I Got Clubbed

This was my abbreviated Christmas night session at MGM.  You'll see why it was abbreviated.

There was not much going on for awhile.  I raised preflop with pocket Jacks and bet out on a flop of 5-4-2, got two callers (I think there were three callers preflop).  I checked a 9 turn and then the river paired the deuce.  A player bet big, I folded and she showed King-deuce!  Wow. Based on her play, she wouldn't have folded if I bet the turn unless I shoved—and even then, maybe not.

I won raising with pocket Queens.  Jack hi flop, I got a couple of calls. No one called my turn bet.

Then came the hand.  I guess I had about $160-$165 when it started. The Asian lady who beat me with King-deuce played into this hand.  Also there was an older European gentlemen who barely spoke.  Not sure if he was just quiet or if there was a language barrier.  The lady was sort of an aggro and the older guy was just a strange player, was really all over the map.

In the big blind, I was dealt pocket 6's.  After a few limpers, the European guy made it $10.  Well, that was kind of a small bet after a couple of limpers but I notice many players don't adjust their raises to account for limpers.  However, this guy was all over the map with his raises, he'd open-raised much bigger sometimes.

Anyway, I called, the lady called and one or two others called.  The flop was King-6-2, two clubs.  Because of the clubs, I almost donked out a bet but I decided to check and see if I could check-raise.  It folded to the preflop raiser who very considerately bet $25.  I raised to $75.  The lady called.  Really?  OK, so I was at least half-expecting the guy to fold, thinking he might have been just c-betting with nothing or maybe a weak pair and would see he was losing to two players.  But he surprised me by shoving!

Well OK, then. If he has pocket Kings then it really sucks to be me.  But I didn't think that was very likely. Would he have shoved with pocket Kings?  I suppose he might have, given the two clubs on the board.  Oh well, I'm not folding a set of 6's.  I snap-called and then to my surprise, the lady called as well.  Now the guy had me covered by a lot and the lady had a stack similar to mine, maybe a little less.  In the instant I had to think about it, I guessed that one of them had a set and the other had the flush draw.

I was proven at least partially right when the lady turned over her hand before the turn card was dealt—it was pocket deuces.  Well, bad luck for her.  I showed my pocket 6's. We both looked at the European guy who was both motionless and emotionless.  He wasn't about to reveal his hand.

I was pretty sure the guy would have shown his cards if he had two Kings.  I have heard of set-over-set-over set before but I don't think I've ever seen it personally. I assumed I was ahead and I knew I didn't want to see a club on the turn.  But sure enough, a club hit the board.  I figured I might already be beaten and then the river card was yet another club.  Ugh.

We stared at the guy who very meekly said, "I've got a flush."  And he turned over two black Aces.  Seriously?

According to the odds calculator, I was 82% to win on the flop, Mr. AA was 13%.  But that's poker, right?  It was pretty close to a $500 pot that was thisclose to being mine.

I had had enough for one night.  Just didn't feel like rebuying and continuing after that.  I called it an early night.

Merry Christmas to me.

Bah Humbug.