Some Interesting Hands

For one reason or another, I found a few hands I played recently rather interesting, so I’ll post them in case anybody else does too.  They’re all from the $2/$5 no-limit table.

For the first hand, I was in the big blind.  The first player folded.  The second player called the big blind of $5.  He was a very loose player, seeing a lot of flops, so his call didn’t mean a thing to me.  (Although I don’t believe I will EVER understand why somebody in early position would ever just call the big blind.)  The only other caller was the small blind, another loose cannon.  I looked down to see Queen/Six of clubs – true garbage – so I checked and the three of us saw the flop.

It was Seven of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts, Jack of Clubs.  So I had flopped top pair with rotten kicker, but almost certainly the best hand.  The small blind checked; I bet $5 into the $15 pot and got both players to call.  Nice.

The turn was the Six of Diamonds, and suddenly I had two pair.  Oddly enough, at this point the small blind overbet $40 into the $30 pot.  There’s no way he had me beat; I’d seen him play enough to know that if he had either a set (because of a pocket pair) or a better two pair than me, he’d have bet it earlier.  So I just smooth called his bet.  The third player folded out of the way.

The river brought the Nine of Spades.  At this point, my opponent checked.  I value bet a measly $60 (the pot was over $100) and without much delay, he called.  I showed my two pair; I don’t know what he had because he mucked.  But I brought home a nice $220 pot.

As for the next hand on the agenda, I was in late position.  The player under the gun raised to $20 or four times the big blind.  (Now that is how to come in from early position!)  This guy was moderately tight, so I was a bit concerned about what he might have.  The next player folded; then the one after that called the bet cold.  He was a very loose player and his call didn’t really mean much to be as he had been playing a lot of pots.  Frankly, I put him on two high cards.  The next player folded; I looked down at the two red Queens.  Now, believe it or not, frequently in this situation I would strongly consider folding!  That is, a tight player in first position coming in for a raise, with one player calling the bet cold . . . absent any other information, I’d assume at least one of them had Aces or Kings.  But this was a very loose table, with everybody calling every bet with bizarre hands, so I thought that it was extremely possible that I had the best hand here.   So I went ahead and called.  The player to my left (who was the button) also called – but I actually liked that, because he was a truly terrible player and I saw it as a chance to take some chips from him.  The two blinds folded.

The flop was pretty good for me:  Seven of Hearts, Three of Hearts, Three of Spades.  I thought that it was extremely unlikely that it had hit anybody; with that much pre-flop action, you’d have to believe everybody had cards higher than seven.  The betting round confirmed my hunch, as the first two players checked (at this time I put the UTG guy also on two high cards).  I put $60 into the $87 pot; the button called and the other two players folded (whew!)

The turn was the Jack of Clubs; my Queens were almost certainly still good.  This time I put $140 out (the pot was around $200) and again my calling-station opponent came along for the ride.

River:  Three of Diamonds.  Now, only three hands beat me:  the case Three, or pocket Aces or Kings.  No way my button buddy had those.  I put him all in for another $120 (I had him covered).  He thought a good long time before folding, and the $460 pot was mine.

Big deal, you’re thinking, anybody can play pocket Queens.  And you’re right.  So this last hand is about as opposite a hand as you’ll find . . . in fact, it played out so odd that I just cracked up when I was over.  I won’t tell you my holding until the very end.

I was in the big blind.  The first player folded; the next one limped (he might be the tightest player I’ve ever seen); another fold, then the next player min-raised to $10 (why oh why such a ridiculous raise?).  The one to his left called the raise; it folded around to me.  At this point, with the pot odds I’d have called another $5 with any two cards, so I did.  Mr. Tight also called, so it was four to the flop.

The flop came two black Aces, and the Deuce of Diamonds.

When I see a flop like this, I have two competing reactions: (1) The fact that two Aces came makes it less likely that anybody else held an Ace pre-flop; and (2) If anybody does in fact hold an ace in their hand, it will become pretty clear during the betting that is to come.

I checked; so did Mr. Tight.  The pre-flop raiser put out a min-bet of $5, and I was the only caller.

The turn was the Three of Spades, and it went check-check.

The river brought the Ten on Clubs.  The pot held just over $50 by now.  I value-bet a miniscule $20 into the pot; my opponent called, and I turned over (what I knew from the flop on was) the winning hand:

Seven/Deuce of Clubs!

I don’t know what my opponent had for sure but it must have been two high cards.

I’m going to be playing at the “Poker Round-Up” at the Wildhorse Casino in the massive metropolis of Pendleton, Oregon next week.  Just a change of pace to shake things up.  I’m going to enter a couple of events there in addition to playing the cash games; I’ll let you know how I did.