A fun hand

So the following happened yesterday; I started playing at about 8:00pm, and by 9:00pm had moved up to table #1.  Right after sitting down, a couple of regular players started teasing me about luring unsuspecting players to their demise.  They were being very good natured, and well, I love hearing conversations like that!  :)

I hadn’t been at the table long; probably 20 minutes or so, but in that time I had managed to win a couple of pots with some lucky hands, so that I hadn’t yet been involved in a pot I hadn’t won.  That, combined with table talk seemed to add up to some pretty good respect and I had every expectation to take advantage of that.

So the following situation comes up, involving me (AKA Hero) and one of the players talking who teased me (AKA Villain) who seems to give me a lot of respect.  I’m in the small blind, and look down at King of Spades, 8 of Spades.  There are 3 limpers preflop, including Villain who is on the button.  Small blind folded.  There are currently 4 small bets in the pot, not including the $1 small blind (3 limpers plus my big blind).

Preflop I didn’t have much of a plan, except to see if the flop afforded me a flush draw (Spades), and fold otherwise.  I hadn’t given much more thought to my hand than that, as my expectation for King-8 suited is pretty low.  I suppose I expected to lose my blind and be done with it.

The flop comes Jack of Diamonds, 8 of Diamonds, 3 of Clubs.  I check, and 2 of the other preflop limpers check behind me.  The Villain, on the button, bets out and I suddenly found myself with an interesting opportunity.  See, the Villain is on the button and I’m next to act (the big blind).  I know that I currently have a lot of respect with the Villain, and might have just found the opportunity to use that respect.  If I raise here now, the other 2 preflop limpers will have to face the prospect of calling a bet and a raise (2 small bets) cold.  They will probably fold unless they have a great hand, in which case my coup is finished.  If they do fold, I believe I can use my table image to get the Villain to fold also.  On the turn and/or the river, if a scare card of any kind appeared, I will try to use that as a semi-bluff to scare the Villain out of the pot and win it.  I decided that if another Diamond appeared, or maybe an Ace or a King would be sufficient.

So I decide to execute on my plan and raise.  As expected, the 2 preflop limpers both fold, and the Villain agonizes over calling.  His agony made me think I might actually be ahead anyway; it didn’t seem like he had a Jack, or maybe he had a Jack with a weak kicker.

The turn was the card I needed – the King of Diamonds.  So not only did a 3rd Diamond appear, making it look like I just made my flush, but I now have 2 pair:  Kings and 8s.  This is the perfect opportunity for a semi-bluff.  As I’m looking at the Villain, I see him reach for chips so I decide to check and then raise when he bets.  I’m actually a little surprised he bet; most players who know me are a little hesitant to give me the opportunity to check/raise, but he did in fact bet and per my plan, I raised.

The Villain then started talking.  :)  He said “Nice catch; I can still beat your flush if the board pairs!”  He called my raise.  I laughed, but inside I almost wanted to faint!  He was telling me that he had a set, and was drawing to a full-house should the board pair.  The only good news is that he put me on a flush, so if the river doesn’t pair the board, my only hope to win this pot is to bet out again and hope against odds that he will fold.  Interestingly enough, he gave me a LOT of information by saying what he said.  I now knew that I was behind him – my 2 pairs weren’t enough to beat his set.  He would have raised preflop with pocket Jacks, so he either had pocket 8s or pocket 3s – and because I am holding an 8, I kind of lean towards thinking he has pocket 3s.  If I catch either a King or an 8 on the river, I have a bigger full-house but that honestly isn’t very likely.

The river is a 5 of Hearts.  It doesn’t pair the board, and my only hope is to bet out and hope he folds, which is, in fact, exactly what he does.  That’s actually kind of a mistake (in my opinion) on the river for him to fold.  The pot had become big enough I would probably pay off a player like myself with a set.  But again, I was capitalizing on my table image, one the Villain himself helped to build.  :)

After, the Villain showed pocket 8s and asked for sympathy, wanting me to show my hand but I responded that he knows I never show – of course I couldn’t.  I was wrong about assuming he had pocket 3s – he had the only other 2 8s in the deck, so had he decided to call on the river as I believe he should have, I would have had to catch a King and only a King to beat him.  Since there were only 2 remaining Kings in the deck, I only had 2 outs.  Sometimes when your hand can’t win, you have to outplay them.  :)