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Winning with the Worst Hand
	In my last entry I was talking about busting out of 3 tournaments in a row with the best pre-flop hands. But, of course the poker breaks go both ways. This weekend the pedulum swung back in my favor. I made it deep into the tournament courtesy of several hands that occured well before the final table where I was the pre-flop dog, but managed to win.

By far this was the hand that should have had me walking out with empty pockets. With blinds of 2000-4000 I had just 20,000 in chips, so I needed to find some more quickly. I had pushed in with AQ a few hands earlier and picked up the blinds. So, with 33 I tried it again. But after quite a bit of thinking the player to my left went all in with his 19,000, followed by a woman with just 6000 chips and another player with about 19-20,000 as well. So, with 4 players all in it's now my 33 vs 88, TT and AJ suited spades. I can't even imagine how far behind I am. The flop is "good news, bad news". Good news: there's a 3 so I have a set! Bad news: they're all spades so AJ has the nut flush. Good news: it is the 6000 chip short stack that is holding the AJ, so I'm in the lead for the larger side pot. My trips hold up and I have actually nearly doubled up. Just as nice, the other two players are eliminated.

Less dramatic, but just as important was a hand a little later with the blinds 3000-6000. I was in the small blind. Everyone folds to the button who raises to 12,000. I'm smelling a blind steal. So, with that thought and JT hearts I raised all in to 30,000 and was hoping to steal it back. Well, my sense of smell was off and I got called by KQ. Luckily, I hit a flush on the turn and dodged a 4th heart, as my opponent had the heart king. Now, with 60,000 in chips I had a decent chance of making it to the final table.

Here's my last hand: Three players left. Blinds of 15,000-30,000. I was big blind, the button folded and the small blind said he was raising enough to put me all in. I had 66 and only about 100,000 more chips, so I called. He had Q8 suited diamonds. This is about as even a match-up as can be. If I win, I've probably got the chip lead and have put a big hurt on the other guy. But it was not to be. He hit two diamonds on the flop and the flush on the river. I'm walking out, but this time with money in my pocket and no complaints.

Losing with the Best Hand
	Even though we enter a pot with the best hand (or a hand we thought was best) we realize they don't always hold up. Sure, it's disappointing, but we need to expect that it will happen every so often. In the last 3 tournaments I've entered I've found myself busted even though I was the early favorite.

The first time it was very early in the tournament with the blinds just 100-200. I was on the button and everyone else had folded. This is quite unusual for this crowd, especially so early. What do I have but AA. Yes, I know you're supposed to raise, but there is only 300 in the pot, and I want to make more than that with pocket aces. So I just called and prayed that one of the blinds would raise. No such luck; the SB folded, the BB checked. The flop is 9 4 2. My opponent bets out 1200. I have only 1600 left, so they all go in. I'm feeling pretty good about it until the other guy turns over 9 4! I'm a goner, but I guess I got what I deserved.

Next time I make it to the second round with blinds of 200-400. I am down to 2100 chips when I find pocket kings. The player to my immediate right raises to 1200. I raise all-in, my immediate left calls and so does the original raiser. I'm a little nervous, but still hoping to triple up. But, when an ace shows on the flop I get that sinking feeling. Sure enough, "Mr Right" has AQ. Good-bye.

Last week I was doing OK, having stolen a few small pots. I had decided to be more aggresive as I had done the very first time I played in this tournament and taken first place. It is the third round (300-600). I had 4600 chips and was dealt 77. No one else had come in so with my more aggresive attitude I raised to 2400. The next guy goes all in for 4800 and it is folded back around to me. There is 7900 in the pot now (I'm only counting 4600 of the other guy's bet since thats all I had). If he has an over pair to mine I'm a 4:1 dog and I'm getting a little less than that in pot odds. If he has just 2 big cards, I was a slight favorite. But, I'm kind of stuck. I decided it was at least 50-50 that I was ahead, so in went my last 2200. I was happy to see his hand of AQ, as well as a flop and turn that did him no good. But, the river was a queen and once more I'm walking out.

