Poker Tales

[dfense072]

Poker is a lot like fishing…as far as the stories go. You love to brag about your victories, and whine to anyone that'll listen about the "big one" that got away.

With that said, what's the best poker story/worst poker beat you've ever had? Unfortunately, mine was just last night... :mad:

I entered a $15 double-shootout NL hold'em qualifier on PokerStars last night. The tournament starts with 9 tables of 9 players, with the winners of each table advancing to a final table. The final 2 players each get an entry into a World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) event: $530 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed prize pool…and it's on my anniversary, no less.

Make it down to the final 2 at the first table, but the other player has about a 2-to-1 chip lead. We battle back and forth for about half an hour until I’m dealt J-8 suited in the small blind. I call and the big blind checks, flop is a beaut: J-8-6. I take down a big pot and eventually win…off to the final table!

Survive to the final 3 and we’re all playing fairly tight, hoping the other 2 will clash. I started going all-in quite a few times (with hands like AK, AJ, etc.) and was never called. FINALLY dealt 2 red kings in the small blind, but this time I just raise to $800 (blinds are $100-200). Big blind goes all-in, and I quickly call. Any guesses as to what the other player had???

Aces you say? Nope, I’m in the lead on this showdown.
Kings/queens? Nope.
A pair? Nope.
AK/AQ/AJ? Not even close.
A suited connector like KQ of spades. Nah.
The dude had the queen of clubs and 6 of spades.

Leaping out of my chair, I would’ve done backflips if I had the coordination. He must’ve thought I was weak by only raising $600 and tried to pick me off, but he was dead wrong (I was an 86% favorite according to cardplayer.com’s odds calculator). So now I’m only 5 cards away from a half-million dollar tournament…

Spade.
Spade.
Spade…now I’m freaking out (but still a 61% favorite).

Spade!

In 4 cards, I go from dominating favorite to drawing dead against a garbage flush. Instead of a free pass into the WCOOP, I get my $15 back for 4 hours of agita.

So there you have MY fish tale, anybody else have a good poker story? Misery loves company… graemlins/cry.gif

Jim

[ July 20, 2004, 01:27 PM: Message edited by: dfense072 ]

[Dean Martin]

Man...that SO sucks...but, that's poker I guess. There's all kinds of personalities out there and all mixtures of cards. I guess that's what makes it so intruiging...you just never know for sure. Sounds like you had a good time anyway.....~ Dino :cool:

[dfense072]

You're so right Dino, that's poker...it's just that I hate it when it happens to me!

But I also have a recent poker story with a happy (and lucrative) ending:

I was in Maryland with some friends last weekend for a bowling tournament, and one of the guys hosted a small hold'em tournament (bowlers also tend to be degenerate gamblers!) Stakes were $100/man + $50 rebuy if you were under $250 in chips (started w/$500).

You couldn't have asked for a better set-up to play poker: Joey's dining room table converted into an 8-player poker table...cushioned green felt, chip racks, drink holders and all. And for chips, his wife had purchased actual chips off of Ebay from a recently-closed poker room in Cali, Crystal Park I believe. Both the table and chips gave a real "executive game" feel to evening.

I was struggling early & rebuy, then was down to under $200 & started going all-in. I won a few hands, then I was dealt A10 suited. I made a big raise, and the mountain of a guy in the big blind was showing his cards to the others, saying "How can I call him with this?" But he called, and the flop was K-J-7. He checked and I bet big again, hoping to scare him out...and he goes all in.

Usually I would fold in this situation, but I only had $200 left...unless he had K7 or J7 I was sure he only caught 1 pair, the blinds were coming around ($50/100) and I needed to win a big pot to have any shot of winning any real money, so I called all-in & hoped for the best.

He showed J-9, which meant I needed to catch either an ace or queen to stay alive. The turn card was no help, but I banged an ace on the river! I can't remember the last time I got so lucky in such a huge situation...

A little later I called pre-flop w/76 of diamonds, and the flop was something like Q-8-5 w/2 diamonds. This gives me a shot at both a straight or a flush, so I bet big & Joey quickly called. The turn was a 9, so I bet my straight & get called again. The river was a diamond, and I was fearing Joey had caught a higher flush than mine, but I'm past the point of no return. I go all in & get called. Instead of showing 2 diamonds, he flipped over Q-8 for top 2 pair. I had knocked out the chip leader and made it to the final 2 all in one hand!

In the final hand heads-up I had J5 of diamonds in the small blind & called pre-flop, and the other guy (an Elvis impersonator, no less) went all in for $400 more. I called, and he showed A10 of spades.

BANG! The flop was 5-4-4, and it was all over...$550 for 1st.

The thrill of victory, followed 2 nights later by the agony of defeat! Gotta love poker...

Jim

[ July 22, 2004, 07:47 PM: Message edited by: dfense072 ]