The New Jinx Hand

On my last night in Vegas earlier this month, there were a few memorable hands, almost all of them bad.  It appears I have a new “curse” hand.  Now regular readers of this blog know my jinx hand is pocket Kings, or as I call them, the dreaded pocket Kings. But that’s a hand that is bad for me (mostly) when I have them.  There may be a new hand that is now my curse or jinx hand when somebody else gets it.  Remember the bozo who took out my pocket Aces with Jack/5 (see here)?  Well, read on.

I had a lot of rough hands this session.  I lost a good chunk of change when I was dealt a couple of Aces, made a reasonable pre flop raise but got way too many callers.  A guy playing 9/7 offsuit turned a straight.  I don’t remember the details but he admitted as he took down the pot that he made a weak call of my flop bet with only a gut shot.  Which he hit.  He apologized but I’m pretty sure he didn’t really mean it.

When I was on my second buy-in, I raised with pocket Queens only to be taken down by a guy with pocket Aces who didn’t three-bet me pre-flop.  OK, I think that’s a bad play on his part and he got lucky.  But that’s my opinion.  He was the one stacking all my chips.

I did get a bet lucky myself on one hand.  I had 9/5 offsuit in the big blind.  There was no raise and a bunch of limpers saw the flop.  The flop gave me a gut shot and nothing else.  I checked, the next guy bet $6.  It folded to me.  With all the limpers money in there, I was still getting lousy odds for my gut shot but I thought the implied odds were pretty good if I did hit it.  And it was only six bucks.  Sigh.  What the hell, I thought.  Let’s gamble a bit and see one more card.

The turn gave me a flush draw in addition to the straight draw. So I checked and the other guy bet $12 and I felt that was worth calling with so many outs now.

The river was a nine, giving me neither the straight or the flush, but top pair.  I wasn’t overjoyed with that and wasn’t sure how big a bet I would call.  Fortunately, the other guy checked behind me and I didn’t have to worry.  I showed my top pair and he showed….a pair of 8’s.  I didn’t consider a “9” an out but it indeed was.  I had to chuckle a bit as I took down the pot.  The dealer, Mike, didn’t say anything but I knew what he was thinking.  I had played that hand terribly and really lucked out.  So I said to him, “It’s a skill game.” He chuckled.

But back to the jinx hand.  I few hands after I lost half my stack with Aces vs the turned straight, I look down at pocket Kings.  Here we go again.  And so soon after getting Aces?  I know, I know, I should have just mucked them instantly.  But no, I made a reasonable raise and this time got a couple of callers.  The flop seemed fairly dry and had no Ace.  I made a big bet and one guy called.  I put all my money in on the turn—again, a seemingly innocuous card—and was insta-called.  The river was a blank and the guy said he lucked out and got two pair.  My Kings were no good.  What a surprise.

Then I noticed the two pair.  He flipped over Jack/5 soooted (damn if I can remember the suit).  He had a five on the flop and caught the Jack on the turn.  So he called my pre-flop raise with Jack/5 sooooted.  In the earlier post I linked above, that was the hand that took down my Aces.  Now it had just taken down my Kings!

Prudence was at the table and saw this and of course immediately offered her sympathy.  But we had recently discussed in person the AA vs J5 hand that I blogged about.  She didn’t notice that it was Jack/5 that took me down…again.  I pointed it out to her and she couldn’t believe it.  She shook her head in disbelief, and so I said to her, “but it was sooooooted.”

Next time I get Kings, I’m not going to fold them.  I think I’ll shove with them no matter what, even if I’m first in the pot, and just pray no one has Aces.  I don’t think even the two guys who busted me with Jack/5 soooooted would call a pre-flop shove.

Would they?

Would they?