Two Pair Ain’t What it Used to Be
I played three poker tournaments last night, and all three turned out to be very interesting. Of course, they were interesting in the ways that I lost all three. In these two tournaments, I learned the disasters that befall those who slow-play two pair.
Don’t Forget the Flush Draw!
The first tourney ended when, as the small blind, I decided to “see the flop” with K7s:
PokerStars Game #3068923907: Tournament #15167731, Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2005/11/15 - 20:36:37 (ET) Table '15167731 2' Seat #4 is the button Seat 1: spulcer (1945 in chips) Seat 2: AggieTau (905 in chips) Seat 3: pebblypoo (2670 in chips) Seat 4: alenick (1720 in chips) Seat 5: JoseRijo27 (1390 in chips) Seat 6: 1 lefty 1 (1125 in chips) Seat 8: my10derheart (135 in chips) Seat 9: M.I.GMEN (2170 in chips) JoseRijo27: posts small blind 50 1 lefty 1: posts big blind 100 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to JoseRijo27 [7♠ K♠] my10derheart: raises 35 to 135 and is all-in M.I.GMEN: calls 135 spulcer: folds AggieTau: folds pebblypoo: folds alenick: calls 135 JoseRijo27: calls 85 1 lefty 1: calls 35 *** FLOP *** [K♣ 7♥ 5♣]
What the heck? It was only $85, and I was fishing for flush. But my eyes popped out of my head when I saw the two pair. It would prove to be the worst flop imaginable.
JoseRijo27: bets 400 1 lefty 1: folds M.I.GMEN: folds alenick: calls 400 *** TURN *** [K♣ 7♥ 5♣] [3♣]
Would could this alenick guy have, anyway?
JoseRijo27: bets 855 and is all-in alenick: calls 855 *** RIVER *** [K♣ 7♥ 5♣ 3♣] [8♦] *** SHOW DOWN *** JoseRijo27: shows [7♠ K♠] (two pair, Kings and Sevens) alenick: shows [4♣ 2♣] (a flush, King high) alenick collected 2510 from side pot my10derheart: shows [A♥ K♥] (a pair of Kings) alenick collected 675 from main pot
Arrrgh!! To be honest, I didn’t even consider a flush. Against alenick, I’m not sure I could have laid my hand down, anyway.
Double Whammy
Here’s the poker equivalent of being run over by a street car. We’re down to eight, and the whole field has been playing tight. With no real dominating stack at the table, I decide (correctly) to be aggressive:
PokerStars Game #3069850449: Tournament #15170817, Hold'em No Limit Level IX (300/600) - 2005/11/15 - 22:08:53 (ET) Table '15170817 1' Seat #4 is the button Seat 1: VTMBA2K (3520 in chips) Seat 2: JorgeDS (5725 in chips) Seat 3: RATMOE007 (2565 in chips) Seat 4: brownj22 (1805 in chips) Seat 5: Gorchev (3815 in chips) Seat 6: JoseRijo27 (3200 in chips) Seat 7: evergo (1365 in chips) Seat 9: sillybillysr (5005 in chips) VTMBA2K: posts the ante 50 JorgeDS: posts the ante 50 RATMOE007: posts the ante 50 brownj22: posts the ante 50 Gorchev: posts the ante 50 JoseRijo27: posts the ante 50 evergo: posts the ante 50 sillybillysr: posts the ante 50 Gorchev: posts small blind 300 JoseRijo27: posts big blind 600 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to JoseRijo27 [K♥ A♥] evergo: folds sillybillysr: raises 600 to 1200 VTMBA2K: folds JorgeDS: folds RATMOE007: folds brownj22: folds Gorchev: folds JoseRijo27: calls 600 *** FLOP *** [2♥ T♣ A♠] JoseRijo27: bets 1200 sillybillysr: folds JoseRijo27 collected 3100 from pot JoseRijo27: doesn't show hand
That was a nice time for the Big Slick. Now, I’m feeling my oats. Then the sun starts to melt my wings on the very next hand.
