Pretty Cool Hand

Any book or poker pundit will tell you that one of the keys to Hold 'Em is position. Here's an instance where I had to play a pretty good hand out of position.

I was playing $.50-$1 on Full Tilt and received A-K off in the small blind. A creative player in middle position made it $3.50 to go, and with the action folded around to me I had a decision to make. Here's the thing: I could re-raise him, make it, say, $12 to go. If he calls that and I miss my flop, I'd basically be betting at air (one of the worst things you can do in Hold 'Em is check after raising without intending to check-raise). So, instead of going all-out and maybe or maybe not taking the pot down then and there, I smooth called.

Gin on the flop: K of diamonds, 4 of diamonds, K of hearts. Now I have to act first, and I could check, giving him an opportunity to bet at the flop and then raise him, but if he doesn't have a king (which is highly probable), it'll kill my action. So, I go ahead and bet $4 into a $7 pot. He quickly calls. I could put him on a flush draw here, but pocket pair is running through my head.

The turn is a 7 of clubs. Now, here's the seller: I check. By checking it's almost like I'm telling him that I missed the flop. Why would I check after betting? What worries me is that he also checks. He might have boated there, but I'm not crazily worried.

The river is also kind of a downer: a 9 of spades. No flush draw possible, but again, that could be a boat if he has pocket nines. I bet $13, almost like I'm trying to steal it with a pot-sized bet. Of course, he raises to $26, which sets off all kinds of alarms in my head. Could he possibly have hit a set? The only cards that scared me were the 7 and the 9, simply because I doubted that player would raise with 4s in middle position. However, I came to the conclusion that the only reason he raised me on the river was because he felt that I had missed the flop and that I could have no better than 4-5 or A-4, something sloppy, maybe even pocket 5s or 6s.

I could have raised and might have had all of his chips, but I just called. He had pocket eights.

Poker is fun, for everyone... except my opponents, who should've practiced avoidance.