KNOCKOUT PUNCH

I made an interesting play yesterday by doing something I wouldn't normally do and having it pay off. In all honesty, I have been playing way too much poker lately and my game has suffered. I am not as focused during any one particular event as I should be. I have invested hours in tourneys, only to try an audacious bluff that doesn't work out and costs me my entire stack. But here's an example of something that did work.

I had a decent stack in the middle stages of a tournament, about $4500 or so. There was a call from first position, and from middle position, I called with 55. The big blind called and we saw a flop three-way. The flop came QQ5 rainbow. Both players checked to me. There were no draws out there, so I saw no reason to get cute. Either somebody's sandbagging a queen and we're going to dance, or they both missed and I stand no chance of making any money on the hand. I simply pushed all my chips in the middle.

The first position limp often means KQ, maybe AQ, or sometimes the sneaky AA or KK, so my fingers were crossed that I would get a call. I figured nobody would believe for an instant that I had a made hand with such an audacious overbet. If either of them had a queen or an overpair, then there is no doubt they would thank the stars and push in as well. Both players folded, but so what - there was no chance either of them were going to call any bet, so at least I gave myself the opportunity for a big payoff.

Here's where it paid off: the very next hand, I was still in middle position, and I was dealt JJ. I put in the standard 3x raise, and the big blind called. The flop came JT8 with two diamonds. He checked to me, and again I went all in. He was involved in the last hand as well, so I'm sure he was pleased as punch to see me attempt the same manuever. He insta-called with QQ and doubled me up.

Sometimes playing a hand in an out of the ordinary way pays dividends later. As an interesting side note, on the very next hand I was dealt KK, and I didn't know what to do with them. I thought for a moment of just going all in to see what would happen, but now that I was the big stack, I doubted anyone would call. I did the standard 3x raise, and everybody folded.

My stack eventually climbed to $14,000+ before I duffed it all off on a bluff gone haywire. I flopped top pair with a weak kicker and got called. The turn brought an ace and I represented with a big bet, which also was called. The river brought a third heart and I bet a ton, hoping to push him off his hand. He thought awhile then raised. It smelled like two pair to me, so I put him all in, since I was 100% positive he didn't have a flush. He had top straight and he called me. This is me lately - I think I can get someone to lay down a hand, but people are too willing to call even without the nuts. I suppose Hellmuth would have laid down the straight, but most people don't care what you are representing, they only care about the strength of their own hand. Oh well, serves me right for putting all my chips in with the worse hand.