I Love, Love, Love Pocket Kings!

Perhaps this post will change my reputation.  After this, I may never be known again as a hater of the dreaded pocket kings.  And if that happens, maybe I can someday no longer be known as a guy who is “obsessed with bosoms.”  Yeah......right.  I’m pretty sure that after my last post (see here), that shipped has sailed.

Last Sunday, I drove down to The Bike in picturesque Bell Gardens, CA.  My first poker session since returning from my most recent Vegas vist.  Don’t worry—or do worry, if you are so inclined—I still have blog posts to get to from my two most recent Vegas trips. But since I’m home, it’s easy to write this post while it is still very fresh in mind.

When I got there, they were just starting a new $2/$3 game, and I was able to grab the last seat.  My luck started early as I drew the Ace of diamonds to claim the button.  I noticed one very familiar face at the table.  My old pal, “Bluffing Guy” was in seat 4 (I had seat 7).  BG. as I will call him, has made two prior appearances on the blog, see here and here.  It was the most recent post, from just a month ago (the second link), that plays into this day’s events.

He didn’t say hello to me, and I didn’t acknowledge him, either.  Did he not recognize me?  I doubted it.  In the post last month, I credited some success against him due to my remembering him and him not remembering me (I guess I’m just not that memorable).  But this time, I would have bet the house he remembered me, even though he never said a thing.  This was a good player, a tricky player, and if my last post was correct, I really got into his head (hence the title).  So I didn’t think there was any way he didn’t have a pretty good mental file on me this time.

I kept that in mind all day.  I thought it was less likely he’d be able to surprise me, and also, I figured he might have a surprise or two in store for me.  I knew I wanted to be very careful with him, and I also know it was likely he’d be involved in almost every pot I contested, if only because he played an awful lot of hands.

Early on, I lost a fair amount of chips to him because I remembered his game.  In late position he made a modest raise, had one caller and I had Ace-3 suited in the big blind.  No had limped before him (it was a tight table at this point).  Knowing he was likely raising light, I called.  This is kind of bad habit I need to break myself out of from my 2/4 days.  I play suited Aces way too often.  But this time, I felt it was decent risk, with him probably raising with crap.

The flop was Ace-6-6, rainbow.  Small blind checked, I led out with a bet of $20 I believe.  BG raised to $50.  My instincts told me he was bluffing.  I called.  The turn put out a 2^nd club (not my suit) and I checked.  I didn’t really want to lose a lot of money with top pair, crappy kicker.  I wondered if he had Ace-rag, with his rag higher than mine.  The turn club was low, however, not likely to play.  I probably should have let it go when he bet another $50, but couldn’t shake the feeling my Ace was good so I called.

The river was a three of clubs, the third club on the board.  So I had three pair, not a particular good hand in Hold’em.  I checked, and wondered how big a bet I was willing to call.

I didn’t have to figure it out.  He checked behind me, showed his Jack 6 offsuit for trip 6’s, and said, “I was worried about that club” to explain why he didn’t bet the river.

Ok, so my initial read was right, he raised with a total garbage hand.  But he hit his garbage hand.  He might have bet the same way on the flop and turn if he had missed, based on my recollection of him.  Oh well, it was early, plenty of time to recover.

I guess I was down to about $160 in front of me (from a $300 buy in) when my next confrontation with BG occurred, about 30-45 minutes later.  I was trying to figure out how much lower I’d let my stack get before buying more chips.  And then, in late position, I looked down at my “favorite” hand.  Yes, the dreaded pocket kings.  And wouldn’t you know, before it got to me, BG raised to $20.  It folded to me.

Now of course, it was certainly possible that BG had two Aces.  After all, loose, aggro players get Aces as often as nits.  But with his raising range, there was just as much chance he had 7-deuce offsuit as there was he had pocket rockets.  I bumped it to $50.

He thought a few seconds and then announced “all in.”  I was not scared.  Although I figured this meant he had a better hand than Jack-6, I still put him a fairly wide range that included a fair amount of hands I was ahead of, and only one I wasn’t.  I said “call” pretty damn fast.  He had me covered, so my entire remaining stack was in play.

