outdraws were due

ended up with a nice session on friday night winning over 2 buyins, but it was a rollercoaster. early in the session i checked my option in the big blind with 8-2, a veritable powerhouse i normally would have three bet preflop. i flopped top pair and checkraised the two other players in the hand. they both called. keep in mind it was a limped pot. i made a nice bet on the turn, which was a 9, and they both called again! i guess my pair of 8s wasn't the best hand. the river was a 2, giving me 2 pair, not a likely card to have helped my opponents. the pot was pretty decent and i was happy to show down 2 pair. i checked, and the middle position player bet $100, which was a relatively significant bet for the pot. the other player folded, but i was new to the table and didn't know how to interpret the bet. i hadn't played with this guy and i seriously considered folding. i ended up calling as there were no straights or flushes, and he confidently showed down pocket JJ. my 2 pair took down a pot worth more than an entire buy in! it was his own fault -- he didn't raise preflop with JJ!?!?

i later double barrel bluffed with Jd9d from the big blind after three betting preflop. the guy called significant bets on the flop and the turn, but then when i luckily made a king high straight on the river and pushed all in, he folded. if i had shown down that hand, which was a pure bluff up until the river, it would have destroyed any kind of tight image i had fostered and i could have gotten paid whenever i did actually have a hand !! but sadly he didn't call. it was still a nice pot, granted one in which i got lucky.

that same guy in seat 9 turned out to be my nemesis. i thought he was a typical tight aggressive player, but he switched it up on me and called my preflop raise with 2s4s from the small blind when i held JJ. with four cards to a straight on board, his 4 made the worst possible straight on the turn. i pot controlled with a check behind. i had to call his little value bet on the river and was kind of surprised that he played 2-4 for a raise.

2 more hands against that same guy: 1) i held 4-5 and called the blind in middle position. i flopped an open end straight draw with a 2-3-K flop and turned the nuts with a 6. seat 9 and i got it all in on the turn after he pushed over my raise. i (obviously) called instantly with the stone nuts. the K on the river put me in 2nd place when he showed down pocket 6s for the boat. ouch. 2) soon thereafter i made a nice re-raise in the blind with KK and seat 9 called me again. the flop was Q high and i bet close to the pot -- he called !! i thought he must have a nice pair like JJ, or that he was slowplaying QQ waiting for me to fire big on the turn before dropping the hammer. i checked the A on the turn and he checked behind. i checked the river and he showed down AK. brutal 3 outer on the turn vs my dominating hand. i couldn't beat that damn guy!

our table broke and we moved over to a new one. i hung around for a while without many hands. i raised in late position with 4-5 and flopped 2 pair........but the flop was 4-5-6. a good, but not fantastic flop for my hand. the first player checked, the 2nd bet, and i made a good raise, happy to take it down right now. the early position player cold called 2 bets. that's not really what i was looking for, i was hoping to isolate, or just to win the pot. they both checked the brick turn to the raiser, me. my stack was just about the size of the pot now, and i didn't fancy giving it up. i could be drawing very slim vs. 7-8 or 2-3, (7-3 wasn't a likely hand for these players). i was hoping they were both on pair/straight draw hands and i pushed all in. the early position player called instantly -- whoooooooops! the other guy folded and i knew i was all but dead. i made a bad read and put my money in on a dangerous board. he of course showed 7-8 for the nuts. i then made one of my biggest recent suckouts with a 4 on the river. wow. i felt bad as i stacked the mountain of chips (hahahaha!).

i stuck around for a while and won most of the small pots i entered. it was a fun night, but that was the end of the suckouts.