his tournament life with third pair and no draw - and ends up taking a huge pot. Meanwhile, I 1) Made the right raise with a big pre-flop hand, 2) Correctly read my opponent as weak (maybe not the exact hand, but he was weak) and bet accordingly, and 3) Got him to match my all-in when I was a huge favorite - and end up with nothing to show for my great play (or my buy-in). In other words, I did everything right and lost, while he did everything wrong and won. I know all the sayings about how he did what I wanted him to do, and good play eventually gets rewarded, and everything else. All I have to say to that is: Why should I keep playing if I'm always getting punished for making the right move?
-Michael
Answer:
That's a real bad beat Michel. I know that it's not much comfort that players like that are the ones that makes the game of poker so profitable for the rest of us. It's hard to think long term when you stare ate the screen in disbelief after a beat like that.
Good luck at the tables!
Clark Jensen
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