My Hands Were Tied
	I played in my usual home game eariler this week. We play a variety of dealer's choice games. In fact, many of the games described on our Dealer's Choice page come from that game. We find high-low split to be the most enjoyable and generate the most action. That's what we play the most and that is what was involved in what I thought was an odd or unlikely occurance.

Tying for the low hand in a high-low split game is not unusual, so the first time it happened I was not surprised. In a hand of Omaha-8 another player and I had A2 and ended up splitting. A couple of hands later it was a hand of "Thirty-two". I was dealt 432AA so was virtually a guarranteed lock for low. Indeed, the first 3 board cards counterfieted none of my cards and going to the last card I was assured of the nut low. The last card was a 2, but I still had it with the 43A. Unfortunately, 43A was exactly what one of the others had, so it was a tie for me again.

As I said, tying for the low hand is not at all uncommon. Still, it is disappointing to have to split pots you thought you had sewn up. What I did not expect was to do it again and again and again for a total of 5 times I had the nut low only to tie the hand in this one evening of poker. But, that is what happened in a hand of "Bummer" and 2 more hands of Omaha-8. To my thinking it was quite a rare event.

String Bet Fever

I was playing in a local tournament again this past weekend. In the course of just a few hands I ran into two string bet situations. They both struck me as a little odd. In the first one of the players tosses a 1000 chip onto the table and says "raise a thousand". There is only one other player in the hand and his response is something to the effect: "I hate to call a string bet on you, but your chip hit the felt before you said raise". The dealer agreed, so the 1000 raise was disallowed. Since the big blind was just 200, that became the size of the bet. I didn't agree. To me the 1000 bet and the tossing of the chip occured almost simultaneously. But, I'm not involved in the hand, so it's none of my business to say anything.

The second event was a hand I was involved in. I had checked on the turn with the intention of check raising. As I expected, the button bet 200, so I said "I'm going to raise". I then placed a 1000 chip on the table and said "make it 1000". Almost immediately the player to my left calls a string bet on me. Correctly, the dealer states that I had announced the intention of raising, so my raise was indeed proper. No string bet. No problem with that, but this is what irked me: the player who made the string bet call is not one of the players left in the hand. What business does he have trying to call a string bet? What business does he have saying anything about the hand?

Okay, so there was no harm done. Everything was over in an instant. No argument. The game goes on. Nevertheless, I still think that once you've folded your hand, you keep your mouth shut. What do you think?

Conspiracy Theory

I've been playing recently in a tournament that is held at a local fraternal organization. The players in this tournament have been all over the board. Some are just starting out, and so play like you'd expect a beginner to play, with tentative actions and behavior that reveals their inexperience. But many of the players seem to have considerable poker experience in general and familiarity with no limit hold'em tournaments specifically. Even so, you never know when you are going to see something that really surprises you.

The blinds were 300-600. I was in early position and held pocket queens. With only 2500 in chips left and no one else yet in the pot I pushed them all in. A late position player and one of the blinds called. The flop was pretty benign. I don't recall what it was and it really isn't important to the story. Since the other players had chips the hand still had to be played out. To my surprise the first player says to the other "Want to check it down?"

What?! To make sure I had heard correctly, I asked if he was asking the other player to check down the hand? "Ya" was the response. Of course, I said they couldn't do that; it was collusion! They both looked at me with expressions that revealed they had no idea what I was talking about. "We can check it down if we want to" was essentially the reply. Seemingly they had never heard of something called "collusion" and obviously they had no idea of what it was. Worse still, they couldn't seem to realize their offense, why they couldn't do anything they wanted to do or why I was upset about it. Although I gave my explaination, why it was wrong didn't seem to register.

At any rate, the "check it down" idea was out there and that is what ended up happening. Luckily, my hand held up. Maybe with some time to think about it they've figured out what collusion is and know enough not to do it. Just goes to show that there is more to playing poker than betting raising and folding.