The Final Hand by Kevin V

[kevin562 0]

Well I thought it would be nice to discuss some of the hands I was involve in recently since I really like the idea that Daniel's is keeping a journal of his play. Well, I was at a local casino here in Southern California playing a $300 No Limit Texas Hold'em cash game (yeah yeah I'm small time so give me a break), its 12/14/04 about 10pm and i've been playing for about 10 hours now. I was delt KsQs on the button and I made it $50 to go. The small blind calls and seat 5 called as well. The flop was 2cJdAs. They both check to me and I made it 75 to go since I did raise pre-flop. They both called so I was a bit worried since I was only on a draw. I figure if i didn't make my straight on the turn I would just play it safe and check or fold if either raise on the turn. The Turn was a 10c, perfect the nuts! They agian both check to me. I made it 120 to go to set the trap. The small thought about it for a bit and called, seat 5 re-raised it to 250. Wow, I thought about it and moved all in for another 700. The small blind was in shock and couldn't believe it. He thought about it for a long while and muck his cards. Seat 5 called the all in and showed his two pairs A's and 10's. I showed him the nuts! The River was a 2d and the small blind jumped off his seat and yelled "f*** I had the boat!" Wow- I miss played the hand on the turn by only betting 120. Lucky for me seat 5 re-raised, if not the small blind would of gotten his boat. That was my q to exit stage right... kevin v

[srblan 0]

The small blind had only himself to blame for not winning that pot instead of you. All he had to do was pop it on the flop and you were throwing away your hand unless he had pocket 10s, in which case he should have bet out on the turn. If he had jacks and he popped it up to like 200, A-10 probably still would have called and he would have gotten you (the drawing hand) out of the pot. He tried to get clever and he ended up hurting himself. If he had A-2, then he has only himself to blame for not raising the flop (or for calling your raise preflop with that). He doesn't know that you don't have something like A-J or A-K and if you have A-J, he's dead to a 2 but with AK, he has a tough decision to make if a K comes on board.As far as the guy with A-10, I hate his play all around. First of all, he called a raise with a trap hand out of position. Second of all, he check called a bet on the flop in a spot where he was dominated by a lot of possible hands, rather than raising to find out if his ace was good.As far as trapping for $120, you are inviting disaster. Knowing that they had enough to call you on the flop, you should be trying to bet enough to look like you are worried that your "draw" might not hit and you are trying to steal the pot or that you are worried that their draws might hit and you don't want to let them see cards cheaply. By betting that little, you are pricing a lot of drawing hands in (two clubs, for instance) and you don't really want to do that. Yes, you have the nuts, but you have a hand that is vulnerable against a lot of possible holdings. I do like your reraise all-in, but you got very lucky that the five seat decided to check-raise.