Draws

A few interesting hands last night:

1. In a 3 way raised pot I hold A/4 diamonds. Flop is 10 high with 2 diamonds and it is bet $20 to me by original raiser. Call, and raised behind me. We both call. Turn is a queen, no diamond and it is bet to me and I raise to $40. Both players call. River bricks and it is checked to me, so I bet $20. Player behind me shows his hand to neighbor and mucks face down while original raiser mucks his A/10 face up. I win big pot with ace high busted draw. Other player later says he had open ended straight flush draw, which means he had 8 outs, two which were the nuggets. The key here was that they were both very good players capable of laying down hands when they believe they were beaten. However, in a limit game that is not always a good idea.

2. In a monster pot later, I raise to $12. in late position with 9/9 and am re-raised $20 by the big blind and called by the player to my right, a fairly tight asian guy. The flop is low, 6/7/2 and the BB bets $20 which we both call. The turn is a great card for me, an 8, giving me additional outs against overpairs or sets. The BB bets $20, next guy raises all-in to $40 and I call. BB re-raises to $60. Call. The river is a jack which misses my draws and when the BB bets $20 I fold. He turns over K/K for the $40 side pot and the other guy turns over J/J for the rivered 2 outer set. According to my poker calculator I was about a 4/1 dog on the turn, while my neighbor was a 20/1 dog. The kings guy was disgusted and racked his chips and left. He had done well, winning a huge pot with Aces and was very lucky all night hitting lots of 2 pairs playing "any two cards".

3. Another huge draw: Loose player raises to $12 preflop with 7/7, I call with 10/J suited (diamonds again). Flop is Q/9 (diamonds)/x. He bets $15 and I call. Turn is a blank, he bets, I call. River is a blank, he checks, I check (missed a bet or raise somewhere methinks). According to my odds calculator we were a coin flip preflop, and on the flop I was actually almost a 3/1 favorite. I had any J, 3 outs, any 10, 3 outs, any king, 4 outs, any 8, 4 outs, any diamond, 7 outs, for a total of 21 outs twice. Unbelievable that almost half the deck made my hand. But, true to form I was unable to hit a massive number of outs.

4. Last hand of the night: Loose guy again raises preflop (10/10 this time) and I reraise to $32 with A/K suited. There is one additional caller. Flop is A/10/x, checked to me, I bet $20, drawing almost dead and they both call. Turn is x, check to me, bet. One caller. River,x, check, bet, re-raise for my last $5. I call. When I say "nice catch", he whips some crap on me about "never being behind". Again, it was a coin flop preflop and he caught the only one of two cards that could have kept me interested (other than flush draw). If there is no ace or king on the flop I am check folding most of the time. If he misses his 10 and the ace or king comes he becomes a huge dog. Like I say, nice catch of the card that keeps me in the hand.