Neither of us showed our hands.  I didn’t much like the flop, which included a big ol’ Ace.  And when that Ace hit, BG looked at me and nodded.  I took that to mean he had Ace-something, maybe even Ace-King , and that he was now sitting pretty.  Nothing else on the board was significant.  I flipped over my Kings and said, “You hit your Ace?”

But no, he didn’t hit his Ace.  He didn’t hit a 10 either, which was what he needed for a winning hand.  He had raised and then four-bet me with pocket 10’s!  Nice double up for me, thank you very much.  And with the dreaded pocket kings, no less.

I was happy to stack my chips, and not complaining one bit, but I did spend a fair amount of time thinking about his play there.  I now realized that the nod when the Ace hit was him thinking that Ace was the card I needed (since it surely didn’t help him).  So, instead of a bigger than his pocket pair, he put me on Ace-King (maybe, maybe, Ace-Queen).

Well ok, but why did he think I’d three-bet him with Ace-King?  I don’t generally three-bet with Ace-King, at least not in a cash game.  Of course, he couldn’t know that—

Oh wait.  I started to remember that previous post about him, about how I “got into his head.”  Yes, yes, then I remembered.  I had indeed three-bet him last time with A-K.  I got the idea from him, and from knowing that he raised pretty light more often than not.  Sadly, I couldn’t remember the details of that hand from last time, just that I had indeed made a 3-bet against him with A-K and that it had paid off.

When I got home, I re-read my post and viola, there it was.  You can click the link to it above to see for yourself, but basically, I 3-bet him with Ace-King, he had me pegged as such a tight player, he folded, but showed his pocket 6’s.  I didn’t show, but he asked me what I had with a verbal expression.  I decided to tell him, although I normally never do that.  You can read the prior post for a better explanation.

When I mouthed Ace-King he was very upset, mad at himself for not calling.  That’s the moment I think when I got in his head.  He mentioned it a couple of times during the session after that.  He was maybe a bit obsessed with it.

So, if I’m right that he was remembering that hand from last time, it turned out it was a very good thing I told him I had Ace King last month.  If I hadn’t told him that, then based on my play, he figures this time, when I’m three-betting, I must have a bigger pocket pair than his measly 10’s.  And he’d either fold (unlikely, for him) or just call hoping to hit his set.  Instead, he thinks Ace-King and is willing to race with me when he’s a 55-45 favorite, or thereabouts.

And then…..had he just called, he probably lets it go on the flop.  Unless he wants to bet out or check-raise me, thinking I might be afraid of the Ace. But I don’t know if he would have tried that, since there would be a good chance I had a set of Aces.

I realize I’m just totally speculating here, and that I may be wrong.  I’ll never know.  But until I’m told otherwise, I’m going to continue to think that our last session together helped me win more chips on this hand than I otherwise would have. 

Frankly, even with any other opponent than me, I don’t like his play there.  At this level of no limit, there are very few players who three-bet with any hand that he’s not way behind or just a slight favorite over in a race.  Why risk $160 on a race there?  In a tournament, sure, you make that move often.  But in a cash game, why not wait for a better place to put that kind of money at risk?

Maybe one day my game will “evolve” to the point where I play like that, but I’m sure not there now.

Less than two orbits later, I believe, I once again was dealt two more Kings.  Could I possibly win with them twice in a row?

My preflop raise was called by two players, including BG.  There was an Ace on the board and no King.  I bet out and of course knew I might have to let the hand go if there was much resistance.  But both BG and the other guy folded.  It was a small pot of course, but I was now 2 for 2 with KK.

Not long after that, I was dealt a couple of red Aces.  Two called my raise, including BG.  Although I hit a set, the board was scary as hell, Ace-King-Jack, two spades.  I bet a bit under the size of the pot, and they both folded.  I was happy with that for such a wet board.

I also saw two Queens at one point, in early position.  But that time, no one called my preflop raise.

