HAND OF THE DAY: 08.28.08

$100 MTT; $100/200 blind level. I have Ah-Jd in the big blind. Preflop, there is a raise to $600 from third position and a call from fourth position. I call the $400.

FLOP: Js-7s-7d
ACTION: B ($1200) / R ($5245 all-in) / x / C
ANALYSIS: I'm not a huge fan of A-J in a three-way pot but I can't just fold two big boys preflop when I'm already involved in the blind. So when I hit the flop, I've got to play the hand hard and see what happens. The pot is $1900 and I've got the initial raiser covered so rather than play guessing games, I make a strong bet that basically announces that I have a jack.

He raises me and the third player folds. He would certainly want to get all his chips involved with an overpair to jacks but on such a relatively short stack, and a third player still involved, I tend to think he would flat call in this spot and try to build a pot. Because of my strong bet, it is unlikely I have a flush draw so what's his hurry to push me off my hand and drive out the third guy? If he's got queens or kings, I'm still 1:4 to win which beats drawing dead, but his overbet has me thinking that maybe he's the one on a flush draw. All that plus the fact that I still have $4400 behind should I lose this pot leads me to call.

He shows As-Ts and my two pair holds up. This is how I get the chips but the way I spew them later on is much too horrendous to detail in this blog.