Welcome to My World

The dealer is flipping the cards towards us, and with each flick of his wrist it appears the cards will surely turn over. But, alas, none do, and as I receive my second card I begin to watch the others at my table. I study each of them as they peak at their hole cards, as they either fold, raise, or call the two dollar big blind. A couple of people have called in front of me and I look down at AA, both black, not that the color matters, but both black aces might be the prettiest looking hand you can be dealt in Texas Hold em.

Two Aces, wow, it's about time, really. I have been in this game for about 3 hours, and this is the first big pair I have seen. I've been able to increase my chip stack, going from a starting level of $300 up to about $700 presently. This is no tournament, and the $400 more I've got is pure profit, just waiting for me to get up from the table and lock up a decent win for this level of play. I am truly surprised to be looking at the two aces, and now I have to decide how to maximize this good fortune.

Most people, probably 99.9% of the people, would raise in this situation. That would be the cookie cutter play, and the safest play, for sure. I however, have decided I am not going to play "by the book", and I am not going to tip off the strength of my hand, not just yet anyways. I'm going to trap, hopefully, and get someone to put a bunch of money into the pot when they are way behind in this hand. It's risky, because if no one raises behind me then we could very well see an 8 or 9 way pot, which would surely be doom for these two aces. Pocket aces is a good hand, but it is still just one pair, and one pair does not generally win pots with 8 people in them.

I had a pretty good idea it was going to be raised though, and I was pretty sure the young, asian kid on the button would be the raiser. He employed an opposite, and albeit, very popular strategy. That is he raised, and often. He raised often to also disguise the strength of his hand, just as I was doing by calling. I mean, how can you put this guy on anything specific if he raises with most of his hands? But I was going to trick him and trick him good, and i was going to take a chunk of his $700 stack, and then all of my patience was going to be justified. I have been working on this strategy for a couple of months now, and the dividends were finally starting to pay off as I mastered my new style.

Two more people called behind me and now it was on our young, Asian friend. True to form he raises it to $7. Thank you sir, now we'll see if i can lure him, and only him, into this pot for a bit more than $7. Pocket aces plays extremely well against a single opponent, and this plan was coming together perfectly, and I love it when a plan comes together. He was walking into the trap, and he had one leg halfway down the hole. Now, I just needed to re-raise a fair amount, pushing out everyone else, but keeping our young friend firmly in my grasp.

The small blind folds, but now the big blind re-raises Young Asian to $20! Wait a minute! The guy in the big blind is an older Asian, and he realizes our young friend raises way too often. Old asian is making a play at this pot, and raising to $20 in this small of a game will usually get it heads up between the two asians. usually, that is, except for me and my aces.... now what?

Two early limpers fold, and now it's my turn. I have to start the act now, this is where that one semester in the High School play can actually do me some good. I have to look like I am in pain about all of this raising. It's all so much to handle, and I'm not sure I even want to play. why do these guys always get to raise? I never raise, and they raise all of the time, and I have a hand i want to play. Darn! What am I gonna do?!?!?! Should I fold, maybe call?

I actually have conditioned myself to carry on these type of conversations in my brain. I believe by doing this I am portraying, on my face, the feelings that go along with such a thought process. In reality though, I already know what to do...

So, after about 15 seconds, I RAISE. I raise it to $50. I need to force out the pretenders now, and get it heads up with old asian. If I can get it heads up I should be able, if he cooperates, to profit around a hundred or two in this hand. I don't want to raise too much because I DO NOT want EVERYONE to fold, which they may all do anyway. I want one opponent, and it was originally going to be young asian, but plans change and old asian will have to do as his chip stack totaled about $500, and I want as much of it as I can get.

But, alas, as often happens in poker, circumstances change again because young asian calls the $50, and then old asian calls quickly behind him. Uh-oh, three way action, and I'm not talking about two hotties and myself. I'm talking a three way poker hand with me in the middle. That means I have to act after old asian, but before young asian. This hand is getting complicated in a hurry, and it's time to buckle up for what could be a bumpy ride. We have created a big pot, and I have a very strong, but vulnerable one pair hand. I should have raised more, I should have raised more, I don't want the three-way....

