Isn't this the most awesome feeling?

[Ulysses]

Party 200NL. $400.

A couple of limpers. I make it $25 on the button w/ JJ. One guy who has me covered calls.

Flop is J27r. He checks, I check.
Turn is (J27)2 - now a flush draw. He bets $40 into me. I call.
River is (J272)T. He bets $200 into me. I raise him all-in for a total of $300-something. He calls. He got there on the river w/ his 89o. Awesome. I love it when they are drawing dead and get there.

Yeah, I know that was a worthless hand. Before you rip me for wasting your time gloating w/ that stupid hand, here were my last two hands of the night.

Last round. Pre-flop, based on the action, I can put my opponent on a small pair, suited Ace or AT/AJ/AQ. I have AT. Flop ATQ. Turn ATQ5. Some goes in on the flop, the rest all gets in on the turn, $300 each total. River ATQ5Q. His AJ is good. Dammit.

Very last hand. Finished at the other two tables, auto-post blinds is off here. It's a different table v. same opponent. I limp UTG w/ AK to change things up. A couple of limpers and he makes it $15 in SB. That means the same range of hands as above. I make it $45, he calls. Flop is AT8r. He checks, I bet $75 to goad him into a checkraise w/ any Ace, he makes it $150, I make it $250+ all-in, he calls. Turn AT8J. River AT8J9. His AQ is good. Dammit.

OK, there, feel better?

I love this game.

[1800GAMBLER]

Hey.

I took my largest pot yesterday after my break. Which was $600+ the rush feeling throughout the hand is worth a post alone. My biggest pot stands at $1200 but i was numb to it then [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. Guess the break added some emotion to the money.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
I took my largest pot yesterday after my break. Which was $600+ the rush feeling throughout the hand is worth a post alone. My biggest pot stands at $1200 but i was numb to it then [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. Guess the break added some emotion to the money.

[/ QUOTE ]

Big pots are awesome. No two ways about it (And congrats on yours!). But I play way bigger pots than the one I mentioned all the time in live play. But that rush wasn't the completely random point I was making for no particular reason. Let me elaborate.

Scenario 1: $2000 stacks. Someone raises w/ TT. I re-raise w/ AA. He calls. Flop is ATx. Somewhere along the way, all the money goes in. I win a big pot. Yahoo, it rules. But it's like, set over set. All the money's going to go in. And I had the better hand, lucky me. Definitely exciting, but in a certain way it's nothing special. That's just the way the hand is going to go down.

Scenario 2: $400 stacks. I raise my JJ to $25 and bozo calls w/ 89o. Flop is J72. Check, check. Turn 2 makes my full house and he's drawing dead, but bets into me with nothing. River T gets him there and he excitedly bets big into me and gladly calls my reraise. Uh oh.

It's not about the money. I just get so much more enjoyment out of the second scenario. It's like the perfect alignment of opponent, cards, and bets. Maybe anyone else w/ his cards mucks pre-flop instead of limping or mucks to my pre-flop raise. Maybe he mucks if I pot the flop. Sometimes I'll do that, this time I didn't. Maybe he gets away if I raise the turn. Sometimes I'll do that, this time I didn't. Maybe he gives up and check-folds if he doesn't get there on the river. Maybe he escapes on the river if he bets smaller and I raise him all-in. Who knows. But this perfect alignment of events somehow got all the money in the middle.

That second scenario just makes me feel like things couldn't be any more perfect for me. Whereas the first one is one of those things where pretty much any two people w/ most any betting sequence are just going to get all the money in and the bigger set wins. Blah.

Anyway, I'm obviously tired and rambling, but you probably get what I'm saying. Obviously there's no real point here.

Or maybe it's that I've played too many hands of poker if it takes this type of nonsense to get me excited.

[Ulysses]

OK. I just feel like writing right now, I guess.

The opposite version of what I wrote above:

Scenario 1: $1500 stacks. (This hand I posted long ago) I raise to $100 w/ AA in SB. My opponent raises to $500. I put him all-in for $1500 or something. I don't know what he has. Something good that he calls with, I hope, since I have Aces. He calls. He has JJ and catches a Jack on the river.

Scenario 2: $300 stacks. I limp w/ AK expecting to reraise a steal. Opponent raises to $15. I pop it to $45. He calls. If he has an Ace, he probably has something like AJ/AQ. I know. Flop is AT8. I bet an amount that I know he will checkraise w/ an Ace. He does! Now I put all the money in and I know he will call w/ AJ or AQ that he has (OK, sometimes he will have AT or A8s here, but that makes the story worse, so ignore that). Then J9 come on the turn and river to make his AQ straight.

OK. Same thing as my last post. It's not the money. While the first scenario sucked, of course, after the shock wears off, it's just not that exciting. We both had big pairs. We put the money in. My hand was better. We sat back and watched the board get dealt. He hit his set. He wins. While it sucks, it's just the way the cards came and everything that was going to happen happened before any cards came out. It just is what it is.

But the second scenario, wow. I know exactly what the guy has. I have him do exactly what I want him to do. Then he catches runner-runner to beat me. That one pisses me off.

Now, the first scenario, the guy has way fewer outs 2 and only 2. And the second scenario, he has 3 Queens plus a backdoor straight draw. So, the "beat" is worse in the first hand. But I didn't have to do anything there. He had a big pair, I had a bigger pair, I got all my money in w/ Aces (hooray for me!) and then I lost. Whatever.

Back to the second scenario, I had to work at it. I knew exactly what kind of hand he had. I knew exactly how to get all of the money in. I worked my plan to perfection. And then I lose.

I think I get annoyed at the second one and not the first because it's as if I worked really hard to make the second hand come together and then all my hard work was dashed by the stupid cards.

I guess I just find this irrationality of thinking somewhat odd and strangely interesting. I suffer a worse beat (odds-wise) in a much bigger pot, yet get much more annoyed about the other hand. I dunno, doesn't make all that much sense. But, not that you care, that's just the way I end up feeling about hands like these.

[Guy McSucker]

But it's like, set over set. All the money's going to go in.

Ha!

A hand from yesterday. 50c-$1 NL. I am UTG with two queens. I open for $4. Next player calls, next makes it $7, a min reraise. This usually means AA, KK, QQ or AK in my experience. Everyone else folds. I just call, as does the player in the middle. Flop comes Q-7-2 rainbow. Okay, good flop. I am confident the last player will bet so I check; so do the other two, dammit. Oh well, he must have AK.

Turn is a K. Good. I check again. Middle player bets $1, button just calls (!!!), I check-raise $10 more, middle player calls, button folds. Okay, bad read, never mind.

River looks like a blank but completes a backdoor flush. Ouch. Oh well. Check, middle player bets $5, I call, he turns over 7-7 for the flopped middle set.

Why didn't I get all his money? If it's the other way around, he gets all mine.
Except that I would fold preflop, but hey.

Guy.

[gavrilo]

I'm not gonna start quoting your whole post, but I know exactly what you mean.

[KingToad]

I know exaxtly what you mean on #2. I had this happening 2 nights ago. Of course I only play $25NL tables. I had ATs in the CO and make it $3, get $3 callers. Flop comes A 6 T, it gets checkd to me, I bet $7, get one caller. Turn is 8. I bet $25 pot, he calls. River is 9. I bet my last $10, he calls his last $8. He turns over A7o for the straight. Now that sucks.

[Ulysses]

BTW, for obvious reasons, my first example would probably be more accurate if it were QQ v. TT on a QTx flop, since set over set w/ an Ace on the flop is the one case where sometimes the other guy can escape.