Sometimes you have to be lucky to be good.  This phrased is used a lot.  I hear it at the poker table and throughout my daily life.  Now I don’t believe in luck.  As a poker player I am constantly calculating odds and probabilities and sometimes they definitely work in my favor.  Recently I had the situation where the odds turned in my favor early which allowed me the opportunity be good later.  I was playing on-line in a No-Limit Holdem ring game and I am in the big blind.  It is still pretty early in the table for me and I get dealt K-8 offsuit, which I know is a hand you should never play.  It folds around to the cut off who raises to three times the big blind, everyone folds to me.  I mentioned before you should never play a hand like this because it is the type of hand that even if you hit on the flop you feel vulnerable.  On this particular occasion I decided to protect my blind and call the raise, which I often do, especially against someone in late position that could be trying to steal.  The Flop comes K-4-5.  As I was saying earlier I hit the flop and still feel weak as my kicker is garbage.  I check my top pair to the pre-flop raiser who does a standard half pot bet.  I am not a big fan of my hand but decide to go aggressive anyway and raise to about 4 times his bet.  At this point he raises all in which isn’t a whole lot more then we already have in the pot, looking at the situation I was pot committed and was attempting to dodge a bigger King as with the way he played the hand there was no way he had pocket bullets.  Being pot committed I call and he turns over Big Slick.  Now I am just hoping to suckout with an 8 for my 2 pair and take it down, what happens is even worse.  The turn comes a 6 and the river is a 7 for my straight!!!  Runner-Runner. 

When the cards were turned up I was thinking “early exit” but instead I was able to stay alive and fight some more.  I was able to change gears at this point and not be such a donkey.  The result was I finished my night with 4 times my buy-in.    Although I don’t believe in luck sometimes thing go against the odds and in your favor.  The trick is to not get caught up in it and learn to change gears to keep the other players on their toes.  I am sure this early hand gave me the table image of a loose fish looking to just call things down.  Not always the best approach but if you are able to change after and play rock solid, your strong hands won’t get much respect and players will empty their pockets thinking you are just staying to see what you can get.

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One of the worst bad beats out there is the counterfeit.  And I recently had the pleasure of experience this gem of an ass rape.  I am playing in a 360 person sit-n-go satellite for Poker After Dark and there are 10 people left in the game.  I am pretty low stacked as a result of the blinds being so high but pretty much everyone is in the same position.  I am on the button and have A-8.  There is one caller to the big blind when it comes to me.  I raise to 3 times the big blind.  The blinds fold and the original caller calls my raise.  The flop comes J-J-8.  My opponent checks and I move all-in with a pot sized bet.  My opponent thinks for a while and eventually calls.  I flip over my two pair and they turn big slick, giving them nothing.  The turn brings air so they are down to just a few outs and 1 card to go.  Then comes the river . . . that damn river.  ACE!!!!  Giving me Aces and Jacks with an 8 kicker to their Aces and Jacks with a K kicker.  WTF!!!!!  No final table?  No push to be the winner and move to the next round because I was out kicked on the river.  Sometimes you play the hand perfectly and it just doesn’t work out.  Counterfeiting is definitely one of the worst because it usually improve you hand while it destroys it all at the same time.  Thoughts???