I was playing in a 1-2 NL recently and lost a good chunk of money on a hand that STILL haunts me. I don’t know how I could’ve played it any differently, and it’s driving me nuts. Here’s the quickie rundown of what happened:
I’m in the SB with a stack of 260 or so and catch KhKc.
Everyone folds to the cutoff, a very loose player to this point (he’s sitting on about 200), who raises to $10. Every hand he’s in gets raised to $10 if he’s first to act, and he’s shown down trash like 4-6 offsuit and 6-10 offsuit, exploited for catching a low pair or chasing a draw in those spots; and he’s also shown down QQ and AK (for top two) — still, raises to $10 any time he’s opening.
I can’t really put him on a hand here, and I think I’m definitely best here, so I call, thinking I might be able to set a trap, as he’s been in his pocket several times already, losing to premium hands while chasing.
BB comes along, which surprised me, and the flop comes out:
Ks, 9h, 9d (I have a hard time not cracking a grin …)
I check. BB checks. “Fast and Loose” fires $30 into the pot. I Hollywood a few seconds, then make the call (thinking my trap is set for sure; I put him on some form of king here, not knowing if it’s AK or K2 … I put him on the remote possibility of a big 9, but figure he’d have checked too if he had that) … BB hem-haws, too, then moves in for roughly $130!
I’m doing my best to hide my glee, when my maniac friend moves in over the top for his remaining $150!
I insta-call and turn up my hand, both my opponents look sick.
BB turns over QQ, and states, “I couldn’t get away from it …”
The raiser turns over AK, and meekly murmurs, “I got outs …”
I’m thinking, “They’ll need a miracle …” You can see where this is going, I’m sure.
So we’re all sitting there, largest pot of the night, and the turn comes off:
9s. I foolishly say out loud, “You need a nine.” Well, guess what rivered? The case 9 of spades, giving the maniac quad nines, ace kicker to win the whole thing.
I couldn’t even get mad — I was too dumbfounded.
OK, so my question is: Could this hand have been played differently? A friend of mine who kind of helped me cut my teeth in the game said I could’ve re-raised preflop … but I argue that this wouldn’t have changed the outcome, as I know AK and QQ would have to come along for any price. He contends I could’ve moved AK off his hand preflop with a stiff re-reraise. In retrospect, I suppose it was possible. He made his standard raises, but backed off too on occasion, when he met a large re-raise. I still don’t know if he was disciplined enough get away from big slick in position.
I chalk it up to poker being poker, and wished I’d been in a casino that paid a bad-beat jackpot!
