Bad Beat and Suckout Memoirs

Playing Texas Holdem Poker with Bullets

♠ May 25th, 2008 by ♣ zilbob

Ok so I this week I found my self playing in a cash game on Chanpoker and in one particular hand I found myself with pocket Aces or Bullets.  Now for those of you not all that familiar with the game, pocket Aces is the best possible starting hand and on a full table one of the only big hands you might not raise with as it is the kind of hand you want to invite action with.  Anyway since I wanted to get some people into this pot I just called the big blind as to not scare anyone off and risk winning the hand before the flop and not maximize potential earnings with this monster.  There are 3 other callers and the big blind checks.  The flop comes Jack – Ace – 5 with 2 diamonds.  At this point I am dancing as I have flopped top set meaning any hand anyone else could have hit is beat by mine as it was prior to the flop.  This might be a time I want to slow play and just check allowing the other players to either bet into me or see another card hoping to pick something up on the turn if they have nothing on the flop.  However in this situation, as big as my hand is, it is quite vulnerable.  I have to protect myself against both a flush and straight as both draws are out there.  I want bet big enough to hopefully push out people with the flush or straight draw so they don’t catch up on the turn or river yet small enough so that if anyone with a big Jack or a weak Ace can still call looking to pick up more later on or thinking they have the best hand.  Anybody with 2 pair or a smaller set at this point will most likely call any bet if not re-raise me so I am not worried about pushing them out.  I chose to bet a third of the pot, which in hindsight was probably not enough to accomplish what I wanted to do as it gives anyone on a draw 4 to 1 on their money and anyone with a flush has roughly a 36% chance to hit it with 2 cards still to come, making calling academic.  Anyway what ended up happening was everyone folded, meaning they all had no hand and no draw, so me betting was probably the wrong move but still one I think I would do in the future given the same situation, as I am a player that always protects my hands against any drawing hand.  Any thoughts?  What would you have done?

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