Thursday, December 07, 2006

Usurper

Mixed emotions, buddy. Like Larry Wildman going off a cliff in my new Maserati. - Gordon Gekko in Wall Street

I got my third Royal Straight Flush in Texas Holdem (online) recently. Woohoo, yay, whee, uhm...

The ultimate nut! I got it on a draw. On the turn I put my opponent all in when I needed a Jack for a nut straight or a Heart for a nut flush and both my wishes came true when a Jack of Hearts fell on the river for a Royal.

But...

I'm not terribly excited about it. My first Royal came early in a multitable tournament with blinds 15/30 and the opponent had only hit two pair, so I just scooped 300 (ten big blinds). My second came in a Sit'n'Go where I ultimately didn't even finish in the money (I think). I wrote about it before and complained about it not coming in a cash game where the opponent also had hit something good or at a jackpot table. Now it finally happened in a cash game and the opponent hit an Ace high straight on the turn. Very good conditions. If not for one little fact. He was very, extremely, laughably shortstacked. It was a 2.5/5 table and he had only 20 left. Boo fricking hoo. And no jackpot.

Oh well, I'm on a winning streak anyway. Not least thanks to "fish" like these:
I get AA in early position on a 2.5/5 table, raise it to 20 to get a feel. Middle position raises minimum to 35. Late position raises minimum to 50. OK, put a stop to this right now, there´s enough/a lot in the pot, with a raise to 250 (thats fifty (50) times the big blind) to get a call or all in from another AA for a split or possibly a KK. Or lure fish. MP goes all in with 550! LP folds of course. I call.

He has AK. Off suit. The way I see it, I´m holding up a big neon sign saying "AA". Not a handwritten PostIt note with QQ or a wooden plaque with KK. So he would need the board to hit kings, TJQ or four to a flush in the suit where I don´t have the Ace. A third Ace comes on the board, even, and he leaves after some muttering. It would have been different in a tournament setting, there he could have called the preflop bet and seeing that there was no miracle or dubious flop folded.

The day after I get in a similar situation; AA, raise, reraise, I bet 250, another goes all in and I call. Yes, he has AA and we split the pot from the other bettors, gaining very little because of the rake, but anyway...