Pocket Sixes, Suck...

11/5/008

Pocket Sixes, Suck...

Yeah right, that's the hand I won with at my first NLHE
tournament at Lucky Chances, years ago. Well, it's a monster
heads up. A gamble when you have a raise in front of you,
when you are in mid position. But when you haven't seen the
semblance of at least an Ace high hand in a couple of hours,
those pocket Sixes look like Aces. Anyway, I was short stacked
with about only 5 bets, with blinds at $600/1,200, with a $100
ante. There was about $2,500.00 in the pot preflop. The UTG
player raised the bet to $3,200. 3 players folded in front of
me, I then looked down at the Sixes. I decided to go all in,
knowing I would at least get a call from the initial raiser,
as he had pot odds to call my all in bet.

Sorry for the Tarantino non-linear style of blogging today.
The tournament took place at Caesars, last Monday 11/3/08.
It was one of their Mega Stack NLHE tournys, where the buyin
was $235.00, which gave you starting chips of $10,000.00.
The blind structure was pretty good, as they changed every
50 minutes. A good slow structure, with a lot of poker
playing. 87 players signed up for the event. Top 9 got
paid, where first was $5,400.00, which wouldn't be bad
for a Monday...

I made a key laydown, during the $50/100 blinds level.
I was in the small blind and did not look at my cards yet.
There were about 3 limpers in the pot, when the bet got to
me. I peeled up my cards and saw 2 black Aces. I decided
to raise the bet to $500.00 total. The big blind player
called, got folds from the next 2 players and the dealer
button player called. There was about $1,700.00 in the pot
preflop. The flop came Ten of Spades, Two of Clubs and Five
of Hearts. A pretty raggedy board. I decided to make a bet
of $1,100.00 into the pot. The big blind player raised the
bet to $3,000.00. WTF? The dealer button player went
immediately all in. WTF, again? I tanked for about a
couple of minutes. I kinda' felt that I was beating
the big blind player already, but I could not beat the
dealer button player's hand. What did the dealer button
player have? A set of Fives, A set of Two's? I wouldn't
think a Set of Tens, I think he would have slowplayed
that hand, considering the flop. After some, soul searching,
I decided to fold, I knew I was beat. Anyway, the
big blind player (who I knew I had), decided to call the
dealer button player's all in bet. Oh, another reason I laid
down the pocket Aces, was that the all in bet from the other
player, would have put me all in too. I can't go out of the
tournament with just a pair. The big blind player flipped
up Nine/Ten OS (for just a pair of Tens) and the dealer
button player flipped up Two/Five of Spades (for bottom two
pair). See, I made the right laydown. That's why I hate
getting pocket Aces sometimes, you sometimes feel committed
to playing them to the end, but again it is just one pair.
The dealer turned a King of Clubs and the river was dealt
a Jack of Hearts. I wouldn't have gotten lucky on the two
remaining cards. The big blind player lost and was pretty
much stacked off, he had only about $600.00 in chips left.
Man, that should have been my pot.

I made a decent bluff against the dealer button player, in
the next couple of hands. I had Ace/Nine of Spades on
the button. There were only a couple limpers ahead of
me, so I decided to call the bet of $100.00. The small
blind and big blind players checked. There was about
$600.00 in the pot. The flop was dealt Queen of Spades,
Eight of Spades and 7 of Diamonds. It was checked down
to the the midposition player (the Two/Five of Spades guy),
and he bet out $300.00. I didn't think he had a Queen,
he probably would have bet $400.00 to $500.00, to protect
it from a flush draw. He probably only had a pair of Eights.
I decided to call his bet, everybody else folded.
We were now heads up. The turn came a Five of Clubs.
He now checked and I in turn checked. The river card came
a Five of Hearts. I'm probably going to bluff this
board, if he doesn't bet. He checks pretty weakly.
I peel off $750.00 in chips and bet it into the pot.
He knocks the felt and folds, "Good hand" he says to me.
I rake in the pot, yay!!! Lol...

Another hand where I debated on making a laydown, was
where I played Queen/Ten of Hearts UTG and just called
the big blind bet of $800.00. Everybody folded around and
the small blind player made it $2,400.00 total to go. The
big blind player called and decided to call as well. I had
position and decent pot odds to call with a hand that could
flop well. The flop was dealt King of Hearts, Four of Hearts
and 6 of Clubs. I have a flush draw, hmmm? The small blind
player bet out a third of the pot. I had about a 3 to 1 call,
to try to hit my flush on the turn card. I decided to just
call, as the pot was laying me a good price to hit the
potential nuts. The turn card was dealt an Ace of Diamonds
and now I have a gutshot straight draw as well as the flush
draw, with one card to go. The small blind player immediately
put out a pot sized bet, which essentially puts me all in,
if I call. After thinking about the hand for a minute, I
decided to fold. I still had enough chips to make a few
moves later. I didn't want to gamble, with one card to go
(albeit with twelve outs, if I put the other player on
just a pair of Kings - nine Hearts and three non Heart
Jacks - for flush and straight). I think my mistake in the
hand, was that I should have went all in over the top of his
flop bet and try to make him make a decision for a large
amount of his chips (he had twice as many chips as me at the
time). If he did only have a pair of Kings, I could have
made him fold them on the flop. Maybe he would think, I could
have a set of Sixes or Fours, maybe two pair even. If I did
get called with an all in on the flop, I still would have
outs for the flush draw on the flop and straight draw on
the turn.

Back to the pocket sixes, after my all in, everybody folds
and the UTG player asks how much to call. He's gonna call
anyway, I think, as the pot is laying him about 3 to 1. He
thinks for a good minute - he must have been trying to steal.
Anyway, he makes the crying call and flips up Jack/Eight of
Spades. Well, at least it's a race. The flop is dealt King
of Clubs, Ten of Spades and Two of Hearts. A complete miss
for him. I requested the dealer to just put a Six out
there. The turn came a Jack of Clubs. Jeez...The river
was a 9 of Clubs. Upside down Six, hehe...

Busted out Jordan style, 23rd out of 87. But no, fade away
3 pointer for me this time...

The End...