Last week I was playing the Sunday tournament over at Bay 101. 97 players had payed their $180 entry fee and after hours of solid play, we were down to the last 12 players and 9 players would be walking away with a cash payout with first place paying just over $4,000 and a $345 seat to the Bay 101 Open. Second place paying $2,100 and a $345 seat as well. It wasn't a huge prize in comparison to all the stuff you see on TV, but it is a decent payoff with a $180 investment. I was second in chips with $56k in my stack and the chip leader had $64k with the blinds at 300/600. Needless to say I had a very comfortable chip stack to get me into the money and most importantly the final table in contention to win the tournament. I didn't want to get myself into any trouble with mediocre hands so I had been playing really tight at that point. I was even folding pocket pairs other than Aces and Kings if I was raised more than 3 times the big blind. Anyways, on this particular hand I was on the button. We were 6 handed and the first player to act (chip leader) had raised to 1,500 (2.5 times the big blind)everyone had folded to the button and I looked down at two red nines. I call and the small blind and big blind fold. So now we are heads up with 3,900 in the pot and the flop comes 9-6-5 all clubs. Chip leader checks to me and I get a little suspicious of his check even though I have flopped a set. The clubs had scared me a little being that the pre-flop raiser could have raised with something like AA, KK with a club, A-K, A-Q or K-Q suited and could be setting a trap. Again, we were too close to the money and now the two chip leaders are battling head to head and there is no need to go crazy in this spot. I can easily fold here if he had put in a bet since I was ready to check this one down. So I check and the 9 of spades comes on the turn giving me a 4-of-a-kind or "quads". Eureka, I just made a monster of a hand and now I think I've got him good! He checks and I decide to bet 1,500 into the pot to make it look like I'm trying a steal attempt with a value bet disguised as a bluff. Also, I'm factoring in my implied odds knowing that he would call or even put in a raise if he actually made his flush. He goes for it and check raises to 6,000 and I re-pop it up to 18,000 and my opponent calls. The river comes a harmless 2 of diamonds and now my opponent is sitting there shuffling his chips for a few minutes and decides to move all-in. I'm thinking to myself at this point that this is my lucky day and I'm about to receive a massive pot to become a huge favorite to win the tournament. I don't hesitate at all to call with the rest of my chips being that I had such of a monster hand. How can I lose, its QUADS!! I turn up my pocket nines quickly thinking I had just won the hand and then KABOOM, my opponent turns up 8-7 of clubs giving him a straight flush to beat my four-of-a-kind and just like that, I am out of the tournament. The casino goes absolutely nuts with what they had just seen. And I feel like I'm going to throw up. Literally. It felt like I got punched in the gut.
How do you put the guy on a straight flush? How can ANYONE fold a four-of-a-kind? His play had been fairly tight thus far and his pre-flop raise from under the gun seemed like the type with a holding of a high pair, AK, AQ since there were 5 more people to act behind him. Any bet higher than his 3x the big blind bet could read like a steel attempt at the blinds and it didn't seem like the case since he was folding a lot of hands prior. Also, anything higher than a 4x the big blind may not get any other callers when someone in early position puts out a raise. A re-raise from myself on the button with 9-9 would not be the right move here as it could get me into trouble if he were to have any pair higher than mine or AK, AQ and were to hit the flop. I liked my check on the flop being very careful not to get trapped in with a possible straight and flush on the board. The turn was a great card for me giving me quad nines, and when you make a four-of-a-kind, 99.5 times out of 100, you've got the winning hand.
For some reason this beat had hit me hard emotionally. I had been playing very solid poker and making fantastic reads all day long and a deep finish at a final table was right there. How can I have not seen this? I was right about my opponent having a flush, but a straight flush??? How could I have had such bad luck to run up against the only hand that can beat a four-of-a-kind? I don't think any poker player could be able to fold quads when faced with an all-in bet in front of them. I also don't think that any poker player would be able to put his opponent on a straight flush when they are holding quads. You can read all the poker books in the world and none of them can tell you how to put a read on your opponent with a straight flush.
Anyways, I just need to shake this one off, but it may take me a while.
GOOD luck everyone.
And this is the way you build experience in this game? With punches to the gut. Wish it weren't so.
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