1/21/2008

The Decision ....

I played for “Team TuckFard” in the 20-week team series again yesterday and have to say, I’m exhausted. There will be a post written up there soon to give better details as to what all went down, but I thought I’d like to elaborate more on one thing that happened to me yesterday.


“The decision” –
There was a lot of limping to my BB while we were 4 and 5 handed. While five handed and in my BB, I was dealt pocket 8's. It was limped to me but something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t that, “I can tell someone’s messing with me” feeling as such. More of that “I don’t know if this is the right hand” kind of feeling. So despite having pockets, I checked. The flop was (Kh-Js-8h) and I initially think GIN !!!!! The big stack had to act first and bet out pot. (He's fidgety and shaky, but he has been all game) He also hasn’t made a large bet like that the entire day. It folds to the guy 2 to my right and he makes the call. These two have only shown premium hands. They're starters may be what we'd call crap typically, but when in the play, they have something. I make a decision to lay down the set. I lay them down and keep them separate from the muck and close to me. The turn is a useless 4(not heart) and the river is a useless deuce. (not Heart) The big stack goes for a massive over bet of (I think) 3x the pot. With no hesitation what so ever, two to my right pushes all-in. With no hesitation either, the big stack calls.

They flip up..............

Two to my right = pocket J's for a set.
Big stack = pocket K's for top set.

SICK !

Whatever that instinct was at that moment, it saved my ass. I normally would’ve gone broke on that hand for sure. Something told me it wasn’t right from the start. When the hand was over I grabbed my folded pocket 8’s and tossed them face up in the center of the table. I don’t get reads like that too incredibly often. I wanted to take full advantage of this one.

I had what I think was a pretty tight image in the game to this point. I think showing that lay down was the most important move I made all day, and probably the main reason I made it to second place. The other two remaining players were awestruck that I could lay that down. I got several walks and some nice free check downs from the two of them the rest of the way. I even got one fold from each of them, just by reaching for chips.
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On a side note - Another Tuckfard Open tonight on FullTilt @ 7:00pm est. Details on the banner to the right. Hope to see you there.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by….

1 comment:

pokertart said...

That's a sick read Bam-Bam!

Sometimes, despite all the poker theory, odds, and everything you're "supposed" to do - you just have to go with your gut.

Congrats on 2nd place!