Bad Beat
One of the company chiefs hosted a hold 'em tourney at his home tonight. 27 combatants. $50 buy-in. Top-prize $600 or so. Started with 3 full tables. After a couple hours, I was at one of the two remaining tables with 4 other players. A cute little Asian mom who told her baby-sitter she'd back in an hour, the only woman still in the tournament, was the big stack and probably the tournament leader. She had about twice my stack. But I was still sitting fairly pretty. The other three were chum.
I'm holding Ace-junk. Flop comes up A-rag-rag. The rags are spades. I make a big bet. She calls but doesn't raise. The turn is a non-spade King. I'm guessing she's chasing the flush. I'm pot-committed as it is. But with my Ace, I'm pretty sure I've got the odds. I've been playing pretty conservative all night. But this is it. If you don't pull the trigger here, you don't win bracelets. I go all in. She counts my stack, deliberates. A couple wags who've dubbed her the black widow egg her on. She deliberates some more. She knows I have the ace. She deliberates a little more. Then she says, "This is why they call it poker" and goes all in.
I don't like it. I prefer to avoid this kind of drama. But this is going to stamp my ticket to a place in the money. We turn our cards over. She's got K-8. She's got an out on the flush draw which is about 1-in-3. K or 8 wins, too. But she's already pulled a couple miracles on the river. This is where the god Anti-Climax reasserts his sovereignty over the universe and restores the natural order. She's got two kids at home. Her sister's already been sent packing. Time to let the men take over.
Dealer pulls the river card... Flips it over... A moment while everyone processes the information... 8. 8? Shit! An 8! Not even a spade. Just some bloody red-suited 8! I'm stunned. I'm finished.
Funny thing is I had been using my black swan strategy pretty effectively all night. But a black swan, or a swan with feathers a dark shade of grey, killed me here. Coincidentally, my boss also lost on the river at the exact same time over at the other table. So we walked out together commiserating over our sorry fortunes.
I'm holding Ace-junk. Flop comes up A-rag-rag. The rags are spades. I make a big bet. She calls but doesn't raise. The turn is a non-spade King. I'm guessing she's chasing the flush. I'm pot-committed as it is. But with my Ace, I'm pretty sure I've got the odds. I've been playing pretty conservative all night. But this is it. If you don't pull the trigger here, you don't win bracelets. I go all in. She counts my stack, deliberates. A couple wags who've dubbed her the black widow egg her on. She deliberates some more. She knows I have the ace. She deliberates a little more. Then she says, "This is why they call it poker" and goes all in.
I don't like it. I prefer to avoid this kind of drama. But this is going to stamp my ticket to a place in the money. We turn our cards over. She's got K-8. She's got an out on the flush draw which is about 1-in-3. K or 8 wins, too. But she's already pulled a couple miracles on the river. This is where the god Anti-Climax reasserts his sovereignty over the universe and restores the natural order. She's got two kids at home. Her sister's already been sent packing. Time to let the men take over.
Dealer pulls the river card... Flips it over... A moment while everyone processes the information... 8. 8? Shit! An 8! Not even a spade. Just some bloody red-suited 8! I'm stunned. I'm finished.
Funny thing is I had been using my black swan strategy pretty effectively all night. But a black swan, or a swan with feathers a dark shade of grey, killed me here. Coincidentally, my boss also lost on the river at the exact same time over at the other table. So we walked out together commiserating over our sorry fortunes.
posted by Tom at
11:34 PM
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