Horseshoe Hand of the Day (7/30)

[JustPlayingSmart]

I dealt a pot-limit HOME game for half an hour that included Paul Phillips, but there were no interesting hands. Today's hand would have been fairly routine, except the table talk leading up to it led to a situation which inspired one of the players to lose $600. Here is the setup:

NLHE $1/2 blinds -- 9 handed...mostly kids just out of college, one of them drunk and giving some of his profit away. There is one other loose postflop player at the table, but the rest of the table is either decent or good (or so it seemed).

The first hand a guy flopped top pair with AT on a T 4 6 and raised a $10 bet to 30 and bet $20 on the turn, only to lose to a rivered 2 pair against 74o. The next hand the same player flops top pair (K) and bets out 60 immediately, getting no calls and saying that he will slowplay no more (he shows the K).

Then, onto the 3rd hand: 7 players limp in to see a flop of K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. The loose postflop player bets out $10, and the next player (one of the college aged guys), immediately says "all in." I see 6 stacks of red in front of him and some change. The count comes to $629. It seems pretty obvious that he has a strong but vulnerable hand, possibly a set or straight, but most likely a baby flush. 2 folds and then a player thinks for a few seconds and calls.

I figure that's the end of the action, but then an old guy goes in the tank. He is holding his cards up in such a way that I can see what they are, and I wonder what the hell he is thinking. I am amazed that he is contemplating calling the $600+, and I don't think he was pulling a WPT staredown. Finally, after about 2 minutes, he folds, saying he folded a straight with J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. This is a complete lie, and since he is likely drawing to 1 out, an easy fold even if it was his hand.

The first all-in player flips his cards over and says,
If you've got a flush you've got me." He has 3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. The second player flips over A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Another heart comes on the turn, and the $1200+ pot goes to the guy with the ace-high flush.

What's ironic is that if the players hadn't had the slowplay discussion, the baby flush guy probably doesn't push in and overbet the pot by $600, he probably raises to $75 or so. The ace-high flush may very well just call, slowplaying his flush. Therefore, when the 4th heart comes on the turn, baby flush gets pissed, but is forced to muck his hand, and saves himself $500.

Finally, for the quiz: What hand was the guy with the "straight" holding?

Jason