Could there have been a greater invitation to buy the sbo pot? The heavyset kid quickly grabs a stack of twenty $5 chips and pushes it past the line. He was telling me he had a flush. I had to decide if he was telling the truth.
Had I bet into the pot, I think he still might have thrown out a significant raise. I should have bet bigger before the river, but I didn’t. He bet $100 into a $180 pot and I had to decide whether it was worth another $100. Last time I made this choice, it was the wrong one. But I knew I was beat in that case.
This time, I wasn’t sure, but I laid it down anyway. He flipped over 45o. It was a stone-cold bluff. And his flip wasn’t apologetic or jovial, it was cocky. He was saying, “Ha, I outplayed you, you fish.” I guess he was right.
Intermission: The Rush
At that point, I was getting close to about $50 and I bought another $50 in chips. For the day, that put me in for $290. I was kicking myself for those two hands, but I vowed to put them behind me.
It’s Cowboys and I win a pot. Then it’s J9o from the BB and I win some more. My AQo outflops AKs and it’s another nice pot. I get pocket A’s again and this time it never makes it to the showdown. I’m up to $340.
I get my first Big Slick, in clubs and I raise to $15 with a couple of callers. The flop is Jc-Tc-x. I bet $25 and another guy pushes all in for $111. It’s gonna cost me $86 on a complete draw. I know I have some outs, but I’m not sure how many.
Best case, he’s got top pair or an overpair of Q’s. If that’s the case, I could have as many as 9 clubs, three K’s, three A’s and two or four Q’s. That’s 17 or 19 outs twice. That means I’m actually a favorite. I call and he flips pocket Q’s, including one club. That makes me a 55% favorite. Without doing the actual math in my head, I make the call. The A on the turn puts my stack at $501.
AQo, K6o and KQo all also win me pots and I’m now at $750. It’s probably time to leave, right?
- It’s Ace-rag, and I hate Ace-rag
I’m in the SB when I see A6o. There are 5 pre-flop callers so I toss in two more bucks and the BB checks. The flop is A-J-7. I suspect I may have the only Ace, since no one raised pre-flop, but I check, and so does everyone else.
The turn is another Ace. I think I’ve been here before, but this time there’s no flush draw on the board. I bet $25 and the BB is the only one who calls me. The river is a 9. I bet $50 and he pushes for about $150 more.
Ugh. What have I gotten myself into? Am I being played again?
If I look back over the betting, it doesn’t make sense. I lose to AK, AQ, AJ, AT, A9 or A7, or pocket 7’s, 9’s, or J’s. As I look at that list of hands, I just couldn’t imagine the BB checking. He had generally raised preflop with those holdings. I guess pocket 7’s or A7 or A9 might have been checking hands. If he’s got an A with a bad kicker, we’d split. Was he trying to buy my half of the pot?
I called.