The Older the Player, the Higher the Kicker
The older the player, the higher the kicker.
- From Up for Poker blog entry,
“Lessons Learned”
I was warned about A-x. They told me it was trash in Super System, but some lessons need to be learned the hard way.
PokerStars Game #3031696823: Tournament #14978447, Hold'em No Limit Level V (75/150) - 2005/11/11 - 16:06:15 (ET) Table '14978447 2' Seat #2 is the button Seat 1: xMCNUGGETx (4775 in chips) Seat 2: JoseRijo27 (3360 in chips) Seat 3: brat666111 (2780 in chips) Seat 4: debduke (1210 in chips) Seat 5: Sandiehearts (6510 in chips) Seat 6: ShellBell78 (2905 in chips) Seat 7: Danog888 (2775 in chips) Seat 8: hotinontario (1965 in chips) Seat 9: GEMAVERICK (720 in chips) brat666111: posts small blind 75 debduke: posts big blind 150 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to JoseRijo27 [A♣ 4♦] Sandiehearts: folds ShellBell78: folds Danog888: folds hotinontario: folds GEMAVERICK: calls 150 xMCNUGGETx: folds JoseRijo27: calls 150 brat666111: folds debduke: checks *** FLOP *** [6♣ J♠ A♦] debduke: bets 300 GEMAVERICK: folds JoseRijo27: calls 300
At this point in the hand, I think debduke has A-X, too. Let’s just see one more card…
*** TURN *** [6♣ J♠ A♦] [4♣] debduke: bets 150 JoseRijo27: raises 650 to 800 debduke: calls 610 and is all-in
Wow, was that call worth it! She walked right into my trap. I’m living large and in charge.
*** RIVER *** [6♣ J♠ A♦ 4♣] [J♥] *** SHOW DOWN *** debduke: shows [7♥ A♥] (two pair, Aces and Jacks) JoseRijo27: shows [A♣ 4♦] (two pair, Aces and Jacks - lower kicker) debduke collected 2645 from pot
Oops. I was a 4-1 favorite (79.55%), but debduke had plenty of outs that I didn’t consider (three 6’s, three J’s, and three 7’s). Right after the hand, I figured this was a bad beat. But looking at it a week later, I’m wondering why I was in the hand to start with! That’s what experience will do for you.
Here’s another example.
PokerStars Game #3034703397: Tournament #14992454, Hold'em No Limit Level VII (100/200) - 2005/11/11 - 21:49:16 (ET) Table '14992454 1' Seat #1 is the button Seat 1: JoseRijo27 (4075 in chips) Seat 3: ratliff10 (7200 in chips) Seat 6: anothermoron (1100 in chips) Seat 7: VKCTX (2360 in chips) Seat 9: WikedWil (2025 in chips) JoseRijo27: posts the ante 25 ratliff10: posts the ante 25 anothermoron: posts the ante 25 VKCTX: posts the ante 25 WikedWil: posts the ante 25 ratliff10: posts small blind 100 anothermoron: posts big blind 200 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to JoseRijo27 [T♠ K♠] VKCTX: calls 200 WikedWil: folds JoseRijo27: raises 200 to 400 ratliff10: folds anothermoron: folds VKCTX: calls 200 *** FLOP *** [5♣ 9♦ K♦] VKCTX: bets 400 JoseRijo27: raises 400 to 800 VKCTX: calls 400 *** TURN *** [5♣ 9♦ K♦] [7♠] VKCTX: checks JoseRijo27: bets 1200 VKCTX: calls 1135 and is all-in *** RIVER *** [5♣ 9♦ K♦ 7♠] [8♥] *** SHOW DOWN *** VKCTX: shows [J♦ K♣] (a pair of Kings) JoseRijo27: shows [T♠ K♠] (a pair of Kings - lower kicker) VKCTX collected 5095 from pot
In hindsight, I would play this hand differently. I’m just not sure the result would be any different. Clearly, I had a strong hand. But it was no where near the nuts. With plenty of chips, why risk my tournament life on this hand?
Last Updated: Fri, 16 Dec 2005
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