PokerStars Game #3069858432: Tournament #15170817, Hold'em No Limit Level IX (300/600) - 2005/11/15 - 22:09:37 (ET) Table '15170817 1' Seat #5 is the button Seat 1: VTMBA2K (3470 in chips) Seat 2: JorgeDS (5675 in chips) Seat 3: RATMOE007 (2515 in chips) Seat 4: brownj22 (1755 in chips) Seat 5: Gorchev (3465 in chips) Seat 6: JoseRijo27 (5050 in chips) Seat 7: evergo (1315 in chips) Seat 9: sillybillysr (3755 in chips) VTMBA2K: posts the ante 50 JorgeDS: posts the ante 50 RATMOE007: posts the ante 50 brownj22: posts the ante 50 Gorchev: posts the ante 50 JoseRijo27: posts the ante 50 evergo: posts the ante 50 sillybillysr: posts the ante 50 JoseRijo27: posts small blind 300 evergo: posts big blind 600 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to JoseRijo27 [5♦ 4♣] sillybillysr: folds VTMBA2K: folds JorgeDS: folds RATMOE007: folds brownj22: folds Gorchev: calls 600 JoseRijo27: calls 300 evergo: checks
One caller on the button. For 300 bucks, let me just see the flop. Just for the heck of it.
*** FLOP *** [5♠ 4♥ 2♥] JoseRijo27: bets 600 evergo: folds Gorchev: calls 600
Ahhh! I can’t breathe! I figure Gorchev has overcards, so I slow-play this just a bit.
*** TURN *** [5♠ 4♥ 2♥] [K♥] JoseRijo27: bets 1200 Gorchev: raises 1015 to 2215 and is all-in JoseRijo27: calls 1015
I gave him a chance to fold with some chips left over, but he gave me no choice but to call.
*** RIVER *** [5♠ 4♥ 2♥ K♥] [A♠] *** SHOW DOWN *** JoseRijo27: shows [5♦ 4♣] (two pair, Fives and Fours) Gorchev: shows [K♠ A♣] (two pair, Aces and Kings) JoseRijo27 said, "Ohhh!" Gorchev collected 7830 from pot sillybillysr said, "nh"
That’s right. Sucked out by a King-Ace. At least I still have some chips. I can still recover from this blow. I’m not panicking.
Two hands later, my wings fall off. While trying to clear a hand-history dialog box, I accidently click the ‘call’ button with 9-3 offsuited. D’OH!!!!
PokerStars Game #3069873048: Tournament #15170817, Hold'em No Limit Level IX (300/600) - 2005/11/15 - 22:11:00 (ET) Table '15170817 1' Seat #7 is the button Seat 1: VTMBA2K (3370 in chips) Seat 2: JorgeDS (5575 in chips) Seat 3: RATMOE007 (1815 in chips) Seat 4: brownj22 (1655 in chips) Seat 5: Gorchev (7780 in chips) Seat 6: JoseRijo27 (1535 in chips) Seat 7: evergo (315 in chips) Seat 9: sillybillysr (4955 in chips) VTMBA2K: posts the ante 50 JorgeDS: posts the ante 50 RATMOE007: posts the ante 50 brownj22: posts the ante 50 Gorchev: posts the ante 50 JoseRijo27: posts the ante 50 evergo: posts the ante 50 sillybillysr: posts the ante 50 sillybillysr: posts small blind 300 VTMBA2K: posts big blind 600 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to JoseRijo27 [3♣ 9♠] JorgeDS: folds RATMOE007: calls 600 brownj22: calls 600 Gorchev: folds JoseRijo27: calls 600 evergo: calls 265 and is all-in sillybillysr: calls 300 VTMBA2K: checks *** FLOP *** [2♣ T♥ 3♦] sillybillysr: checks VTMBA2K: checks RATMOE007: checks brownj22: checks JoseRijo27: checks *** TURN *** [2♣ T♥ 3♦] [9♣]
The dreaded two-pair. Now I’m really convinced that I have the best hand. And I don’t have many chips left, so in I go…
sillybillysr: bets 600 VTMBA2K: folds RATMOE007: folds brownj22: folds JoseRijo27: raises 285 to 885 and is all-in sillybillysr: calls 285 *** RIVER *** [2♣ T♥ 3♦ 9♣] [T♣] *** SHOW DOWN *** sillybillysr: shows [9♥ 7♥] (two pair, Tens and Nines) JoseRijo27: shows [3♣ 9♠] (two pair, Tens and Nines - lower kicker) sillybillysr collected 3445 from side pot evergo: shows [6♣ 8♣] (a flush, Ten high) evergo collected 1990 from main pot
That’s right. My two-pair were suddenly moot when the board paired. And I was off to bed!
Last Updated: Fri, 16 Dec 2005
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