No time to worry now though because here comes the flop.

Kh 7s 3h

I don't like the two hearts on the flop, but I like the two small cards as my opponents most likely did not flop two pair. My aces should still be the best hand right now, and I'm going to play it as though they are. I'm sort of worried about old asian having pocket kings, but he didn't reraise my $50 bet, so he probably doesn't have KK. He may have AK though because he bets right out $75 into our growing pot of $150.

Now, I could raise right here, and once again many people would, but I'm still not fully committed to losing a ton of money if by chance I am behind here. I've got $50 invested with a stack of $700. I can still get away if things go badly, and they very well might at any moment. I decide to smooth call the $75 and see what young asian does behind me. I expect he will fold, but no, he's not folding, he's got something and he wants to play it. Young asian also calls the $75. We now have a pot of $350, and I am close to the commitment point.

I am starting to feel the tension in my neck. This cannot be healthy. It feels like someone is twisting my neck muscles like you would wring the water out of a soggy towel. I need this turn card, 4th street, to be a good card for me. I don't want to see a heart, or a king, or any facecard really. An ace would be great, but I think old asian has ace-king, so that leaves only one ace left to come. I need a small, black card. The dealer puts down the burn card, and rolls over the deuce of clubs. PRAISE JESUS!!

The board now reads Kh 7s 3h 2c. I believe I have the best hand and it is time to take this pot down!! Sweet!

To reinforce my thought process Old Asian checks. It's now on me and I bet $300. That's right boys, I've got the hand and that is my pot!! The action is now on young asian and he looks like he is in pain. His face is kind of contorted and I can tell he is wresting with something in his mind. This guy should just fold and go away.

Just fold already. Fold. Fold. Fold. Please fold your cards is all I can think about. But no, young asian announces All-in.

WTF?!?!?!?!?!

He pushes the rest of his $700 or so and sits back smugly. Old asian folds now, and the action is on me.

I thought all along that I had the best hand. My instinct is telling me that he cannot have me beat here. These aces are still good, they must be. But wait...... maybe I don't see it all. He raised it to $7 the first time around, and now there is a seven on the board, and he's now all-in. He could have pocket sevens, which would mean he now has a set of sevens, or three of a kind. I've seen people raise to $9 with pocket nines, and etc. It's cute, they think.

Oh man, I bet he does have a set of sevens. Unfreaking real. I should have raised more pre-flop. I let this guy stick around and now HE HAS TRAPPED ME!!!!!! I am trapped too, all the way, I've gone past my commitment threshold as I now have $250 left and the pot has grown to $1300. I cannot possibly fold, to do so would be ludicrous. I really thought he would have raised on the flop with a set of sevens noting the flush possibility, but I guess I've been bamboozled (as they say on espn).

I call.

River card rolls off and it is an 8h. So, if he was making a move with a flush draw, well, that just got there to beat me as well.

since I called him he has to show first. Wait a minute, he's hesitating. He does not look confident in his hand at all. He showing now, and it's a king and a jack!! what is that???? A pair of kings with a jack kicker?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? OH MAN O MAN, that does not in any way, shape, or form beat pocket aces.

I proudly turn over my cards and the dealer starts to push me a $1500 pot. That is a lot of red, nickel chips and it takes me literally ten minutes to stack them all. Stacking chips happens to be my favorite form of manual labor, so I am smiling while stacking. I want to whistle but the Bell's Palsy has made that impossible, so I just keep stacking.

No one is saying anything, I think they're all recovering. It was a dramatic hand. Young asian smiles, says "ni han", stands up and heads for the door. I rap the table lightly to say "good game" and watch him walk out. I don't feel bad for him. He is young and still learning, just like we all did.

This entire hand took about a minute and a half to complete in real time. These are only some of the things I think about, and consider, and reconsider, throughout the play of one hand. This is what I do, I am a Poker Professional.