Then there was a hand that BG played very strangely that cost me a few bucks.  I had 9-5 offsuit in the big blind.  Three limpers, including BG.  So I saw the flop for free.  Flop was A-9-x.  It checked around.  The turn was a blank.  I suppose I could have bet my middle pair, shit kicker, but I didn’t really feel like risking much for a nothing pot.  Checked around again

There was a Queen on the river.  It checked to BG who bet out $11, folded back to me.  Since he had not bet until then, I thought it was very likely he was trying to steal it.  Surely he would have bet before if he had an Ace.  Maybe he had a Queen, but for $11, I figured what the hell, I’ll see if I catch him in a bluff.

Nope.  I was floored when he showed his hand.  Ace-Queen.  Ace-Queen?  Are you kidding me?  I couldn’t believe it.  He didn’t raise with Ace-Queen?  This guy raises with Jack-6 for crissakes!  And not with Ace-Queen?

Then he flops top pair, 2^nd best kicker and just checks???  And checks the turn too?  This is not a guy who usually waits until he has two pair to bet, you can be sure of that!

The only explanation I could think of—and it’s pretty lame—is that he had just been served a meal and was distracted by it.  But it just stunned me.  It was if this guy had been temporarily possessed by Nitty McNitty.

But he played another hand kind of soft and that paid off for me.  I had pocket 4’s, limped in.  Missed my set, no one bet the flop.  Blank on the turn, no one bet.  River was a four.  Now there was a King on the board, and I don’t remember whether it was on the flop or the turn.  But on the river, BG bet out $20.  Of course I raised it to $50.  He thought for awhile, said “King no good?” and folded.

The most dramatic hand of the day was one that didn’t involve BG.  On the button I once again saw two Kings.  I estimated my chances of going three-for-three in one session with that hand as about 1 in 2.7 million.  No, I didn’t check my poker odds calculator android app to confirm.

There were a whole bunch of limpers so I made it $21.  It folded to an older black woman who had joined the table recently.  She had limped under the gun.  The floor people and the dealer knew her, she was a regular.  They called her by name.  I’m gonna call her Wilma.  Wilma had a little notepad and a pen in front of her.  She seemed to be taking notes during the play (hmm, maybe she has a blog).  After she left the table, the dealer said she always takes notes and that they appear to be in Morse Code!  They were definitely not English letters.

Anyway, this nice, sweet, dear lady with her notes in front of her makes it $71!  Folds to me.  That’s way more than half her stack, she only has about $30-$40 left. 

As I said, she hadn’t been at the table very long when this happened, maybe an orbit or two.  Hadn’t made any aggressive moves before.  I suppose if her stack was bigger, this might have been a time when I would have at least flirted with the possibility of folding those Kings.  I was already thinking the odds of me winning a third straight time in one session were slim (yes, I know that doesn’t matter in reality, but I couldn’t help thinking about it).

But in this case, I was very quick to announce “all in” and of course, she snap called (she was pot committed; no matter what her hand, I couldn’t see her folding).  We didn’t show.

The guy next to her said, “This smells like Aces vs Kings.”  Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too of course.  It felt like my run of luck with my Kryptonite hand was over.

I don’t remember the other two flop cards, but I sure do remember the King.  Wilma groaned quite audibly when she saw it, even though she hadn’t seen my hand.  The last two cards were blank-blank.  I flipped over my Kings and she showed her two Aces.  And quietly got up to go to the ATM.

Wow.  My Kings were now three for three, and I had (obviously) really gotten lucky with them that last time.  There was a bit of discussion about the hand as I was stacking my chips.  The guy who made the observation, “this smells like Aces vs Kings” said that whatever the odds of seeing that (Aces vs Kings) are, it seems to happen more often than it should.  I’ve always felt that.  I gave my theory that this was because whenever it happens, it’s always so memorable.  Even people not in the hand remember it.

The guy said, “Yeah, well, Wilma will remember it, that’s for sure.”

I played a few more orbits, not getting much of anything to play.  But then, by now, I was only going to play KK.

Just kidding. 

None of the pots I won were huge, and I lost a few pots along the way.  But I cashed out ahead $125, and had the unique experience of winning three times (and losing zero times) with the dreaded pocket kings.  Not bad.