Stupid luck
Posted by Chuck on August 6th, 2010I was playing the Thursday morning tournament at Artichoke Joe’s a roundup tournament where the object is not to accumulate the most chips, but the most roundup discs, each worth $40 when the tournament ends. It’s a limit tournament and it was getting to the middle rounds, when most people would be considered “short stacked.” I was above average in chips and had been playing my usual pretty tight game.
I was in early position and found Q-9 suited and decided to try and take advantage of my image. I raised. I expected I’d get one or two callers, especially the blinds, who I knew liked to defend and even cold call raises, or I might just steal the blinds. But I got surprised when the cutoff 3-bet. I knew him to be a fairly solid player who didn’t typically get out of line, so I knew instantly that I was behind. He had a stack size about the same size as mine, and I knew too that he probably wouldn’t have 3-bet with “just” hands such as AK or AQ.
Still, I figured the blinds would fold to the 3-bet. I was surprised again when the BB called 2 more bets. I closed the action.
The flop was nearly perfect for me: Q-J-9. I’d flopped top and bottom pair. I figured there was a good chance I was good. I checked, planning to check-raise. I got what I wanted. The 3-better did indeed bet out, the BB called, and I raised. Both called.
The turn was a rather ugly 10, putting 4 to a straight on the board. I checked, the 3-better bet, the BB folded, and I called, planning to call down on the river.
But the river brought a miracle. Or, as it turned out, my miracle. (Actually, my second miracle of the hand.) I bet out and got called, tabling my full house. The 3-bettor showed his pocket kings, pretty much right along the lines of what I thought he’d have 3-bet with.
The interesting thing about this hand is that other than the big blind coming along, it progressed pretty much exactly as it should have, given the progression of the board. Yes, I got lucky trying to make a play, but when I hit the flop hard, he had 9 outs to improve (2 kings, 3 jacks (for a bigger 2 pair), and 4 10s). He had the right pot odds to call my check-raise. The turn 10 meant I had to come from behind, with 4 outs, and although I wasn’t quite getting the right odds to call the turn bet, with the stacks getting as short as they were and the pot as big as it was, it would not have been correct to fold on the river if I had not hit.
But it was still pretty stupid luck that I hit twice in one hand.
P.S. I did finish in the money.